Toyota Sets a Nürburgring Record
Upon seeing a very ordinary-looking Toyota Prius on the legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife, some people must have thought this driver missed a turn somewhere and was on the track by mistake! If the circuit is technically open to everyone, it is not really tailored for fuel economy, with its 20.83 kilometres of sharp turns and more than 300 metres in elevation changes.
However, it’s a plug-in rechargeable Prius that Toyota chose to bring to an open track day recently. The current record for the fastest lap time in a production hybrid vehicle belongs to Porsche and the 918 Spyder, with the instruments recording 6 minutes and 57 seconds (and an average fuel consumption of 3 litres per 100 km!). Toyota had some work to do to have a chance of shattering this record.
Let’s get one thing straight: The Prius lapped the Nürburgring in a very slow 20 minutes and 59 seconds. German car aficionados, rest easy. The 918 Spyder is not threatened by a Prius yet. However, Toyota didn’t set out to prove they could be the fastest, they wanted to show how efficient they could be: over the course of this lap, the Prius averaged 0.32L/100 km! While fuel consumption might not be the first data one looks at when driving on the ‘Ring, Toyota has really found a clever way to advertise their fuel-efficient car.
With the English journalist Joe Clifford behind the wheel and a fully-charged battery pack, the small hybrid could have completed a full lap on electric power alone, but a steep climb forced the gasoline engine into action for a brief amount of time. Interestingly, the Prius only burned 25 millilitres of fuel during those 20.83 km!