Electric car Volkswagen I. D. R Pikes Peak set a world record

26 June 2018

Volkswagen celebrated two achievements on the mountain pikes Peak

It is believed that electric cars cannot yet compete with conventional cars in sports disciplines. Yes, there is a "Formula-E" and a number of other disciplines, which use only "green" cars, but they will not stand direct comparison with petrol cars. However, fresh news from the United States has put the skeptics in an awkward position: a new record for climbing pikes Peak has installed electric car.

This competition is the official name of Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. The aim is to get to pikes Peak in Colorado. When the length of the route is almost 20 kilometers, the height difference of 1 439 meters and a very convoluted route is not an easy task.

Records the route of pikes Peak are not updated every year, but with an enviable constancy. For example, previous best time was updated in 2013: then legendary rally racer Sebastien Loeb climbed the mountain in 8 minutes and 13,878 seconds on the Peugeot 208 with twinturbo engine capacity of 3.2 liters, for the first time in the history of the showing time is less than nine minutes. Its predecessor was Rhys Millen, who in 2012 finished in 9 minutes and 46,164 seconds.

Now the best pilot was Romain Dumas (Romain Dumas), two-time winner of the race "24 hours Le-Mana". He participated on a very unusual car — prototype electric Volkswagen I. D. R Pikes Peak. The official time of 7 minutes 57,148 seconds.

Volkswagen I. D. R Pikes Peak is not a serial EV. Its main task is the promotion of the brand I. D., which will be produced in future electric models of the Volkswagen group. It is expected that one of the firstborn series will be a crossover Crozz I. D., which debuts in 2020. Thereafter, minivan I. D. Buzz and saloon I. D. Vizzion.

It is noteworthy that Volkswagen did not take part in the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 1987. The new season marked another exciting achievement for our company: Bentley Bentayga set a record in the class of crossovers and SUVs, driving the route in 10 minutes of 49.9 seconds. By the way, this car driven by Rhys Millen, who already mentioned just above (in 2012, he set an absolute record of the track, which was subsequently broken).