Discover what made the future: VW ID R

In 2013 Sebastien Loeb set a Pikes Peak record that nobody thought would ever be broken. He crushed the former record by more than 90 seconds setting the bar significantly higher… enter the Volkswagen ID R driven by Romain Dumas.

The VW ID R is a fully electric racing vehicle putting out 671bhp and weighing in at 1100kg, which for an electric vehicle can be considered relatively light. The team was having trouble with the bumps in the road not allowing the car to perform as it should. There was a lot of work done on the vehicle in the weeks leading up the race to optimise it for the 20km route.

On the 24th June, race day, the Volkswagen pulled up for its turn to tackle the impossible record but was delayed due to incidents further up the mountain. 45 long minutes later the signal went and they were off with a speedy but eerie whisper. The time to beat for electric vehicles at 8min 57.118sec and the outright record set by Loeb was 8min 13.878sec.

The pair crossed the line at an unbelievable 7min 57.148sec with Dumas saying that they could have easily bettered their time by 10 seconds. The electric motor outshone the combustion engines that came before it and once again opened up Pikes Peak.