Porsche's Taycan Turbo S Breaks EV Only Nurburgring Lap Record

Porsche's monumentally fast Taycan Turbo S has bested Tesla to clock the fastest lap of Germany's infamous Nurburgring race track.

Clocking a time of 7 minutes and 33 seconds, the Taycan shaved two seconds off the previous best time set by a Tesla Model S Plaid back in September last year. The Taycan Turbo S was able to usurp Tesla's time thanks to a new Performance Kit and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control options that were previously unavailable. 

The only non-standard modifications that allowed the Taycan to beat the record at the 20.8-kilometre circuit in the Eifel mountains were a mandatory roll cage and racing bucket seats. 

The performance kit includes 21-inch RS Spyder design wheels with street-legal Pirelli P Zero Corsa sports tyres, which are now also available for the Taycan.

The performance kit also includes a software update of the Porsche 4D-Chassis Control that is tailored to the sports tyres. This analyzes and synchronizes all chassis systems in the Taycan in real-time.

"In the past, only thoroughbred super sports cars managed to finish in the range of 7:33 minutes," says Lars Kern, the Porsche development driver who set the record.

“Thanks to the new performance kit I was able to push more; at the same time, the car was even more precise and agile to drive.”

At the moment, the performance kit is only available to customers in Germany and is exclusive to Taycan Turbo S saloon models.

"We are very pleased that the Nürburgring record for electric cars is now in the hands of Porsche again," says Kevin Giek, head of the Taycan series. “The lap time not only shows how much potential there is in our new performance kit. It also confirms the sporty genes of the Taycan once again.”

You can watch the full lap in its eerily silent entirety on YouTube below.