Forgive the slight Nordschleife fixation at the moment but we've been spending some time there of late and it's very much front and centre. We're not the only ones it seems and in a slightly surprising move Toyota has attempted to draw a link between going for lap times with the Lexus LFA and recording rather different feats in ... a Prius.
XF left trailing in the Toyota's wake...
Using a Prius Plug-In, Toyota completed a lap of the Nurburgring in a public session using five tablespoons of fuel. An average speed of 60kph (37mph) is required during a public session and the recorded time was 20:59. The 12.9 miles is within the electric range of the Prius but the combustion engine was required for one of the steeper uphill sections. Even so, its minimal use meant the Prius registered 698mpg (the official claimed is 134mpg) on the lap. The Prius was standard bar some low rolling resistance tyres.
Toyota has used the lap to promote the EV ability of the Plug-In compared to the regular Prius and certainly it's a novel way of drawing attention to it. As the first attempt at an mpg benchmark at the 'ring, perhaps we'll see a race to efficiency records rather than lap times now. Just in case it wasn't scary enough it might become packed with hybrids on 20-minute laps. Or perhaps not. Could VW have a go with an XL1?