It was a crisp and clear March morning, the weak sun fighting the early dew off Porsche's circuit, as I was strapped into the five-point harness in the new Porsche Taycan Turbo GT. Sitting in the pit lane on Porsche's private track at its Leipzig facility, Porsche candidly referred to the track sessions as "taxi rides". A tongue-in-cheek joke perhaps, but also an opportunity to get first-hand experience of the most powerful production Porsche so far, with a professional driver behind the wheel.
The Porsche Taycan is one of the best electric cars on the road, previously topping out with the formidable Taycan Turbo S. The Taycan Turbo GT pushes this electric car even further and comes in two variants: there's the "normal" model with the full complement of seats, and then there's the version with the Weissach package.
Weissach, lying to the northwest of Stuttgart, is home to Porsche's development centre. Its name adorns only the most track-focused cars from the company and here it means there are no backseats, there's a huge carbon fibre rear wing and other weight saving measures have been taken to make this a speed machine.
Fresh from breaking records at the Nürburgring and Laguna Seca, it was the Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach package that I was now strapped into.
Gut wrenching – breathtaking – acceleration
Putting the car into drive, we slowly approached the pit lane exit at a nice sedate pace. With sweat already prickling at my temples, I glanced sideways and noticed the wry smile on my driver's face. And then he floored it.
The Porsche Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach package will do 0-62mph in 2.2 seconds. Whatever speed you think you've experienced before, you're probably not even close. Your mate's Tesla Model 3 Performance takes 3.3 seconds to cover the same distance; the Lamborghini Revuelto takes 2.5 seconds; the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport takes 2.4 seconds. Whatever lens you view this performance through, this is a fast car.
The acceleration hits you like a punch in the gut. My breakfast was left in the pit lane, like an anchor was attached to my entrails dragging them out behind me. "He's a lunatic, he's not going to brake" flashed through my head as the first corner came rushing into my vision.
Let me say this in no uncertain terms: the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT will corner at what seems like physics-defying speeds. There's no roll to the car's body, but my body was fighting against every one of the five points of the harness holding me down. I was thankful for the crash helmet as my head bounced off the car's roll cage, before we straightened up again.
Returning to the straight was a chance to take a couple of breaths before bracing for the next corner that was suddenly filling the windscreen in what seemed like another perilous moment. Again the Taycan Turbo GT seemed to break the laws of the natural world, as we switched from a right turn to a left.
An alternative soundtrack
Race cars are so often noisy and smelly, but being electric, there's no screaming engine, no whine from the gears, just the wind and the tyres – and my laboured panting and grunting noises, channelling Tom Cruise in Top Gun Maverick. I quickly tuned into the squeal of the tyres, the telltale indicator you have about how the car is gripping the road.
The adaptive wing on the rear of the Turbo GT with Weissach package provides an extra 220kg of downforce, but you could hear that we were driving on the edge. "The track is still a little damp," said my driver calmly as the car skittered slightly sideways, instantly corrected with an almost imperceptible twitch of the steering wheel.
Porsche's racetrack in Leipzig serves several functions. It's there as part of the Porsche Experience Center, so customers can go and book driving experiences. Part of the track is also used to test every car that comes off the production line at the factory where the Macan and Panamera are built. The track itself steals elements from other famous racetracks: there's a bit of Laguna Seca, a bit of Spa, and a piece of the Nordschleife stitched together for fun.
The Porsche Taycan Turbo GT with Weissach package was chewing up the track, apprehension giving way to pure exhilaration and gratitude of the highest order for the racing seat (which comes as standard) and five-point harness (which doesn't). I now understand why there's no backseat in this car: rear passengers would be purée by the time they finished a lap of the track.
Porsche Taycan Turbo GT by the numbers
The Taycan Turbo GT has another trick up its sleeve. Evolving the regular Taycan's Push to Pass button (like Knight Riders' Turbo Boost), there's now an Attack Mode function. This can be triggered using the right paddle on the steering column and give you a 10-second boost of an additional 120kW. That's more power than the VW ID.3 offers, just as a passing bonus.
When pulled there's a 10-second countdown on the driver display and just when you thought you could handle the speed, there's more power available. By this point I couldn't even remember my name, I just watched the driver's gloved hands expertly controlling the car as he slammed on the brakes ahead of the next corner. The Turbo GT squirmed as it dumped speed, my body trying its hardest to fly through the windscreen, before we were back on the power, my lungs not knowing which body cavity they were supposed to be in.
There's a more powerful pulse inverter controlling the motor and the gearbox has been improved to handle higher torque that this car produces. The Taycan Turbo GT can produce 1340Nm, while the regular 580kW coming from the motors can be boosted to 760kW with Launch Control - over 1034PS. That's more than a Ferrari SF90 Stradale.
There's a 105kWh battery, supporting 320kW charging to get you back on the road after a hard session at the track, meaning you can recharge from 10-80% in 18 minutes.
It's the Porsche Taycan, evolved
There's no doubting that the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT is an impressive evolution of the existing – and very popular – Taycan. Whether the world needed a Taycan that is more powerful than the Taycan Turbo S is open to debate, but at £186,300, it probably won't be a problem you'll encounter.
But while losing my sense of self around Porsche's racetrack, I discovered another way to look at it: that Ferrari I just mentioned costs nearly £400k, the Lamborghini Revuelto is a little over £400k, the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport is a snip at £2.7 million. If anything, the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT is a bargain.
