Genesis now offers taxi rides at Germany’s Nürburgring track

Like almost everyone else, I seem to be in a perpetual rush, which often means switching from one mode of transport to another in quick succession to get to my destination. Planes, trains and automobiles frequently feature in my weekly travel plans, as does calling on ride hailing services like Uber.

Genesis, though, now has the ultimate in ride hailing operations at Germany’s infamous Nürburgring racetrack. The Korean carmaker already has its fantastic testing Hyundai Motor Europe Technical Center (HMETC) facility at this stunning, heavily forested location and it carries out a lot of R&D work on the track throughout the course of model development. It’s a supplement to the automaker’s HMETC facility in Russelsheim and has been located at the circuit since 2013.

Now the company has gone one step further and offers passenger rides in its Genesis taxi — actually a G70 3.3T sedan, which has been tweaked a bit but is, in essence, the same comfy car you can buy for the road. In other words, there’s a luxurious interior similar to the Genesis GV70 Electrified Pocket-lint reviewed previously, that helps to soak up the sizable lumps and bumps during the course of the 11 or so minutes it takes to get around the track.

Hold tight and hang on

Faster than the average Genesis

There’s performance too, with the car I went in sounding rather more lively than any Genesis I’ve driven previously. Genesis is a brand that’s synonymous with luxury and, with that comes a laid-back waftiness rather than squealing tires and the smell of frazzled brake pads and discs as the driver mashes his foot into the posh interior carpet while laughing hysterically. Which you definitely do get during this thrill ride.

The pro driver isn’t going for record times, but it all feels fast enough to get a buzz with a top speed of around 150mph achieved during my recent lap of the circuit. It’s made even more exhilarating thanks to the driver’s running commentary. He points out the corners, the points of interest — think, crashes, YouTube videos and Nicki Lauda, all of which float past as you attempt to hold on and keep your last meal down.

Prepping for the lap

Taking on the track

Prior to that, back at the car park next to the entry slip road, you pay your Euros, jump into one of the three available seats alongside a qualified driver and head for the start line. It’s that easy. There are no safety helmets or pep talks as such, but I did get a rain poncho in anticipation of regular rain showers while standing in the line to ride and a sick bag in case my lunch attempted to make a re-entry halfway around the track.

During the course of the lap I got the lot: All 20.832 km, 73 corners and constantly changing road surfaces with lifts and drops that cover 300 meters of altitude. Thankfully, I managed to keep my lunch down too, so it’s all good.

More bright ideas in the pipeline

The very orange Magma range

Earlier in the day, Genesis also unveiled its Magma program, a glimpse of which was first seen at the New York Auto show back in March of this year. Magma will be the high-performance arm of Genesis and I got to see a handful of cars that form part of the vision.

The line-up includes the stunning GV80 Coupe Concept, G80 EV Magma Concept, G80 Magma Special, the GV60 Magma Concept and my pick of the bunch, the X Gran Berlinetta Concept. It’ll be interesting to see these models evolve, hopefully, from concept through to creation. And you’ll be able to buy one in any color, just as long as it’s Magma Orange, I guess.

In the meantime, if you like the sound of the Genesis Track Taxi Nordschleife then book online, get yourself along to the track and join the queue. It’s quite a thing. Little wonder the track sees visitors from around the globe. The other bonus is that, unlike some of the folks who take their wheels around the unpredictable circuit, there’s no fear of smashing up your own car either and returning home with it on the back of a recovery trailer.