Another milestone in the development of the electric car will be reached on 29 August, when Toyota breaks the nine-minute barrier for a lap of the Nürburgring.
The current record from a pure electric drive car stands at 9:01.388, which Toyota says it will 'significantly improve on'.
The Toyota Motorsport GmbH Electric Vehicle (TMG EV) has twin electric motors developing a total of 375bhp, with a massive 590lb.ft of torque. That makes it capable of 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds. Tipping the scales at just 970kg, the electric car will hit 162mph.
It is, of course, a zero emissions racer, and Toyota plans to sell the powertrain to teams looking to enter electric motorsport in 2012.
Ludwig Zeller of Toyota said: "We want to demonstrate the high level of performance which can now be reached with an electric powertrain, not only in motorsport terms but as part of TMG's existing development work on road car EV technology."
Zeller added that Toyota expects the record to be broken by "more than just a few seconds" during the August run.
Mark Nichol - 18 Aug 2011
