The VW ID.R, an all-electric race car built by Volkswagen to beat some racing records, has officially run the fastest emission-free lap of all time on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife.
We reported last year that VW built the all-electric Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak race car for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb and they ended up breaking the race’s record with the car.
It also broke some records at the Goodwood hill climb.
Earlier this year, VW announced that the car was coming back to take a shot at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit, which is regarded as the toughest racetrack in the world.
Today, the German automaker announced that they broke the electric record at the track:
“Volkswagen has achieved another milestone in electro-mobility: The ID.R, powered by two electric motors, lapped the Nürburgring-Nordschleife in 6:05.336 minutes – faster than any electric vehicle before it. Romain Dumas (F) beat the previous record set by Peter Dumbreck (GB, NIO EP9) in 2017 by 40.564 seconds. With an average speed of 206.96 km/h, the ID.R once again underlined the impressive performance capabilities of Volkswagen’s electric drive. This 500 kW (680 PS) emission-free race car is the racing flagship of the future fully electric ID. product family from Volkswagen.”
They released a video of the record run:
https://youtu.be/9iZY5IMn0wg
The driver, Romain Dumas, commented on his new achievement:
“To be a record-holder on the Nordschleife makes me unbelievably proud. For me, this is the best and most difficult race track in the world. I want to thank the team at Volkswagen Motorsport, who have once again done a fantastic job. The ID.R was perfectly prepared for the Nordschleife and it was so much fun to experience the blistering acceleration and rapid cornering speeds.”
The custom-built all-electric race car that weighs “under 2,500 lbs”, is equipped with two electric motors capable of “680 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque, giving it a 0-60 time of 2.25 seconds,” and a 43 kWh battery pack.
VW also made some modifications to adapt it for the demanding Nürburgring-Nordschleife race track.
Unfortunately, the vehicle and driver were still far from the overall record. The record for non-series/non-road-legal vehicles is held by Timo Bernhard in a Porsche 919 Hybrid EVO with an impressive 5:19.546 time – almost a minute faster than the VW ID.R.
What is it going to take for an electric car to take the record? The new Tesla Roadster with some modifications (like it probably won’t need the whole 200kWh battery? Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
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