This weekend saw the 25th running of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, and with it, a host of impressive machinery came out to strut their stuff up the short hillclimb course. While there was certainly no shortage of fast cars on hand, one in particular stood out from the rest, as the Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak managed to reset the record books for all-electric racers at the event.

Continue reading for the full story.

The Full Story

Setting the all-time fastest run for all-electric racers at the Goodwood Festival of Speed is an impressive feat in and of itself, but the Volkswagen I.D. R managed to secure a few other records along the way, including fastest run of the entire 2018 event, plus third-fastest run of any vehicle type in the history of the event.

The Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak managed to cross the finish line at 43.86 seconds, smashing the previous all-electric record set in 2013 by 3.48 seconds. The run was also just 2.26 seconds off the fastest time ever up the hill, which currently goes to former F1 driver Nick Heidfeld’s run of 41.6 seconds, which he made back in 1999 at the wheel of a McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13 Formula 1 car.

You can watch the I.D. R’s run in the videos above. Hit play, and you’ll see the car squirt its way down the straights, working to put the power down over the bumpy tarmac, skipping a bit under acceleration, then zipping through the corners like it’s on rails.

The new record at Goodwood comes less than a month after the VW I.D. R reset the record books in Colorado at the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb, where it beat the standing time of 8 minutes, 13.9 seconds set by Sebastien Loeb in a Peugeot 208 T16 back in 2013.

Like its record-setting run in Colorado, VW’s record at Goodwood was made by Romain Dumas, a French racing driver with previous wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the 24 Hours of Nurburgring, and the 24 Hours of Spa, among others. “The hillclimb is short but often dirty and therefore you should definitely not underestimate it,” Dumas said. “In any case it is a great honor to drive here at Goodwood.”

The I.D. R Pikes Peak is Volkswagen’s first all-electric racing car. Recognizable thanks to its low, squat stance, as well its enormous aero package, which includes a behemoth rear wing element, the Volkswager I.D. R Pikes Peak is propelled by 671 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, all of which hits the ground through a dual electric motor powertrain. Carbon fiber construction keeps it light, with the whole shebang tipping the scales at 2,425 pounds, including the driver. A run up to 60 mph takes just 2.25 seconds.

Volkswagen created the I.D. R Pikes Peak as a means of bolstering the exciting image of its electron-powered I.D. vehicle lineup, as the German brand prepares to debut its first full-electric range of vehicles. “After the great success on Pikes Peak, at Goodwood we have shown once again how impressive the performance of an electric racing car can be,” said Chairman of the Board of Management at Volkswagen AG, Dr. Herbert Diess. “That is a very good preparation for our great electric car offensive which is starting next year.”

What’s more, Goodwood certainly seems like a great fit for the I.D. R Pikes Peak. After all, the hillclimb’s tight and winding course is exactly the kind of thing you’d want to pair to the car’s low-end all-electric grunt and AWD grip.

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak.

Read more Volkswagen news.

Read more Goodwood Festival of Speed.