Toyota Motorsport GmbH has set a new lap record for an electric vehicle around the Nurburgring Nordschleife.
With driver Jochen Krumbach behind the wheel, the TMG EV P001 lapped the 20.8km German circuit in 7 minutes, 47.794 seconds. This comprehensively beat the previous record of 9 minutes, 1.338 seconds.
Based on a Radical chassis, the car has a 100% electric powertrain which uses two electric motors, producing a top speed 260km/h and 800Nm of torque. TMG will begin commercial sales of its technology in 2012.
The lap record was set on road legal tyres and was verified by independent lap timing.
“The goals for this project were twofold,” said TMG Technical Director Pascal Vasselon. “Obviously we wanted to set a new EV lap record and I am very pleased we could achieve that so comprehensively. On the other hand, we also wanted to learn more about the operation of our electric powertrain in extreme circumstances; in motorsport there is no more extreme circuit than the Nurburgring.
“On the record lap the TMG EV P001 performed better than in testing due to the improvement we already could make based on that experience. We have enhanced our electric powertrain development thanks to the information our engineers have gained and our future EV products will benefit from this project.”
Director of Business Operations Rob Leupen added: “This is a very impressive achievement which really shows the huge potential for electric powertrains to deliver fast, exciting action on the race track. There’s no doubt that electric motorsport can be every bit as thrilling as traditional racing and it was an amazing sensation to watch the TMG electric vehicle fly past on the Nordschleife, with only the sound of wind rushing past and tyres squealing.
“To achieve a new lap record at the first attempt, and by such a huge margin, is a great achievement and I am very proud to see TMG’s name in the record books. But this is not the end of the story for TMG and I hope we will see our electric powertrains in action on the track again soon.”
Onboard footage of the record attempt can be viewed below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwHO6sC7Lhs
