Volkswagen will be making an attempt at the Nurburgring Nordschleife lap record with the ID.R, the 680 PS/650 Nm pure electric race car which claimed the outright hillclimb record at Pikes Peak last year.
To tackle the famed closed course, the ID.R has been revised with a new F1-inspired aerodynamics package comprising a new rear wing, front splitter and drag reduction system (DRS) which reduces downforce by as much as 20%. Where the main goal of DRS in Formula 1 is to facilitate overtaking, the system will help the ID.R maximise battery efficiency, particularly on the three km-long Döttinger Höhe straight.
“When the ID.R arrives at Döttinger Höhe, it has already covered roughly 18 km. Our goal is to still have enough battery charge at our disposal to allow Romain to take the whole straight at full power, right through to the finish,” said Volkswagen Motorsport head of electrics and electronics Marc-Christian Bertram. The revised ID.R improves on non-DRS aerodynamic drag from the 2018 car by about 33%, says Volkswagen.
“Last year, the many-cornered hill-climb track and the thin air at Pikes Peak demanded maximum downforce. On the Nordschleife lap, the ID.R will reach an average speed of more than 180 km/h, with a top speed on the straight of up to 270 km/h,” said technical director of Volkswagen Motorsport François-Xavier Demaison.
Along with the overhauled aerodynamics package, there’s also optimisation of energy management which controls the power output of the two electric motors and energy recovery in the braking phases. The latter was also refined for the record attempt at the Nurburgring, where the goal for energy regeneration is about half that required at Pikes Peak, says Volkswagen.
New to the ID.R project is the latest tyre partner, Bridgestone, which will supply the tyres measuring 330-40/18 for the all-electric racer. “Finding the right set-up was a key aspect of our preparations. However, we were able to gain a lot of the knowledge required in this regard during tests at racetracks other than the Nordschleife,” said ID.R project leader Cedric Delnatte. Also new to the ID.R are carbon-fibre brake discs.
The ID.R’s aforementioned target average speed of 180 km/h around the Nordschleife is some way short of the 233.8 km/h average around the same circuit attained by the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo, which suggests the outright record of five minutes and 19.55 seconds won’t be troubled. Having said that, early simulations have suggested that lap times below five minutes 30 seconds is attainable; watch this space.
GALLERY: 2018 Volkswagen ID.R Pikes Peak
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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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