After the Volkswagen I.D. R was crowned the new king of the hill earlier in June following its record run at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, the all-electric racer is out for more blood, this time with Nürburgring firmly in sight.
That’s right. Several reports suggest that the Wolfsburg-based automaker had actually booked a slot in May 2019 for the showdown, and the I.D. R, which makes 680 PS and 650 Nm of torque from two electric motors, aims to dethrone current lap record holder Nio EP9 as the fastest electric car around the Nürburgring.
It won’t be easy, though. The EP9 is much more powerful – it uses four electric motors (each making a whopping 1,480 Nm of torque) to provide a total system output of 1,341 hp. That translates to a century sprint time of 2.7 seconds, zero to 200 km/h in 7.1 seconds and a top speed of 313 km/h. The EP9 whizzed through the 20.8 km-long in just six minutes 45.9 seconds, making it faster than the Lamborghini Huracan Performante, Porsche 918 Spyder and even the Mercedes-AMG GT R.
Expect Volkswagen to make some fine tuning to the I.D. R, possibly in the way of a power bump. As it is, the electric race car, which rides on the Modular Electric Drive Kit (MEB) platform with a four-wheel drive powertrain, tips the scale at 1,100 kg. It boasts a zero to 100 km/h sprint time of 2.25 seconds, which is quicker than the EP9, Formula 1 and Formula E car.
The fastest car to ever lap the Nürburgring track was the heavily modified Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo race car, with a time of five minutes 19.55 seconds and an average speed of 233.79 km/h. However, early simulations of the I.D. R suggest times below five minutes 30 seconds are possible.
A company insider with knowledge of Volkswagen Motorsport’s Nürburgring plans told Autocar “we’re still at an early stage of preparation, but we’ve already seen lap times below five minutes 30 seconds in the simulator. There’s more to come, we’re sure.”
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- World premiere of the Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak on 22nd April 2018 in Alés (F)
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