VW drives ID.R electric race car up ‘Heaven’s Gate’ in record time

Volkswagen’s ID.R electric race car has been breaking records, and today, it added China’s Tianmen Mountain’s “Heaven’s Gate” record to the list.

The German automaker custom-built the all-electric race car to weigh “under 2,500 lbs,” and it 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.

We reported last year that VW built the all-electric Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak race car especially 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 and the Nürburgring-Nordschleife electric record.

Romain Dumas, who was the driver for most of those records, traveled to China with the electric race car to attempt to break the record of the fastest time to climb Tianmen Mountain’s 10.9 km road with 99 tight turns up to “Heaven’s Gate.”

They managed to break the record by completing the trip in just 7:38.585 minutes.

Dumas commented:

I will certainly remember this record run on Tianmen Mountain forever as my most spectacular outing. I am proud to have set a record with the electric Volkswagen ID.R in China. The little information and testing we had beforehand made it a huge challenge. The road is incredibly narrow and winding, but the drive was unbelievable fun with the electric power of the ID.R. The huge torque was a big advantage on the short straights, while the aerodynamics provided additional traction in the fast sections.

Ralf Brandstätter, chief operating officer of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand, added:

A new record on a truly spectacular road — Volkswagen and the ID.R have once again shown what the electromobility of the future is already capable of today. Not only has it proven that electric cars like the ID.R can break established records and set new benchmarks, but the ID.R also shows how emotive and exciting the mobility of the future is.

VW is presenting the ID.R electric race car as a representative of the ID family of electric cars that the automaker is about to finally officially launch with the ID.3 in Frankfurt later this week.