Skip to Content
Volkswagen mission electromobility - green car magazine

Volkswagen - Mission Pikes Peak 2018

The reorientation towards electric drives in the passenger car sector has been given a sporty face: the Volkswagen IDR Pikes Peak. When the legendary Pikes Peak hill climb starts on June 24, 2018, Volkswagen will be betting everything on electromobility with the super sports car. In the “Race to the Clouds”, the self-imposed mission is to return as the new record holder. The driver of the sports car will be the three-time winner at Pikes Peak Romain Dumas.

The goal is clearly defined and, according to Volkswagen, the prototype is a technology carrier and rolling test laboratory for the electric vehicles of the ID family, which is due to start in 2020. The spectacular hill climb is 19,99 km long and leads to an altitude of 4.302 meters.

https://youtu.be/Yqm-tU9sAms

The race has been held in a wide variety of vehicle classes since 1916. In the “Unlimited” category, in which Volkswagen is starting, the regulations allow engineers almost complete freedom. "We decided on this class because we can demonstrate our technological competence in a perfect way," says François-Xavier Demaison, Technical Director at Volkswagen Motorsport. While his team concentrated on developing the chassis and drivetrain for the ID R Pikes Peak, Volkswagen Design created the shape of the body. “Our task was to transfer the unmistakable design language of the ID family to such an extreme and emotional racing vehicle,” says Klaus Bischoff, Head of Design at Volkswagen.

The racing car specially developed for this purpose relies on front and rear wings that are designed for maximum downforce. Two electric motors that drive the front and rear axles deliver a system output of 500 kW (680 hp). The electrical energy is stored in a lithium-ion battery, which is divided into two blocks next to and behind the cockpit. Around 20 percent of the energy required is generated on board, for example through energy recovery when braking. "With energy and charging management, we have gained fundamental knowledge that may also have an impact on the development of ID series vehicles in the future," says Willy Rampf, who advised Volkswagen Motorsport with his many years of experience in Formula 1 as a consultant on the project Side stands.

According to Volkswagen, the ID R Pikes Peak had its world premiere on April 22, 2018 on the racetrack in Alès in the south of France. After extensive test drives in Europe, Volkswagen Motorsport relocated its base for the hill climb to the US state of Colorado and completed test drives on the original track at Pikes Peak, during which the set-up for the race was fine-tuned. The first test will start on June 20, 2018 on site. Volkswagen's hunt for the record for electric vehicles, which currently stands at 8: 57,118 minutes, begins on Sunday (June 24) at 8 a.m. local time (16 p.m. CEST). First, 24 motorcycles registered in nine different classes will take to the track. This is followed by 67 cars in six classes. The starter with the best qualifying time goes into the race first.

You can follow the hill climb live at:

ppihc.org

Addendum

Sources and video source: Volkswagen

More information and current tests can be found in the current issue of green car magazine at

Subscriptions

N. Hawthorn
Translate »