VW electric racecar takes on mountain
The German maker sees red as EV takes on 99 hairpin turns, writes David Linklater.
Volkswagen is continuing its run of record breaking with the ID.R EV racer.
The pure-electric prototype is now heading for China, in an attempt to set the fastest time up Tianmen Mountain, an iconic piece of tarmac that has 99 hairpin turns.
The 10km Tianmen Shan Big Gate Road to ‘‘Heaven’s Gate’’ is regarded as one of the most demanding mountain roads in the world.
We can virtually guarantee the attempt will be successful . . . because there isn’t really an
official record for the road.
In 2016 a privately owned Ferrari
458 Italia set a time of 10 minutes
31 seconds. Last year Land Rover did better with a 9min 51sec run by a Range Rover Sport SVR, driven by Jaguar Formula E racer Ho-Pin Tung. The 500kW ID.R should easily better both.
In June last year, it set a new alltime record on Pikes Peak in Colorado, in the United States, which still stands today.
A few weeks later, the ID.R set a new record for EVs at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
This year, the ID.R broke the lap record for EVs on the infamous Nurburgring-Nordschleife by about 40 seconds.
Back to the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2019, where it beat the 20-year record held previously by a Formula 1 car.
Breaking records isn’t actually the ID.R’s main job in China. It’s more in the public relations line: this will be a crucial market for VW’s forthcoming range of ID production EVs.
‘‘The pioneering ID.R is the ambassador for our fully-electric ID family, which will be launched in China from 2020,’’ says Dr Stephan Wollenstein, member of the board of management of the VW Passenger Cars brand and chief executive of VW China.
The ID.R gets a special delivery for the Chinese record run this month. It’s been blue and light-grey; now it will be bright red, with special graphics marking the ascent of the mountain.