Toyota is preparing for a “very important” Nurburgring lap as part of the development of its upcoming electric sportscar, dubbed the FT-Se, setting the stage for an electric sportscar showdown at the Green Hell.
Speaking to TopGear.com during the concept vehicle’s launch last week, chief engineer Fumihiko Hazama said: “The Nordschleife is our target for this vehicle. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what our target lap time is, but we’ll be taking a prototype to the Nurburgring in the future.”
While the company is not ready to disclose a target lap time just yet, Hazama-san did at least name a rival for us to compare it to. “The next-generation Porsche Cayman will be an electric vehicle, so maybe that will be one of our targets,” he noted.
Neither of these cars are anywhere close to production ready yet, but a titanic EV sports car showdown is already brewing at the Ring. It’s no wonder Toyota calls the lap “very important”.
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A major challenge for the FT-Se’s Nurburgring lap will be on regulating the battery temperatures, especially when you’re pushing hard for seven to eight minutes straight per lap. Hazama says that the battery temperature will directly impact the car’s performance around a circuit, and that’s why the Toyota FT-Se concept has massive air intakes up front to cool the car’s third-generation battery system.
Hazama also revealed that the production-version of the FT-Se will feature a pair of electric motors for an all-wheel drive set-up, although it’ll be rear-biased because, according to him, some customers like to drift.
As for performance figures, the Toyota FT-Se hasn’t been officially measured yet, but Hazama-san estimates a century sprint time of “around three seconds”, onward to a top speed of around 250 km/h.
To help Toyota beat Posche around the Nurburgring, the FT-Se will focus on reducing its weight as much as possible, through the usual mix of aluminium, steel, and carbon fibre body parts, plus the aforementioned new batteries that will be lighter than the current-generation technology. “The challenge is to make it light and stiff at the same time,” said Hazama.
Aerodynamics will also play a huge role in the car’s Nurburgring campaign, as the flat floor underneath the car – courtesy of the EV powertrain – means you’ll be able to fit a massive diffuser at the rear, which according to Hazama-san, will generate “a lot of the downforce”.
