When the I.D. R Pikes Peak is presented to the public on 22 April, it will be Volkswagen’s first fully-electric racing car.
The I.D. R Pikes Peak will first take its place under the spotlight of the international media at the racetrack in Alés, France – home of world-class driver Romain Dumas, who will be at the wheel for the Pikes Peak Hill Climb – before the official test programme gets underway just one day later.
19.99 kilometres. 1,440 metres in altitude. All in just under nine minutes. Just one attempt. Hardly any crash barriers. Steep slopes falling up to several hundred metres. The event on Pikes Peak, reverently known as the “Race to the Clouds”, starts at 2,862 metres and finishes at 4,302 metres above sea level. For more than 100 years, it has been the most spectacular hill climb in the world of motor racing. Volkswagen took part with an iconic twin-engine Golf in 1987 but came up just short of victory. The goal is now to settle that score by setting a new record for electric cars.
This record attempt sees Volkswagen R, which lends its name to the car, look to the future. The knowledge gained during the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb project will be incorporated in the future development of performance-optimised electric cars at R GmbH.
