15 VW beat the Pikes Peak record

Cover for VW beat the Pikes Peak record

At the 2018 Pikes Peak Hillclimb, which happened right on the Midsummer's day 24th of June, team Volkswagen recorded a 7 minute 57 second run, beating the absolute Pikes Peak world record.

The VW "I.D. R" (a cryptic name difficult to memorize) is a 4 wheel drive electric car built by VW with the purpose of beating previous electric car Pikes Peak record of 8 minutes 57 seconds, recorded 3 years ago by a Latvian electric race car specialist Andris Dambis and American racing driver Rhys Millen.

VW, being the resourceful German engineering company, didn't cut any corners (at least off the track), and conceived a car capable of beating the best that internal combustion can offer.

Not only did they accomplish the goal of beating electric car record, they also beat the absolute record (8:13.9) held by Sebastien Loeb and the awesome 900 horsepower twin turbo V6 Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak and became the first vehicle to break the 8 minute mark.

I predicted electric cars would surpass internal combustion prototypes at Pikes Peak several years ago when I first wrote about team Drive eO record attempts.

Hill-climbing is a discipline well suited for electric cars - races are short and don't require excessive battery weight. High altitude locations like Pikes Peak also favor electric motors which don't require oxygen to generate power.

With steady improvements in lithium ion battery tech, we might see electric racing expand beyond Formula E, Pikes Peak and hybrid racing drivetrains.

6y ago by FastestLaps
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saxy  6y ago

43.05 seconds up goodwood hill climb. Only just 1.3s slower than the full blown F1 record. No way does this car only have 700hp


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Vasile  6y ago

Can the 919 beat this record????


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manone  6y ago

"With steady improvements in lithium ion battery tech" i do not think there has been any of this over the last few years. You seem to overlook at the fact that the old electric car record was set by a gang of amateurs welding pieces of metal in a garage. From what you wrote, it looks like volkswagen group motorsport knowledge, R&D, and budget they poured in the project had no relevance, lol.
I am not sure you fully understand who are the usual competitors in this race.


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QA51M  6y ago

Faggioli norma was in second place with a car running in lower power setting still set a crazy time. Check his on board out. 8.37 still mad fast


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saxy  6y ago

Beating out a 1000hp/ton factory backed racer with the best rally driver of all time. I knew the IDR would be fast, but didn’t know it would be THAT fast. Crazy