The Nurburgring Nordschleife 12.9-mile (20.8-km), 154-corner, “Inexperienced Hell” racetrack is the famend place for full-throttle, full-send driving to realize prestigious lap data for automotive producers. Its quick, twisty, hilly, typically Fifth-gear blind-entry corners with unforgiving run-off additionally make it probably the most harmful highway programs.
Ever for the reason that observe was constructed almost a century in the past in 1927, drivers and automotive producers have fought to be primary. Again then, Mercedes lapped a reasonably magnificent 12-minute lap time averaging 60 mph (96.5 km/h). Skip ahead 96 years to October of 2023 and Lotus enters the ‘Ring with its all-electric Evija X one-off race automotive, based mostly on the Evija road authorized EV platform.
Lotus
The drivetrain and 4 electrical motors stay the identical as Lotus’ manufacturing mannequin (thus retaining its production-spec chassis classification), nevertheless, its suspension and aero bundle are vastly completely different, absorbing bumps and hugging the bottom higher at 214 mph (345 km/h) whereas additionally producing over 6,600 lb (2,994 kg) of downforce with its further entrance splitter, canards, and 747-sized rear wing.
![That is unmistakenly a barn door affixed to the Lotus Evija X to produce more moo-force](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/b3f039c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1800x1012+0+0/resize/1440x810!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F98%2F5b%2Fd37473374c09950a1b5fb23ecfb8%2Flotus-evija-x-studio-3.jpg)
Lotus
These 4 electrical motors I discussed: 1,972 bhp (1,470 kW) and 1323 lb-ft (1,794 nm) of torque pushing it down the observe like a bat out of Hades. It has a 70-kWh battery pack to attract from (for illustrative functions, the Lengthy Vary Tesla Mannequin 3 comes outfitted with a 75-kWh battery).
Mix all that with Dirk Müller on the helm and you have your self a shot on the document books. And shoot their shot they did certainly: 6:24.047.
That is adequate for 4th quickest automotive to ever lap ‘Inexperienced Hell.’
![Lotus Evija X on its Nordschleife record-setting run](https://assets.newatlas.com/dims4/default/f414d3d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1800x949+0+0/resize/1440x759!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnewatlas-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1e%2Fe9%2Fd62f847d4a8caa0c72e8f2f371a5%2Fevijax-nurburgring-track.jpg)
Lotus
Usually, nobody remembers who completed second or third, and particularly not who completed fourth – however what makes this fourth-fastest lap notable is the Lotus Evija X is the second quickest all electrical automobile to lap the ‘Ring. And much more notably, it is the very quickest production-based chassis to ever lap the madness that’s the 12.9-mile Nordschleife, beating out the Mercedes AMG-One time of 6:35.183 set in 2022.
Watching the onboard telemetry whereas Müller was lapping at break-neck speeds, I continuously noticed 2+ lateral G’s, and with my Bose headphones on at full blast listening to the screaming glory of EV motor-whine being pushed to its restrict, I might additionally hear each small protest of the tires – and it did not seem to be they have been protesting a lot. The electrical hypercar gave the impression to be on rails with an enormous quantity of mechanical grip. I believe the Lotus would possibly be capable of go quicker.
With a price ticket of US$2.3 million and a restricted manufacturing run of 130 Evija hypercars launched into the wild, Lotus ought to be capable of churn out extra greatness virtually as rapidly because the Evija’s 0-186-mph (0-300-km/h) time of 9.1 seconds… Even when the corporate is spending $70,500 a day to cowl the Nordschleife rental payment to present it clear observe.
Evija X laps the Nürburgring Nordschleife
A little bit extra on Nordschleife lap data:
The quickest EV ever was a really purpose-built time-attack electrical automobile referred to as the Volkswagen ID.R which ran a staggering 6:05.336 in June of 2019. Boasting a mere 670 hp with a meager 44-kWh battery pack that was sorely missing and a high pace of 152 mph (245 km/h) down the quickest straights, Romain Dumas nonetheless managed to set the document. With some extra juice and maybe completely different gearing, VW would possibly be capable of create a bit extra optimistic press than did Dieselgate.
The outright record-holder across the present-day Nordschleife configuration is Timo Bernhard, driving a Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo prototype in June of 2018. He set a physics-defying time of 5:19.546. You may watch his lap right here, as phrases merely can’t clarify the sheer magnitude of what a 5:19 on the Nurburgring seems like. Blurry, I suppose, is likely to be one of the simplest ways to explain it.
These are lap occasions I can not even contact whereas taking part in Forza with the injury turned off.