The infamous Nürburgring-Nordschleife is to auto racing as K2 is to mountaineering — a technical challenge and performance benchmark recognized around the world. Any car worth its salt gets flogged at the ‘Ring, where the only thing that matters is the time on the clock. So, when we heard BMW took a “race-prepped” version of the Mini E electric  car to the track dubbed the Green Hell, our interest was more than piqued.

Let’s get right to the bottom line: The Mini E Race, as BMW calls the little EV, lapped the Nürburgring in nine minutes, 51.45 seconds and hit a top speed of 116.19 mph.

Not bad. Not bad at all.