This powerful Taycan is available as a two-seater and with a wide-reaching overhaul of the chassis and powertrain
£190k Tesla Model S Plaid rival is the most powerful Porsche of all time
The new Porsche Taycan Turbo GT is the brand’s most powerful road car yet – and it has already set lap records at two of the world’s most prestigious race tracks.
Available as a two-seater and featuring a wide-reaching overhaul of the chassis and powertrain, it is the first electric car from Porsche’s storied GT division and one of the fastest four-door cars on the market.
It swaps the recently facelifted Taycan’s rear motor for one with a silicon-carbide inverter, which reduces energy losses as the transistors switch from the on to off state. This allows for a greater maximum current of 900A, significantly boosting maximum power.
As such, the Turbo GT is capable of putting out up to 1093bhp and 988lb ft – 73bhp more than the tri-motor Tesla Model S Plaid.
It can, according to official tests, sustain maximum power for two seconds at a time using Launch Control and kicks out 778bhp in normal operation.
The Taycan’s push-to-pass function has also evolved to take advantage of the new motor. It has been recalibrated – and renamed Attack mode – with inspiration from the Porsche 99X Formula E car, providing 939bhp for 10 seconds at a time.
That’s 67bhp more than is offered by push-to-pass in other Taycans. Performance is also bolstered by a 75kg reduction in mass compared with the Taycan Turbo S.
This has been achieved through liberal use of carbonfibre – on the B-pillars, door mirror caps and bucket seats, among other areas – as well as the fitment of lightweight 21in forged wheels and the removal of the soft-closing boot mechanism.
Even the ceramic brakes’ disc chambers and caliper housings have been reworked to remove another 2kg. The optional Weissach package takes the diet a step further, “eliminating all equipment not required for track driving”.
Among the changes are the removal of the rear seats, rear speakers and one of the two charge ports. Also gone are the floor and boot mats, as well as some of the interior sound insulation material.
The active rear spoiler is replaced by a fixed carbonfibre wing and the windows are swapped out for lightweight glass.
These efforts net an extra 70kg reduction compared with the regular Turbo GT. All of this makes the Turbo GT the fastest-accelerating Porsche to have hit public roads. It dispatches 0-62mph in just 2.2sec with the Weissach package and 2.3sec without it.
For reference, the Model S Plaid has a claimed 0-60mph time of 1.99sec but Tesla subtracts a one-foot rollout from the timing, meaning the car is already moving before timing begins. Autocar testing showed that, without the rollout, it took 2.4sec to hit 60mph.
The Turbo GT goes on to a top speed of 180mph with the Weissach package, or 190mph without. To further improve track performance, the Turbo GT receives specially calibrated Porsche Active Ride suspension, which is claimed by the marque to offer “an almost perfect connection to the road”.
With all of these modifications in place, the Turbo GT has decimated the lap record for road-legal electric cars at the fearsome Nürburgring Nordschleife, rounding the 14.1-mile track in 7min 7.55sec.
That is more than 25sec quicker than the old Turbo S and nearly 18sec quicker than the previous record holder, the Model S Plaid Track Pack.
At California’s Laguna Seca raceway, the Turbo GT managed a lap time of 1min 27.87sec, only just trailing the 1min 26.75sec set by Tesla tuner Unplugged Performance’s radically overhauled Model S Plaid, which ran on non-roadlegal Yokohama tyres.
Prices for the Taycan Turbo GT start at £186,300, almost as much as the 911 GT3 RS, and it is available to order now, ahead of deliveries starting in the coming months.
