Fun is more important than lap time, says Hyundai N mastermind

Hyundai’s first N electric car, based on the Ioniq 5, promises to be fast on the track – but lap times aren’t the most important thing, says Hyundai Executive Technical Advisor and brand expert N comprehensive Albert Biermann said.

Mr. Biermann, now retired from his role as Hyundai Motor Group’s head of overall R&D, was present at the press conference. Fourth Annual N Australia Festival at The Bend Motorsports Park in South Australia last weekend, where more than 200 N cars and their owners converge.

Naturally, the conversation quickly turned to what’s next from the N brand, namely Ioniq 5 FEMALE is set to launch in 2023.

“While our engineers continue to discuss the lap time target for the Ioniq 5 N at the Nürburgring, I would just say that the point is not about that, but about the feeling you get when throw 2.5 tons around Nordschleife – that’s more important than anything,” said Mr. Biermann

“We don’t care about damn lap times, but of course very fast. When I go through Schwedenkreuz at 220km/h to 230km/h, I want to feel comfortable and I want the car to feel confident. That’s far more important than any lap time can yield.

“We didn’t create this car for professional racers, we wanted casual drivers in the car to enjoy the performance – that’s the whole idea of ​​any N car. On that basis alone, the development of the Ioniq 5 N required a completely different approach to lap time only as a measure of success.

“On a typical racetrack, the Ioniq 5 N would fly away from internal combustion engine cars, because it has so much instantaneous power available. And, it’s not slow in corners, either. As you know, we had some tuning sessions on Nordschleife and it was really great.”

Tuning sessions at the racetrack typically include both the driver and the engineer overseeing all types of dynamic loads, but even at nearly 2.5 tons, Mr. Biermann raved about the driving experience.

“When you go down Fuchsröhre at 230, 240 km/h, you think this is absolutely crazy because it is such a heavy car, and there are certainly times when you feel the weight of the car. , but it’s still very likely.”

Unlike Kia’s upcoming EV6 GT high-performance electric vehicle Developed on the same E-GMP architecture as the Ioniq 5, Hyundai was developed with a focus on racing, incorporating various changes, especially in the cooling department.

Mr. Biermann defined the EV6 GT more succinctly, as he also oversaw the development of the super-fast Kia EV.

“When we developed the Kia EV6 GT, of course we tested it, but it was never considered a track-capable EV, like an N car. An N car has to be a race car. capable of surviving on the track for a certain amount of time, while the EV6 GT is a high-powered GT in the spirit of Stinger.”

When it comes to Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N, Mr. Biermann pointed to the significant challenges in developing a trackable EV with considerable weight and proportions.

“Our two biggest challenges are the emotional involvement of the driver in the cockpit, which is where we try to create this with sound, vibration and virtual gearshifts. It’s also been a huge challenge to create a vehicle like this that is capable of accurate tracking. This is where the real fun begins.

“We have put a lot of heart, time and money into creating a capable auto track, because this is where quality is. You can easily make a claim, but after a lap or two, the fun is over as most cars are seriously degraded. Most cars are pretty much useless in a racing environment.

“But with the Ioniq 5 N, we wanted to show you that you can still have fun and stay on track for 20 minutes or so without major system crashes. The temperature rises to the point that batteries and inverters degrade, but our E-GMP architecture is a great starting point for building high-performance electric vehicles.

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“There is another battery at Hyundai, as we put more emphasis on cooling so you can push the Ioniq 5 N on the track. When we first started testing at Nordschleife, we could do one round, but now we can two, or even three rounds in one session.”

Hyundai plans to wrap up the development of the Ioniq 5 N in April/May 2023 before the rumored global launch later this year.