Volkswagen displays its futuristic I.D. at Pikes Peak

March 19, 2018 0 Comments

This is the futuristic looking car that Romain Dumas will drive at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado on 24 June 2018.

And Volkswagen's latest motorsport project – an all-electric, four-wheel drive prototype racing car – has been given a futuristic name too: I.D. R Pikes Peak. Why? Well, it combines Volkswagen’s electric I.D. family range (it plans to have more than 20 fully-electric cars available by 2025) and the current sporty R model.

The famous ‘Race to the Clouds’ was first held in 1916, and whilst it’s still an incredible 12.4 mile blast up to the finish line, 4,300 metres above sea level – it’s now all asphalt, as opposed to all gravel. Volkswagen last entered Pikes Peak in 1987 with a spectacular dual-engine Golf, which generated an impressive 652bhp. However, the Wolfsburg-based manufacturer narrowly missed out on success.

"It is about time we settled the score," said Volkswagen Motorsport Director, Sven Smeets. "The I.D. R Pikes Peak represents an extremely exciting challenge for us, to show what is possible with an electric engine in motorsport. The entire team behind our driver Romain Dumas is highly motivated to set a new record for electric cars."

The record in the electric prototype class currently stands at 8mins 57.118secs and was set in 2016 by New Zealand's Rhys Millen (e0 PP100).