Currently reading: Porsche and Autocar set 13 new electric records
EV time and endurance records established at Brands Hatch with a six-man team and two Porsche Taycans

A record-setting partnership between Autocar and Porsche GB recently established 13 new FIA-sanctioned time and endurance records for electric cars at Brands Hatch.

Led by Autocar’s Colin Goodwin – who came up with the idea – and Porsche’s Rob Durrant, the team of six drivers and two cars set records for 50, 100, 200, 500 and 1000 kilometres, as well as for 50, 100, 200 and 500 miles. They also turned in one-hour, three-hour, six-hour and 12-hour records. 

The crowning achievement of the bid, full details of which are laid out over 10 pages in this week’s Autocar magazine, was the 1000km record, achieved in almost exactly 13 hours, the record run beginning in darkness at 7am and finishing a few seconds after 8pm that night.

The team consisted of Goodwin and Durrant, plus former Le Mans winner Richard Attwood, former Formula 1 ace Jonathan Palmer, and two current Porsche 911 racing champions, James Dorlin and Harry King. The drivers used a Taycan 4S and a Taycan Turbo S and the records were shared almost equally between the cars because, though a little slower in lap times, the 4S needed a little less recharging time than the more powerful Turbo.

87 Porsche autocar ev record breakers 2021 record breakers

“We were delighted with the result,” said Goodwin after crossing the line, “because the cold, wet and dark conditions made the whole thing look far from easy. But the Taycans and Porsche’s organisation were both brilliant and we drivers got much better at saving both time and battery power at the same time, as the day went on.

“One thing’s for sure. Driving high-performance EVs on a proper racing circuit is a lot of fun, and very challenging.” Read much more in this week’s Autocar, out now.

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Steve Cropley

Steve Cropley Autocar
Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business. 

Cropley, who regards himself as the magazine’s “long stop”, has seen many changes since Autocar was a print-only affair, but claims that in such a fast moving environment he has little appetite for looking back. 

He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.

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Tycoon 27 January 2021
1000km in 13hrs? Model 3 does 1000km on actual roads, at road legal speeds, with traffic, snowy weather, chargers not working properly, in 10hrs LOL.