Monday 19th March 2018

VW announces I.D. R Pikes Peak challenger

The manufacturer aims for hillclimb glory as Stateside sales struggle

---

In October of last year we reported that Volkswagen was preparing to return to Pikes Peak. Now, against a backdrop of precarious figures, the resignation of its US sales chief, and a share price that's fallen since February nearly as steeply as the Peak's own precipitous slopes, more details have been released around what VW aims to achieve on June 24th.

The car you see here is the I.D. R Pikes Peak, an all-electric, all-wheel drive prototype racer. It heads to Colorado with two main objectives: to act as an ambassador for VW's electric tech - the marque plans to offer more than 20 fully-electric cars by 2025 - and to finally complete the job so nearly finished on the company's last visit to the Rockies.

On that occasion, over 30 years ago, VW arrived with a twin-engined 660hp Golf. With independent 1.8-litre turbocharged engines in the front and rear, the car could run in front-, rear- or all-wheel drive configurations, and was capable of 0-62mph in just 3.4 seconds. Driver Jochi Kleint put himself within reach of a famous victory, but, just three turns from the finish line, suspension failure forced the rampant Rabbit and its driver to retire.

Things will, VW hopes, be rather different this time. As the self-proclaimed first step towards "an intensification of the cooperation between Volkswagen R and Volkswagen Motorsport" the I.D. R will carry a great deal more than just its driver to the top of the mountain; the pride, expectation and ailing US reputation of the company resting on the electric future it heralds.

To make doubly sure of success, VW has employed the best man for the job, with 2014, '15 and '16 winner Romain Dumas taking the wheel for the 12.5-mile run - Rhys Millen's electric prototype class record of 8:57:13 surely also in his sights. There are no specific performance figures yet, but Millen's eO PP100 used a 50-kWh lithium-ion battery mated to seven electric motors to produce nearly 1,600hp and 1,858lb ft of torque. VW will need similarly mountain-moving momentum to claim its long-lost victory, and to turn its US fortunes around.

 

 

[numtumfutunch]

1600bhp should mean 2900 at the wheels if they use the same test software they used for emissions

[stongle]

numtumfutunch said:

1600bhp should mean 2900 at the wheels if they use the same test software they used for emissions

64,000bhp actually. It was about 40 times out. Should accelerate like an SR71.

[BERGS2]

anyone else think the total lack of aero on that twin engined golf from '87 is a bit odd?

[Plug Life]

I wonder what kind of Nazi trickery will be in this car? Monkeys in running wheel on a generator to charge the battery?

[carinaman]

That video of the Golf Bi-Motor isn't Climb Dance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6rYyVozpw4

[Talksteer]

stongle said:

64,000bhp actually. It was about 40 times out. Should accelerate like an SR71.

You mean pretty slowly?

The SR71 doesn't have a particularly high thrust to weight most performance cars would beat it to 100mph, jets are essentially stuck in top gear.

[rossh]

fk VW

I could be more eloquent but they don't deserve it.

[irocfan]

stongle said:

numtumfutunch said:

1600bhp should mean 2900 at the wheels if they use the same test software they used for emissions

64,000bhp actually. It was about 40 times out. Should accelerate like an SR71.

well what do you expect - they've gone to the dianne abbott school of maths

[Turbobanana]

Anyone else think VW are a bit naive to expect a multi-million dollar exotic hypercar (however good it looks) to restore a nation's faith in them after all they've done?

I fear that may take more than a halo model...

[jason61c]

so so so boring.

Stick a 10000rpm n/a v12 in it.

[Fetchez la vache]

That car actually looks nice - that's not cricket VW!
I thought the idea of pikes peak was to run something up the hill that looked like a wardrobe with lots of flaps stuck on it...

Not that they have a good name this side of the water, but it's a damn site worse over there... this will have to perform a miracle to turn anyone's ideas round.

[sr.guiri]

rossh said:

fk VW

I could be more eloquent but they don't deserve it.

I'm a big fan of their aircooled stuff and I generally quite like their modern stuff too but after seeing a recent documentary about what they did, I agree with you.

Buyers of their cars have unknowingly been pumping high levels of extremely dangerous toxins into the atmosphere, whilst they had been led to believe that their cars were "clean" and that they'd made a responsible decision in buying a VW.

Mind you, I believe BMW and Fiat are guilty too, and probably every other major manufacturer.

Put them all together though, and what they're doing to the earths atmosphere is nothing compared to the food industry. Think of that whilst you're driving your Prius to McDonalds

[Baron Greenback]

carinaman said:

That video of the Golf Bi-Motor isn't Climb Dance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6rYyVozpw4

When Pikes was mostly dirt roads, dam scary!

[unpc]

I find it somewhat satisfying that VW sales in the US are imploding as they brought this on themselves. Doesn't seem to have made any difference here though as people are still lapping their stuff up. That I don't get.

As an aside, hardly anybody in the US had heard of Pikes Peak when I lived there so I'm doubtful of PR value in this.

[FlossyThePig]

Volkswagen’s electric car sets Pikes Peak record, 7 minutes 57 seconds. 16 seconds faster than the previous record.