Alright, I’m a believer now.
EVs can fire up pleasure like practically any manufacturing observe software, as long as they observe Hyundai’s lead.
However simply because one thing can carry out a process doesn’t make it the perfect software for the job. Or perhaps a notably good one. (Shout out to my long-suffering Tacoma, which sinks in opposition to its bump stops like some soggy peasant when hauling a yard of soil from Residence Depot).
Through the media drive of the Ioniq 5 N at Laguna Seca, the Hyundai hammered down the observe’s entrance straight, repeatedly with out fatigue. This sizzling hatch’s hole-shot tempo would warmth examine many supercars, and within the corners, you possibly can play it scalpel-neat or flick the Hyundai’s tail in opposition to the exit curbing like Ott Tänak.
However every successive lap left me questioning, “May you really personal considered one of these as a dual-purpose every day driver observe particular? Must you?”
In our first drive of the automotive, I answered the query in a pair sentences, however the overview was not solely centered on the I5N’s viability as a observe automotive. Inquiring minds will wish to know, might you really every day an EV observe automotive and revel in it?
Let’s break it down.
Efficiency
Monitor days usually are not race days, however anybody who says pleasure’s off the road is mendacity. No person spends $67,000 on a observe particular to level by a Spec Miata. Fortunately, Hyundai’s N division dealt with this one.
By any goal efficiency measure, this 4,861-pound, crossover-sized sizzling hatch performs miracles. Hyundai says it’ll hit sixty in 3.2 seconds from a cease, however my butt dyno says it’s barely faster (observe: my butt dyno was calibrated by a number of years testing car efficiency for Highway & Monitor). Identical goes for lateral grip, although I believe Pirelli left a good quantity of efficiency on the desk in favor of longevity and civility. I ponder aloud what a set of the stickiest Michelin Cup tires would unlock right here.
German publication Sport Auto clocked a 7:45 on the Nurburgring in a bone-stock I5N. It’s not the manufacturing EV document, thoughts you, however thoughts the context as effectively. That’s inside placing distance of the Lexus LFA. That’s 997 Turbo quick. It’s on par with the Civic Kind R, one more big slayer with racetrack bona fides, and a sniff slower than the 991.2 911 S.
Watch the onboard video itself. In contrast to most efficiency EVs, together with the record-holding Porsche Taycan Turbo GT, the I5N thrives underneath observe abuse relatively than merely tolerating it. The Hyundai’s cooling-centric powertrain design permits it two full laps of the ‘Ring earlier than a recharge, with battery, brake, and tire temps in examine the entire method. A Tesla will do three quarters of a ‘Ring lap earlier than you’ve cooked it.
This can be a significant distinction for track-day dorks; In succesful palms, the I5N is fast sufficient to scrap with something, whether or not it is your outlap, or the tip of a typical 30-minute HPDE session.
Practicality
You by no means merely arrive and drive. You’re hauling a the set of track-centric wheels and tires, a flooring jack, an enormous honkin’ torque wrench, the cordless impression driver, a pop-up tent, and not less than a number of extra track-specific odds and ends.
Once more, you’re good with the I5N. A Hyundai rep mentioned the automotive’s hatch will swallow a full set of 4 21-inch spares, and the eyeball take a look at suggests there’s lots extra room for observe day accoutrement within the rear maintain, plus a passenger up entrance. I can’t let you know what number of occasions I drove a BMW E36 to and from the observe with an ideal greasy Hoosier driving shotgun. Fortunately, that’s not essential right here.
Warmth Administration
Thermal administration is any go-fast manufacturing automotive’s best foil. Ask anybody who drove the last-gen Civic Kind R on a sizzling observe. This rule counts double for EVs, which generate warmth from their batteries, brakes, and tires like a reactor in thermal runaway.
The Ioniq 5 N, for instance, totes one thing like a ton of batteries in its stomach. Each time you go full throttle down a straightaway, these batteries generate monster energy for the motors. This course of generates monster warmth in flip, degrading the battery’s State Of Cost.
I misplaced roughly 13 % SOC for each three sizzling laps of Laguna, plus a reasonably paced cooldown lap. At roughly two-and-a-quarter miles per lap, that meant 10 miles of lapping per session and 40 miles of on-track driving. After three classes, the I5N’s SOC dropped from 94 to 54 %. You can extrapolate that vary to your native observe, to gauge viability. Count on they Hyundai’s State-Of-Cost to drop additional than the 13-percent-per-10-miles relationship would counsel, when you exit for longer classes.
