Just over a year ago, Volkswagen unveiled the I.D. R Pikes Peak. An all-electric racecar built specifically to set a new record at the Pikes Peak hill climb. 250 days since the project began, Volkswagen bagged the all-time record at Pikes Peak with the first ever sub-8 minute time with Romain Dumas at the wheel. Fast forward to now, the ID R has taken the crown of fastest EV ever at the Nürburgring with a time of 6m05.336s.
To highlight just how impressive that is, the previous owner of ‘Fastest electric lap’ was the Nio EP9 which had set a time of 6m45.9s and that had 1000kW of power. The Volkswagen ID R with half the power of the EP9 was quicker by 40 seconds. That’s the magic of aerodynamics around a circuit with 73 corners aka the Nordschleife. It still had the same twin motor and battery setup as used for the hill-climb record run making the same 500kW of power but a lot of work went in to adjust the downforce and acceleration to be better suited for the ‘Ring. It got smaller front and rear wings and a completely redesigned floor. VW didn’t up the 250kph top-speed but changed the energy management system to help the ID R reach it quicker with an F1-style DRS system for the straights. The true strength of the ID R is how much speed it can carry through corners and is capable of pulling four to five G under braking.
With Romain Dumas behind the wheel again, 4-time winner of the 24h of Nürburgring, the ID R was as prepared for this lap record as it could be. The results speak for themselves and the entire team behind this project deserves a lot of credit for what they’ve managed to achieve. For the I.D. R, it has earned itself plenty of bragging rights with this crown and being the second-fastest overall. Meanwhile, VW’s e-mobility tech has earned a pretty badge too — “Nürburgring-approved”.
The all-time lap record stays with Porsche though thanks to the 919 Evo that too a little over 5 minutes and 19 seconds to go around. Also, in defence of the Nio EP9, it is kind of a production-car and road-legal too unlike the VW ID R which was purpose-built for the fastest lap time around the ‘Ring. Reckon we’ll see an EV set a new production car lap record by the end of 2020? Which carmaker do you think it could be?
The Auto Loons 