While Porsche and Tesla fight for thousandths, a model that does not require a full license sets the highest time ever recorded in the 'Green Hell'.
While the world’s biggest manufacturers invest fortunes to lower fractions of a second at the iconic Nürburgring circuit in Germany, France’s Ligier has decided to go the opposite way. The brand took its microcar to the track to test how slow an official lap could be, setting a new milestone in the “Green Hell”: the title for the highest time ever timed.
The historic lap, marked by patience and not adrenaline, was completed in 28min25s8. The time exceeds by more than 12 minutes the old “slowness record” that belonged to a Trabant P50 since 1960. The objective of the action, of course, was not the performance, but an unusual record that unites humor and marketing.
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The protagonist of the feat is the Ligier JS50. The model belongs to the category of light quadricycles, vehicles that in several European countries do not require a full license and can be driven from the age of 14. The diesel engine delivers a modest 8 hp and the top speed is electronically limited to 45 km/h.
The JS50 swapped aggressive aerodynamics for urban simplicity to tackle the 73 corners and steep climbs of the 20.8-kilometer track. Even with the lack of power, French journalists Nicolas Meunier and Martin Coulomb completed the challenge without mechanical failures.
If the speed was low, the efficiency was high: the highlight of the journey was the average consumption, which reached about 38.7 km/l. To get in the mood, the vehicle was equipped with a “sporty” sticker kit and gold wheels, an ironic reference to Ligier’s glorious past in Formula 1.
The success of the action on social networks was immediate, and the company is already studying to market the visual package used in the challenge. The JS50 now ranks as the world’s slowest car at the Nürburgring, holding a record that is unlikely to be broken anytime soon.
