Those of us raised on too much Gran Turismo and Best Motoring will know all about Tsukuba, a testing couple of kilometres in Ibaraki Prefecture. Even without visiting it, many of us will feel like we know Tsukuba, having watched mad races of six production spec supercars or head-to-heads of crazily tuned Japanese heroes.
Now Tsukuba is back in the news, Hyundai having claimed an EV record there with its Time Attack spec Ioniq 5N, the same special edition derivative it used for Pike Peak glory last year. While a production car might have had more relevance for selling some Ns, it won’t have gone as fast as the TA: 57.446 is actually quicker than the Group A Touring Car record at Tsukuba, a 58.726 set by a Godzilla-spec Skyline in the early 90s. It says something of how seriously Japan takes Time Attack - and how frequently Tsukuba is used - that the Ioniq’s time doesn’t even make the top 50 Time Attack laps, however. The very fastest have gone under 50 seconds…
Nevertheless, it’s a quick time - if Gran Turismo taught us anything, going under a minute is impressive - and moves the EV goalposts again: Hyundai says the TA time is almost two seconds faster than the old record. And while looking dramatically different, the Pike Peaks N isn’t a huge amount different to stock, with another 37hp (687), better brakes, new dampers and slicks. The aero package will have contributed something, but probably not loads given Tsukuba is relatively slow speed.
The car was driven by Japanese racer Nobuteru Taniguchi. He said of the N: “I'm honoured to have had the opportunity to drive the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N TA Spec at Attack Tsukuba 2025, which enabled me to significantly break my previous EV record. The Ioniq 5 N TA Spec stops well and handles excellently. Despite the power, the control is outstanding, with great cornering and smooth, stable corner-exit. I could push the car to the limit with real confidence.” Hyundai doesn’t just see this as a bit of fun, either; along with the recently announced DK Edition, this is all part of a “commitment to bringing high performance EVs deeper into global car culture” - according to Joon Park, Head of N. Which seems like a very laudable aim when the cars are as good as the 5. Speaking of the DK, too, Hyundai says it plans to bring those performance parts to market in time for those that didn’t secure a special edition. Hopefully that includes the UK - where better to put money saved off a nearly new one than into better brakes and forged wheels?
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