Toyota Prius sets Nurburgring lap record!

There’s only one reason for saving fuel on a race track – to get to the finish line before the tank runs dry. But what if you are Toyota and you want to make a statement about fuel economy? But of course you take a Prius to a race track and keep the petrol engine from kicking in.

Yes Toyota might have killed the fun of being on a race track when it took the Toyota Prius to the legendary Nurburgring Nordschleife race track, but in the process has set an unbelievable fuel economy record. The Ring is also a toll road and it was used as just that by Toyota when it put automotive journalist Joe Clifford behind the wheel of a Prius with an objective to consume the least amount of fuel as possible in a lap around the circuit. The only constraint was to drive faster than 60kmph which is the minimum speed limit.

Clifford completed the lap in a leisurely 20 minutes 59 seconds, a time in which the fastest of cars to take to the Ring can almost lap it thrice. The Prius battery was fully charged before the run and so it returned 698 miles to the gallon or 296.72kmpl. Yes you read that right, 296.72kmpl! The petrol engine kicked in only once around the 20.8km track on a long uphill stretch. 

Commenting on the record, Joe Clifford said, “We used no special tricks for this test. We simply took a fully charged car, fitted it with low rolling resistance tyres and drove the lap, among all the other public drivers taking the opportunity to experience the challenge of the Nürburgring.”