Ligier JS50 claims the Nordschleife's slowest-ever lap

French marque Ligier notched an unusual milestone at the Nürburgring, announcing the slowest lap in Nordschleife history. Its diesel-powered Ligier JS50, classified as a light quadricycle akin to the Citroen Ami and capped at about 45 km/h, covered the 12.9-mile North Loop in 28 minutes 25.8 seconds. The stopwatch reads more like a sightseeing tour than a hot lap, and that contrast feels deliberate.

The JS50 isn’t a conventional car but a voiture sans permis: a two-seat vehicle that can be driven on French public roads without a license from roughly age 14. To underline the model’s everyday brief, journalists Marten Coulon and Nicolas Meunier first drove a JS50 from Paris to the Nürburgring—around 500 km—and did it on a single tank of diesel.

Alongside the diesel, Ligier also brought electric versions of the JS50 to the track. Two EV variants were transported to the circuit; their stated range is 190 km. The electric JS50 in the license-free category logged 27:55.6—quicker than the diesel despite the same speed limiter. A faster L7e-standard quadricycle (up to 75 km/h) managed 19:53.4, a reminder that even a modest bump in headroom can change the rhythm of a lap.