The fully electric Volkswagen ID.R has claimed the EV lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife with a time of six minutes 5.336 seconds with Romain Dumas at the wheel of the purpose-built racer, surpassing the previous electric vehicle record at the German circuit by 40.564 seconds which was until now held by the Nio EP9, a road-legal, quad-motor all-electric car.
The Volkswagen ID.R had also set the all-time record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in the United States, and has since then been adapted from the requirements of hillclimb performance to those of a circuit for its record attempt at the famed German circuit.
“For this evolved version of the ID.R, the aerodynamic configuration was more strongly adapted to the highest possible speed, rather than maximum downforce. With extensive test laps in the simulator and on the race track, we adapted the ID.R to the unique conditions of the Nordschleife, focussing mainly on chassis tuning, energy management and optimal choice of tyres for the record attempt,” said technical director François-Xavier Demaison.
The all-time Nurburgring Nordschleife lap record remains with fellow Volkswagen Group stablemate, the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo which charted a time of five minutes and 19.55 seconds, and the ID.R eventually was some way short of its five minute, 30 second simulated prediction. The VW nonetheless surpassed the 35-year-old record of six minutes 11.13 seconds held by the late Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 C in 1983.
GALLERY: Volkswagen ID.R on test
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Like a mini Le Mans car.
Everybody now is going EV or Hybrid. And records are set with EV and Hybrids.
Those who are sleeping and not following with EV and Hybrid will be last in the race.
Agreed! Those still sleeping and relying on their Japanese overlords for EV tech will wait much longer and gets left behind.