That’s the value of the I5N’s inertia. It takes big brakes, an aggressive tune of the regenerative braking characteristic (which generates extra warmth), and ample tire to rein the I5N right into a gradual nook from a quick straight.
We did a number of classes at Laguna Seca, the primary included a sighting lap after which three quick-ish laps, plus a cool-down. A pair extra classes adopted with three laps every and a cool-down. I saved a curious eye on the entrance and rear motor temps, and the battery temp, which discovered an working window and deviated little throughout the course of a given lap. The brakes held as much as the I5N’s monster curb weight simply high-quality, as did the Pirellis, although these did begin to go a bit greasy because the classes wore on.
Tires
A particular observe on the inventory Pirellis. They’re fairly talkative, main you as much as their restrict with a hearty wraowraowraowraow. That extra suggestions helps the I5N alongside on its mission to re-engage the motive force’s senses, as does the tires’ penchant for a clear and linear breakaway between gripping and slipping.
I had a prolonged dialog with a Pirelli engineer on the venture. He insisted that designing an EV observe tire isn’t so totally different from designing for any OEM venture; You present the shopper a steadiness between efficiency, longevity, and civility, tailor-made to their style. However performance-EV tires undergo tremendously by the hands of three-ton curb weights, paired to the moment snap of torque, and warp-speed acceleration. For essentially the most half, the Pirellis held up simply high-quality at Laguna.
I checked shoulder put on visually between our lapping classes and felt round for a way warmth was soaking into the tires. All appeared effectively. No chunks or fissures broke out of the tires’ treads or shoulders. No extra sizzling spots throughout their breadth. Truthfully, I used to be impressed by how effectively these tires dealt with the Ioniq’s appreciable mass.
Nonetheless, I think our lapping classes have been saved temporary for a motive. The physics at work right here would certainly punish any set of tires, no matter model or compound, over longer HPDE classes. I’d advocate benefiting from the I5N’s cargo area, discovering an affordable set of light-weight alloys (18” wheels match on the I5N Cup automotive, which is mechanically equivalent) and a few tires geared toward sturdiness, relatively than final lap occasions.
Charging, Vary Anxiousness, The Battery Conundrum
Alright, right here’s the rub. In each efficiency metric, the I5N is totally prepared to your subsequent observe day. However as with garden-variety EV adoption, charging is the hang-up. Or, relatively, an absence of charging infrastructure.
In case your observe doesn’t have an 800-volt quick charger, which it virtually definitely doesn’t, you’re in all probability SOL. That doesn’t imply it’s not possible, or that you may’t get a good quantity of lapping in underneath excellent circumstances.
I’d wager at most tracks in America, you possibly can get away with a pair of 30-minute lapping classes within the morning, a break for off-site quick charging over lunch, then a number of extra 15-minute classes within the afternoon, with sufficient battery left to get you residence earlier than rush hour. That’s not precisely a double stint at LeMans, however many outfits that run observe days restrict members to classes round 15-20 minutes, lest the Crimson Mist descends.
For a small share of People who reside shut sufficient to a race observe and have entry to at-home charging, I believe the I5N might match properly
It must be mentioned Hyundai is actively working to construct and/or facilitate the constructing of quick chargers at race tracks. However this can take broader curiosity from customers to seal the deal. Race tracks are sometimes in distant places, which in flip requires important funding to improve even easy infrastructure, not to mention infrastructure to facilitate an extremely area of interest.
We’re simply not there but. Not even shut. However vehicles just like the I5N bridge the hole between efficiency EVs and the observe day workflow we’re accustomed to. Finally, it gained’t be as much as the automakers to ship a product that’s track-capable. Hyundai’s simply executed it. Mass adoption of EV observe vehicles will rely solely on the charging infrastructure at or close to the observe.
For now, the track-day lots wait.
However a choose few—these in fair-weather states who reside near a race observe with quick charging close by—can have a ball with the Ioniq 5 N. For the value, you gained’t discover a lot that’ll lap your native bull ring any faster. Bear in mind, a base Cayman begins at $68,300 and for that value, its proprietor can have the pleasure of waving by an EV hatchback with the badge of a Korean upstart on the hood and a grinning face behind the wheel.