Toyota to attempt Nurburgring record...
08-09-11, 05:52 AM
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Toyota to attempt Nurburgring record...
On August 29th
For an Electric Vehicle
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/08/08/t...-on-august-29/
This is quite cool and all, but I wonder if they'll use the opportunity of having the track to themselves to let the LFA (standard and Nurburgring edition) to have a crack and doing a few unencumbered hot laps? 
For an Electric Vehicle
http://www.autoblog.com/2011/08/08/t...-on-august-29/
Toyota Motorsport GmbH has announced its intention to smash the existing electric vehicle lap record at the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife on August 29.
Some speculate the on-track demonstration by Toyota Motorsport GmbH is a prelude to Toyota's racing division inking a powertrain deal for an electrified Formula 1 racing series. Whether or not that's true remains unknown, but Toyota says its lapping of the Nürburgring will prove that "green thinking motorsport" generates emotion, just as fossil fuel racing has done for more than a century.
The current electric vehicle lap record at the 'Ring stands at 9:01.338, a time that Toyota says it has already beaten during informal testing. On August 29, it will hit the track with a battery-powered two-seater that can reach a claimed top speed of 162 miles per hour, rip from 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds and is loosely based on the radical Alpha-1 SRF, a vehicle developed by Toyota Motorsport GmbH for the German firm e-Wolf.
Rob Leupen, Toyota Motorsport's director of business operations, told the Charging Point, "We are extremely confident we can break the record by some distance, which is an indication of how electric vehicle performance is continuously improving."
Some speculate the on-track demonstration by Toyota Motorsport GmbH is a prelude to Toyota's racing division inking a powertrain deal for an electrified Formula 1 racing series. Whether or not that's true remains unknown, but Toyota says its lapping of the Nürburgring will prove that "green thinking motorsport" generates emotion, just as fossil fuel racing has done for more than a century.
The current electric vehicle lap record at the 'Ring stands at 9:01.338, a time that Toyota says it has already beaten during informal testing. On August 29, it will hit the track with a battery-powered two-seater that can reach a claimed top speed of 162 miles per hour, rip from 0-60 mph in 3.9 seconds and is loosely based on the radical Alpha-1 SRF, a vehicle developed by Toyota Motorsport GmbH for the German firm e-Wolf.
Rob Leupen, Toyota Motorsport's director of business operations, told the Charging Point, "We are extremely confident we can break the record by some distance, which is an indication of how electric vehicle performance is continuously improving."
08-09-11, 05:37 PM
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Like the OP says, how about getting the 'Ring lap time straight for the LFA first? A new EV record beating the current "record" of 9:01.338 just doesn't sound too exciting in absolute terms.
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08-10-11, 08:55 AM
#9
since this is purpose built race car with 0-62 in 3.9s, how can it not be VERY fast? I expect it to be doing very similar or even better times than LFA.
08-10-11, 11:07 AM
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The said current EV 'Ring lap record holder, the Peugeot EX1 concept, does 0-60mph in 2.24 (!!) seconds and has a top speed of 161mph (basically matching the Toyota), and its 'Ring lap time? 9:01.338. My bet is Toyota's attempt will beat the Peugeot by 10 seconds or so but will be nowhere near the levels of most quasi-performance cars let alone the LFA. Toyota should really set their high bar with the LFA first and then let the rest of their projects be compared with their gold standard.
Last edited by ydooby; 08-10-11 at 11:31 AM.
08-10-11, 02:17 PM
#13
The problem with most high-performance electric cars is never their low-end acceleration capabilities, thanks to the abundance of torque in electric motors, but their top-end speeds. And around the Nurburgring, a top speed of 162mph just won't nearly cut it.
The said current EV 'Ring lap record holder, the Peugeot EX1 concept, does 0-60mph in 2.24 (!!) seconds and has a top speed of 161mph (basically matching the Toyota), and its 'Ring lap time? 9:01.338. My bet is Toyota's attempt will beat the Peugeot by 10 seconds or so but will be nowhere near the levels of most quasi-performance cars let alone the LFA. Toyota should really set their high bar with the LFA first and then let the rest of their projects be compared with their gold standard.
The said current EV 'Ring lap record holder, the Peugeot EX1 concept, does 0-60mph in 2.24 (!!) seconds and has a top speed of 161mph (basically matching the Toyota), and its 'Ring lap time? 9:01.338. My bet is Toyota's attempt will beat the Peugeot by 10 seconds or so but will be nowhere near the levels of most quasi-performance cars let alone the LFA. Toyota should really set their high bar with the LFA first and then let the rest of their projects be compared with their gold standard.
On 28 April 2007, Nick Heidfeld drove a BMW Sauber F1.06 Formula One car around the Nordschleife, on a BMW publicity day in combination with a VLN 4h endurance race.[104] For safety reasons, BMW announced that the car was slowed with hard demonstration tires, maximum ride height, and 275 km/h top speed limited by the transmission. Heidfeld drove three laps on the combined Nordschleife and short GP-track, as used in VLN races, with a track length of 24.433 km (so comparison with older records is difficult).
The official lap time released by BMW Sauber was declared to be 8:34 (thus ca. 30 seconds slower than the fastest Porsche 996 turbo in VLN). The German press duly reported this lap time, yet criticized BMW. In each lap, Heidfeld slowed down once to pose for a slow video truck, at Schwedenkreuz on the first lap 1, Kesselchen in lap 2, and Döttinger Höhe in the last lap. The two time spans in between the three passes of Heidfeld were clocked by some fans around the track, first Wehrseifen to Wehrseifen in about 7:28, then 7:22 from Klostertal to Klostertal, which is over 50 seconds quicker than the fastest current Porsche 997 GT3 RSR in VLN. This translates to an average of about 200 km/h (120 mph), similar to Bellof's record, but considering the slow GP section, Heidfeld probably was faster on the Nordschleife, close to 6 minutes. Fans who respect the official record of the late Stefan Bellof settle for an "estimated 6:12".
The official lap time released by BMW Sauber was declared to be 8:34 (thus ca. 30 seconds slower than the fastest Porsche 996 turbo in VLN). The German press duly reported this lap time, yet criticized BMW. In each lap, Heidfeld slowed down once to pose for a slow video truck, at Schwedenkreuz on the first lap 1, Kesselchen in lap 2, and Döttinger Höhe in the last lap. The two time spans in between the three passes of Heidfeld were clocked by some fans around the track, first Wehrseifen to Wehrseifen in about 7:28, then 7:22 from Klostertal to Klostertal, which is over 50 seconds quicker than the fastest current Porsche 997 GT3 RSR in VLN. This translates to an average of about 200 km/h (120 mph), similar to Bellof's record, but considering the slow GP section, Heidfeld probably was faster on the Nordschleife, close to 6 minutes. Fans who respect the official record of the late Stefan Bellof settle for an "estimated 6:12".
maybe :-).
