The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N has been ragged 10,000km around the Nurburgring

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 N has entered the last stretch of its intense development programme, in which testers have subjected it to 10,000km of running at the Nurburgring. That’s a lot of Nurburgring; about 480 laps by our reckoning.

In fact it’s been sent straight back for another 10,000km shakedown, in order to give the car’s upgrades as thorough a workout as possible ahead of the car’s big reveal at Goodwood FoS on 13 July.

Much has changed over the standard Ioniq 5: that handsome face has been carved open to accommodate a big (and very necessary) grille, feeding air into a more efficiently packaged radiator.

Meanwhile more focus has been put into the battery’s pre-conditioning system: two modes - Drag and Track - will warm or cool the cells for either maximum, immediate straight-line performance or maximum, race-extending range.

The Ioniq 5 N also gets bigger brake discs (400mm, since you ask) made from a lightweight-but-not-specified material. They kick in after the regen, which is capable of a 0.6G stopping force all on its own. Hyundai claims that’s an industry-leading figure.

“The Nürburgring is where every N model is honed to the Nth degree, so our first high-performance, all-electric N model must also prove itself here,” said Hyundai's N brand and motorsport boss Till Wartenberg. “Ioniq 5 N just completed its 10,000km durability test on the Nordschleife, which is an important milestone that proves the vehicle’s high endurance and racetrack capability. And yet, we just began our second 10,000km test to push IONIQ 5 N's limits.” 

And concerned that some drivers still think hot EVs are a bit dull, the firm has introduced non-performance features to try and win over the doubters.

As such there’s an N e-Shift system which mimics the behaviour of an eight-speed DCT by simulating the jolts you’d get if the car actually had gears, and the 10-speaker sound system plays different noise themes so you can pretend you’re driving everything from a 2.0-litre turbo - a la i30 N - or a fighter jet…

Exactly what you need when you’re hooning around the ‘ring.