Driven by the legendary Nobuteru “NOB” Taniguchi, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N TA Spec car set a record for EVs at the equally legendary Japanese Circuit, Tsukuba.

There are three permanent tracks in the world that represent places to set records: Nurburgring Nordschleife, Buttonwillow Raceway Park Clockwise 13, and Tsukuba Circuit. The latter is credited as the birthplace of the motorsports discipline known as Time Attack and where the globe centers itself for a brief period in February to see just who will drop below the 55-second mark around the 1.271-mile course. This year, Hyundai entered as a participant of Attack Tsukuba using the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N TA Spec with the only driver you could have behind the wheel for such an event, Nobuteru “NOB” Taniguchi. It was worth it in the end with a new record for electric vehicles (EVs) set by the team and just missing the sub-55 time by just over 2 seconds.

The Ioniq 5 N TA Spec

The Ioniq 5 N TA Spec twins at Pikes Peak. Image: Hyundai

The car NOB was driving is the same spec that ran up the 2024 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb originally driven by Hyundai’s World Rally Championship driver, Dani Sordo. While its weight isn’t listed, the standard 5 N comes in just under 4,900 pounds and converting one to a racecar would potentially put it closer to 4,600 to 4,700 pounds. This is especially true when you consider that both the TA Spec and road going cars use the same 84-kWh battery pack and the same 641 horsepower dual motor AWD setup.

The changes from road to racecar are the use of two-way adjustable coilovers, an aggressive aerodynamics package, stripped out interior with a single Recaro Pro Racer Spa seat and Sabelt six-point harness, and roll cage. The brakes are also changed from the four-piston front, single-piston rear calipers on the 5 N to six-piston front, four-piston rear calipers on the TA Spec car. Finally, the tires and wheels are swapped from the 21-inch units wrapped in Pirelli P-Zeros in 275/35R21 to 18x11 inch ASA forged aluminum wheels with Yokohama Advan 005 slicks wrapped around them. This setup was good enough for Sordo to win the Exhibition Class at Pikes Peak with a 9 minute 30.852-seconds. In other words, they are giving NOB one hell of a car.

The Record at Tsukuba

The Ioniq 5 N TA Spec ripping around Tsukuba Circuit to set its EV record time. Image: Hyundai

Running in Time Attack means you’re looking to set the fastest time with a clean lap. You’re not running wheel to wheel, it’s the excitement of seeing your car (or your favorite car and driver) get faster with every lap it takes. There is also the appeal of setting a record at the track you’re running for the category or an overall track record.

It should come as no surprise that Nobuteru Taniguchi is the guy you hire to drive Tsukuba if your aim is to set records. You’ll find that his name is littered among the fastest times at the circuit in a multitude of cars, but his most famous–or infamous, depending on your stance–is the HKS CT230R, an all-carbon fiber bodied Mitsubishi Evolution IX. However, he is currently the fastest driver to fly around the track in another HKS-modified machine, the TRB-03 Toyota 86 with a 49.445.

NOB heading into the second turn at Tsukuba Circuit. Image: Hyundai

The previous record for EVs was set by the Unpluded Performance and Taisan team with a Tesla Model S Plaid driven by the one and only NOB in 2024 with a time of 59.598-seconds. With breaking the 2024 EV record the goal, NOB took the wheel of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N TA Spec car and smashed that Teslas time with a 57.446-second run–beating it by 2.152-seconds. Overall, the Ioniq 5 N TA Spec placed 23rd out of 150 cars and beating out such competitors in cars like the Nissan GT-R, Tesla Plaid, and two other Ioniq 5s entered by DSpec and Cusco.

The fastest car for Attack Tsukuba 2025 went to the B-A-R team in their JZZ30 Toyota Soarer–the 1991 to 2000 Lexus SC300 here in the US–with owner Kunihiko Bando behind the wheel. The outlandish build that’s nearly more carbon than car set a time of 51.086-seconds, topping the Sunoco Voltex GT-R by 2.349 seconds and the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N TA Spec by 6.360-seconds.

That may sound disappointing that it wasn’t the fastest car out at Tsukuba Circuit, we must remember that wasn’t the point. It was out to set an EV record, and it did that in spades. But this record run will also encourage more all-electrics to start showing up and set times in the future. The day of a competitive sub-55 EV time may come sooner rather than later as more tuner shops around Japan and the world continue to embrace them. We must also prepare ourselves for the inevitable: a sub-50 time set by a car powered by electricity.

Before You Go

Hyundai celebrating its achievement and the Ioniq 5 at Tsukuba. Images: Hyundai

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