Ligier claims slowest Nurburgring lap record with JS50 quadricycle

French carmaker Ligier has set an unusual benchmark at the Nurburgring with the slowest ever lap record of the Nordschleife (North Loop) circuit. The diesel-powered JS50 Revo D+ quadricycle covered the 20.832km track in 28 minutes and 25.8 seconds. Two electric JS50s also ran the circuit, finishing with faster lap times.

1. The JS50 Revo D+ has an 8hp, 478cc diesel engine and a 45kph top speed
2. The previous slowest lap was set by a Trabant P50 in 16 minutes and 1 second

Ligier JS50 at the Nurburgring

Electric JS50s post faster times

While the diesel-powered JS50 posted the slowest official lap time of the Nurburgring Nordschleife, two electric versions of the model also ran the circuit and finished faster. The slower Ligier JS50 Electric was homologated as a voiture sans permis, a French category of microcars that can be driven without a licence from age 14 and has the same 45kph top speed as the diesel. It completed the lap in 27 minutes and 55.580 seconds, which is about half a minute faster than the JS50 Revo D+.

The faster model, the Ligier JS50 Electric 75 km/h, is an L7e quadricycle that allows a higher 75kph top speed but requires a driver’s licence. It completed the Nordschleife lap in 19 minutes 53.4 seconds, significantly quicker than both the diesel and the slower electric version.

All three Ligier JS50 versions were still slower than the Trabant P50, which set the Nordschleife’s previous slowest lap in 1960 with a time of 16 minutes and 1 second. Ligier commented that this “hinted at [its] glorious history in Formula 1,” a claim that is obviously tongue-in-cheek.

All laps were completed without traffic on the circuit but on Nankang RC semi-slick tyres. Whether that gave the quadricycles an advantage is a question we’d rather not ponder, though regular road tyres might have produced even more interesting results. 

From Paris to the Nurburgring on a single tank

While its Nordschleife lap time may be laughably slow, the JS50 Revo D+ proved its efficiency on the road. Two journalists set out from Paris to the Nurburgring and back, covering over 500km on a single 17.3-litre tank, returning around 33kpl, which is very close to Ligier’s claim of 34kpl.

The two electric JS50s, however, had to be transported to the Nurburgring rather than driven from France, due to their limited range of up to 192km on a full charge.

While Ligier’s diesel quadricycle holds the title of the slowest car on the Nurburgring, the fastest production car around the circuit is the Mercedes-AMG One, which lapped the Nordschleife in 6 minutes 29.090 seconds.