Xiaomi, the world’s second largest smartphone maker, recently launched its electric sportscar, the Xiaomi SU7 sedan. Now, the company has just announced it will soon attempt a fast lap at the Nürburgring Nordschleife using a dedicated SU7 track-ready prototype. Xiaomi’s founder and CEO, Lei Jun 雷军, today (July 19th) held … [continued]
EVs have been a great alternative to gas- and diesel-powered vehicles for at least a decade, and in many cases the superior choice. EVs are great for commuters because they’re cheaper to operate and maintain, and they emit no pollutants. Many people worry about range anxiety, but that’s slowly becoming … [continued]
Respected German publication Auto Motor und Sport is reporting that the Tesla Model S Plaid prototype has been hand-timed lapping the Nordschleife in 7 minutes and 13 seconds, according to the outlet’s local source. Adjusting for race-compound tires, this puts the Tesla around 19 seconds ahead of the Taycan Turbo’s 7:42 lap time reported by Porsche in August. It’s also faster than every gas-powered 4-door series production car ’round the ‘ring.
Whilst seemingly irrelevant to everyday driving, the ongoing competition between Tesla and Porsche over EV performance supremacy is quickly demonstrating that fossil sports cars are becoming obsolete — an important symbolic milestone for the EV revolution which will have repercussions in higher volume segments. If Porsche wants its Taycan to keep pace with the Tesla Model S Plaid, Porsche will have to allow it to outperform the company’s current flagship Panamera combustion sedan. And that will only highlight the inferiority of fossil vehicles.
Until a couple weeks ago, my knowledge of the famous Nürburgring race track in Germany was basically limited to the strange Ring Racer roller coaster that was built in 2009 to be the fastest in the world, but ended up only operating four days in 2013 after they blew more than 12.3 million euros making it.
If you are a lover of all things auto, you should celebrate Tesla’s leadership on the Nürburgring track, and I am going to explain why I think this to be so.
A Tesla Model S prototype currently testing at the Nürburgring Nordschleife has been informally timed lapping the circuit in 7:23. The stopwatch timing was made by a correspondent of the German publication Auto Motor und Sport. The Tesla did have have the advantage of using race compound tires, but that doesn’t account for the almost 20 second advantage over the Porsche Taycan’s publicized lap time (7:42). The Tesla also looks to have the potential to surpass the track performance of every gasoline saloon, save limited production specials from Jaguar and BMW.
In a video uploaded by TALEA Media, several high-performance vehicles are seen running laps on the Nürburgring, a 13-mile long German track, including both the Porsche Taycan and the Tesla Model S P100D+.
Tesla Model 3 Performance has taken on the world famous Nürburgring race track with all its might — executing the 5.148 km (3.199 mi), 16 turn asphalt track masterfully. No doubt, the driver was also exceptional in handling the car — you’d need the nerves of a gorilla to drive at these insane speeds on such a path.
The Porsche Mission E, now rebranded as the Taycan, has been spotted testing on the iconic Nürburgring testing track in Germany.
