Source: Goodwood/Twitter
Volkswagen’s all-electric ID.R racing car has claimed a new hillclimb record, breaking a previous record set by a Formula One McLaren in 1999 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
It’s another feather in the hat for Volkswagen’s cutting edge racing car, which last year set a record for fastest electric car at the event with French professional auto racing driver Romain Dumas behind the wheel.
Beating German ex-Formula One driver Nick Heidfeld’s 20-year-old record of 41.6 seconds in a McLaren MP4/13 from the previous year, Dumas and the ID.R first completed the climb in a practice run in 41.18 seconds.
Then, the ID.R then beat its own record, breaking the 40 second barrier by climbing the daunting incline in just 39.9 seconds.
Not to leave things at that, the “unstoppable” ID.R then also took out the FOS shootout in 42.32 seconds.
“What a weekend! Winning the #FOS Shootout, beating the record of the Hill two times & braking the 40 sec mark… and even a run under the rain, without wiper Can’t expect more,” exclaimed Dumas on Twitter.
The ID.R, in which Dumas also set a new record at Nürburgring in June, is clocking up records all over the place.
In 2018, Dumas also took the Volkswagen ID.R to victory, smashing the previous EV record for the hill climb held (again) by Formula 1 driver Nick Heidfeld by 3.5 seconds.
This only weeks after the same ID.R vehicle set a record as the quickest car out of both electric and internal combustion vehicles at Pikes Peak.
The video of the latest climb is thrilling to watch; if you haven’t heard an electric car race the noise is something else.
Gone are the rumbles of a throbbing engine, replaced by an exciting shrill that conveys the speed and torque with which makes the ID.R almost sound like it is flying.
Below are all three videos posted by the Goodwood Festival of the ID.R’s incredible achievements; top is the first record-breaking practice run, followed by the second run held Sunday (UK time), and third the FOS shootout.
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.
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