VW Gunning For Goodwood Record With ID R Pikes Peak Hillclimber

Porsche isn’t the only one going after records with a Le Mans-style prototype. So is its parent (or sister) company Volkswagen, which conquered Pikes Peak with its I.D. R electric racer – and has now set its sights on Goodwood.

The People’s Carmaker has announced that it’s bringing its victorious I.D. R Pikes Peak to the Festival of Speed this week, but it won’t be sitting still. Instead it’ll be gunning for another record.

For those just joining us, the Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak was purpose built for maximum attack on hillclimb events like these. It weighs less than 2,500 pounds, and packs 680 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque – all of it from electric motors. The project was undertaken to showcase the automaker’s forthcoming range of electric vehicles and of what their manufacturer is capable.

With two-time Le Mans winner Romain Dumas behind the wheel, the I.D. R smashed the Pikes Peak record late last month, completing the Race to the Clouds in under eight minutes – enough not only to beat the previous EV record (set by Rhys Millen two years ago) but the top outright time set by Sebastien Loeb in the Peugeot 208 T16 three years prior.

With Dumas returning to the helm at Goodwood, Volkswagen has set its sites on the record for electric vehicles. That currently stands at 47.34 seconds, set by Jonny Coker five years ago in the Lola-Drayson B12 69/EV. But given its performance in Colorado, it could very well end up taking the outright record. That’s stood for nearly 20 years, since Nick Heidfeld drove a McLaren MP4/13 grand prix racer up the hill in just 41.6 seconds.

The biggest challenge may well prove the logistics of it all. The car just returned to Germany a few days ago, leaving the team with precious little time to get it ready for Goodwood. Assuming all goes well, the I.D. R will be joined at the British event by the twin-engine Golf that Hans-Joachim Stuck drove at Pikes Peak in 1987 (over 30 years ago).