Dumas, VW sets new EV speed record at Goodwood

French professional auto racing driver Romain Dumas has set an all new record for electric cars at the Goodwood Festival of Speed which was held last weekend from July 12-15 in the United Kingdom.

After his victory at the Pikes Peak climb last month, Romain Dumas was keen to achieve another feat as part of the Goodwood Festival of Speed ​​2018.

And so he did, in the same Volkswagen I.D.R – smashing the previous EV record for the hill climb held by McLaren MP4 / 13 Formula 1 driven by Nick Heidfeld by 3.5 seconds.

Although not fast enough to beat the overall record, Dumas finished with a time of 43:05 seconds, not far behind the winning Formula 1 which finished in 41:60 seconds.

Time enough, however, to claim the fastest time for an electric car at Goodwood, just in front of the Nio EP9.

The Nio EP9 and the Volkswagen I.D.R Pikes Peak prototype both attended the show at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, with the Chinese supercar also setting a record for the electric category in the Goodwood shootout.

With Scotsman Peter Dumbreck at the wheel, the 1,360 hp Nio EP9 achieved a time of 44:61 seconds on the 1.16-mile course of Lord March’s estate, a time that was then beaten by the Volkswagen I.D.R.

“What we wanted was the electric record and we were fast enough to do that on Saturday, but we had to keep an eye on what the Nio could do,” Dumas told Autocar UK.

Bridie Schmidt

Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.