Porsche's Electric Family Sedan Threw Out the Kids and Broke a Record
Image Credit: Porsche.
Honestly, you have to love the electric car world right now. It's like watching a bunch of brilliant, tech-savvy teenagers trying to one-up each other in the schoolyard. "My car can go nought-to-sixty in three seconds!" one says. "Oh yeah? Well, mine can do it in two-point-five!" another retorts. Then, a new kid from China named Xiaomi shows up and says, "Hold my bubble tea," and suddenly, everyone is in a tizzy. It's all terribly entertaining and a little bit silly.
At the center of this playground squabble, as always, is Porsche. You can almost picture them leaning against the lockers with a cool, knowing smirk. For a while there, it seemed like they were letting the new kids have their fun, setting records at the Nürburgring and Shanghai. But Porsche's patience, it seems, has a limit. And that limit has been reached.
Image Credit: Porsche.
So, they did what any self-respecting automotive powerhouse would do. They took their latest and greatest electric toy, the Taycan Turbo GT, to a little place called Road Atlanta. You know, just for a casual drive. Behind the wheel was Patrick Long, a man who knows his way around a steering wheel better than I know my way to the nearest coffee shop. The result? A lap time of 1:27.15.
The previous record for an EV at that track was already held by another Taycan. The Turbo S model, to be precise. Its time was a leisurely 1:33.88. The new Turbo GT obliterated it by nearly seven seconds. In the world of motorsport, seven seconds is an eternity. It's enough time to knit a small scarf.
Image Credit: Porsche.
How on Earth did Porsche pull this off? It wasn't just raw talent, though Mr. Long has plenty of that. For this little adventure, Porsche used a Taycan Turbo GT equipped with the optional Weissach Package. This is a fancy way of saying they threw out the rear seats - who needs to carry friends when you can carry more speed? This turns the four-door family sedan into a four-door two-seater. It's delightfully absurd. They also slapped on some Pirelli P Zero Trofeo RS tires, which are so sticky they could probably drive up a wall.
The Taycan Turbo GT, in its standard form, is a $231,995 declaration that you are both wealthy and in a hurry. It packs a 97 kWh battery and pushes out a perfectly reasonable 777 horsepower in normal driving. But, and this is a big but, engage launch control, and the power swells to a face-melting 1,019 horsepower. That's enough to get this 5,000-pound-plus sedan from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.2 seconds. Opt for that two-seater Weissach Package, and it gets even quicker at 2.1 seconds. Good heavens.
Image Credit: Porsche.
At a little over 195 inches long, it's a big machine. Yet, on the track, it seems to defy physics. Patrick Long himself was amazed, saying he expected the sharp steering but "didn't expect how powerful the Active Ride suspension would be in counteracting pitch, roll, and squat." In layman's terms, that means when you stomp on the accelerator, brake hard, or throw it into a corner, the car stays remarkably flat, like a well-behaved pancake, instead of rocking and rolling like a ship at sea.
Of course, we have to talk about the competition. Is it faster than a purpose-built, fire-breathing supercar? No, not quite. The new Chevy Corvette ZR1 still holds the overall production car record at Road Atlanta with a mind-boggling 1:22.80. But let's be fair; comparing a four-door EV to a Corvette ZR1 is like comparing a luxury speedboat to a fighter jet. What's more telling is how close the Taycan got to its own gasoline-powered siblings. A 911 GT3 RS lapped the same track in 1:26.24. An electric family hauler is nipping at the heels of a track-day legend? I think I'm going to need a much larger garage.
Image Credit: Porsche.
This whole spectacle isn't just about setting records for the fun of it. It's a message. A very polite, very German, and very powerful message to newcomers like Xiaomi, who have been snatching Porsche's hard-earned records. It's Porsche clearing its throat and reminding everyone who's been the king of the hill for decades.
While the EV kids continue their adorable squabbling over who's quickest, Porsche is quietly - or, in this case, very, very loudly - reasserting its dominance. It's a fascinating, high-speed drama to watch unfold. And as for the Taycan Turbo GT? It's a magnificent, slightly unhinged piece of engineering that proves electric cars can be just as capable of bruising a few egos, as their gas-guzzling ancestors.
