If we're being brutally honest, the Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak video we've been patiently waiting for is the full-length onboard footage of Romain Dumas's record-breaking run. Seeing the entire 7:57.148 stint from a helicopter is all well and good, but it does rather take the edge off just how brutally fast the prototype electric car is actually going.
Still, there are moments. Most notable are those when the road opens out a little bit above the tree line, and the I.D. R suddenly charges away from the helicopter like... well, like its endowed with 680hp and four-wheel drive. Then there's the noise (which is clearly taken from the internal feed) which makes the car sound not unlike a demented milk float.
Still, let's take absolutely nothing away from Volkswagen's achievement. The previous record, lest we forget, was set by the GOAT himself, Sebastien Loeb, driving an 875kg 208 T16 powered by a 887hp twin-turbocharged V6. To have shaved over 15 seconds off that time, in the first all-electric racing car you've ever designed, is some accomplishment.