Over the weekend, Volkswagen sent out their all-electric prototype to crush the Pikes Peak Hill Climb record. A century-old race that has 12 miles and 156 curves, Pikes Peak has been setting laps and letting cars chew up miles for greatness up top.
Jalopnik reports that the 670-horsepower Volkswagen I.D. R prototype set a climbing record in under eight minutes (7:57.148, to be exact),
The goal was to beat the EV record set by Rhys Millen in a 1,595-HP car in 2016, which was 8 minutes and 57 seconds. The I.D. R, instead, became the first car to run Pikes Peak in under eight minutes, beating the all-time record for any car set by Sébastien Loeb in 2013. The I.D. R ran a 7:57.148 with prior Pikes Peak champion Romain Dumas at the wheel, compared to the 8:13.878 Loeb ran in an 875-HP Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak car.
For something that was developed in 9 months, Volkswagen worked with Porsche to create an efficient hill-climbing monster. There are some amazing engineering involved in this record-breaking attempt which included:
- Two electric motors producing 670 horsepower; one in each axle
- Aerodynamic design to produce more downforce because the air becomes less dense as you climb up in altitude
- Charging stations powered by glycerol, which is a bio-diesel byproduct (More on that here)
Kudos to Volkswagen in pursuing electric technology for racing and pushing the limits on what it can do. It’s amazing because they’re paving the way for the future.
