The Fastest Road Car Ever to Lap the Nrburgring is Currently the All-Electric NIO EP9
Engineering a vehicle with the Nürburgring in mind doesn’t always produce the most enjoyable on-road driving experience, but it often results in one hell of a performance machine. The NIO EP9 electric supercar was already the fastest EV ever to grace the track, which is a feat in itself since the Tesla Model S proved itself incapable of maintaining full-trust for the duration of the 14-mile track. However, after taking another stab at it, the NIO is claiming the EP9 is now the fastest production vehicle ever to grace the track — gas or electric.
Under what NIO admitted to being perfect conditions, the EP9 completed the course in 6:45.90. That’s over 19 seconds quicker than its pervious lap time and 6 seconds quicker than the Lamborghini Huracan Performante’s. The EP9 also bested the Radical SR8LM, which is not globally street legal and only slightly more useful for daily-driving duties than the space shuttle.
Although, the EP9 isn’t exactly a Honda Accord. It may be road legal worldwide but it’s also a made to order 1.48 million dollar electric hypercar. NIO only built six in its last production run and it’s unknown how many will be assembled in the recently announced second round. But they’ve built enough to consider the ludicrous EV a road-worthy production car, and therefore valid to complete against other production vehicles’ times on Nordschleife — and track records seem to be something NIO is particularly interested in.
“In October 2016, we aimed to set a new lap record for an electric vehicle with our NIO EP9,” said Gerry Hughes, Head of NIO’s Performance Program and Formula-E Team Principal. “In the inclemental weather that the Nürburgring Nordschleife is known for, the EP9 completed two laps of the 20.8 km (12.9m) ‘Green Hell’, one of which was in 7m 05.12s, beating the previous EV lap record, making it the fastest electric car in the world. The EP9’s new lap record is 19.22 seconds faster than its previous lap time. This is a fabulous achievement for NIO and I am very proud of the team that has worked tirelessly to achieve this accolade.”
The EP9’s 1360 hp and 4671 lb-ft of torque have made it the fastest production car ever to lap the Circuit of the Americas earlier this year. It would appear that NIO’s publicity strategy for 2017 is to take the EP9 around to different tracks, allow it to smash the current lap record, and issue a press release every two months.
While many will claim this is death knell of internal combustion superiority, we should remember that Formula E is still very boring and most EVs still have trouble maintaining steam at the outer limits. The EP9 is a dark horse that may be able to lay down numbers only a few seconds behind cars competing in the World Endurance Championship, but its battery life would never permit it to stay out for more than a handful of laps. At least, not yet.
We’re also waiting on the official confirmation and documentation the EP9’s lap time in Nürburg, Germany. There’s little reason to doubt the validity of the claim — it is on Nurburgring Top 100 board, after all — but NIO hasn’t yet released the dash cam footage.
[Images: NIO]
A staunch consumer advocate tracking industry trends and regulation. Before joining TTAC, Matt spent a decade working for marketing and research firms based in NYC. Clients included several of the world’s largest automakers, global tire brands, and aftermarket part suppliers. Dissatisfied with the corporate world and resentful of having to wear suits everyday, he pivoted to writing about cars. Since then, that man has become an ardent supporter of the right-to-repair movement, been interviewed on the auto industry by national radio broadcasts, driven more rental cars than anyone ever should, participated in amateur rallying events, and received the requisite minimum training as sanctioned by the SCCA. Handy with a wrench, Matt grew up surrounded by Detroit auto workers and managed to get a pizza delivery job before he was legally eligible. He later found himself driving box trucks through Manhattan, guaranteeing future sympathy for actual truckers. He continues to conduct research pertaining to the automotive sector as an independent contractor and has since moved back to his native Michigan, closer to where the cars are born. A contrarian, Matt claims to prefer understeer — stating that front and all-wheel drive vehicles cater best to his driving style.
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There's no cure for cancer yet. (EV'S will never blah blah blah) Then we should just stop looking for one. "the NIO is claiming the EP9 is *not* the fastest production vehicle ever to grace the track — gas or electric." Anti-EV typo? :-)
4671 lb-ft of torque 4671 lb-ft of torque 4671 lb-ft of torque wow.