Volkswagen has demonstrated its Pikes Peak record-holding ID R at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where the car tackled the UK's most famous hill climb.
It comes just weeks after Romain Dumas smashed the outright record for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the electric prototype.
The Volkswagen Motorsport team had targeted the electric record for the event, but Dumas’s time of 7min 57.148sec on the 12.42-mile course actually eclipsed the overall mark of 8min 13.878sec, set by Sébastien Loeb in the Peugeot 208 T16 in 2013.
Dumas averaged 90.538mph on the 156-turn course in the ID R, which gets around 671bhp from two electric motors. The machine had been built for the project in just seven months.
“We exceeded even our own high expectations,” said Dumas. “Since this week’s tests, we have known that it was possible to break the all-time record. For it to come off, everything had to come together perfectly, from the technology to the driver. And the weather had to play ball, too.
“That everything ran so smoothly is an incredible feeling, and the new record on Pikes Peak is the icing on the cake.
“The ID R Pikes Peak is the most impressive car I have ever driven in competition. The electric drivetrain means that many things are different and I learned a lot during the project.”
Breaking the record is a major milestone for a full electric motorsport programme, representing the first time an EV has proven quick than a combustion engines machine on a major event.
Volkswagen Motorsport boss Sven Smeets said the record proved the capability of electric car technology.
“This project was a demonstration of what the ID family will be, and what R will be in an electric future,” he said. “We can bring some of this to electric road cars.”
The event does suit battery-powered electric cars because, unlike internal combustion engines, they don’t lose power at altitude. The finish line of Pikes Peak is 14,115ft above sea level.
Bentley breaks production SUV record
A Bentley Bentayga W12 set a new benchmark time for a production SUV on Pikes Peak, with Rhys Millen completing the course in 10min 49.902secs.
That obliterated the previous record for a standard SUV of 12min 35.610secs, set by Paul Dallenbach in a Range Rover Sport in 2014. That time was set on a standalone event sanctioned by Pikes Peak organisers, PPIHC, rather than as part of the annual event.
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Battery cars in Sport...
Having watched a few E’ races if anything this is Mogadon on Wheels!, all the charisma of a Bottle of Ketchup, Boring with a capital B!
Peter Cavellini wrote:
So going on your own logic, that would make you mogadon with legs.
Sounds about right : )
@KiwiRob
Rumour had it that Dumas was bricking it at the start line in case someone called KiwiRob turned up. Seriously, calling a 2 times le mans winner a nobody?
Phil R wrote:
Yes compared to a 9 times world champion he's a pimple on your backside. I would bet a lot of money on it that up this mountain in the same car Loeb would be quicker, this is basically a tarmac rally stage up a hill, Loeb is not only the best rally driver of all time he's also the GOAT on tarmac.
Imagine how much faster the
Imagine how much faster the car would have gone with a decent named drive behind the wheel? Dumas is a bit of a nobody, Loeb probably would have been significantly faster in the same car.