Volkswagen ID.R electric car just broke Goodwood’s record

The full-electric Volkswagen ID.R at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

FIRST it set the record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado with a time of 07.57.15, set in June 2018. In June this year it went on to claim the electric vehicle lap record at the famed Nurburgring Nordschleife via a time of 06:05.33.

On Sunday the Volkswagen ID.R again established the record at a legendary venue. This time the full-electric car broke the 20-year record at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England. The record was held by former Formula 1 driver Nick Heidfeld in a McLaren MP4/13 F1 car. The ID.R clocked in a 41.18-second run on the 1.16-mile (1.88 kilometers) course, or an average speed of 101.4mph (163.2km/h).

Driving the ID.R in the record-setting blast was two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Romain Dumas.

In 1999, McLaren set the fastest time on the Goodwood hillclimb course with a time of 41.60 seconds. In 2018 the ID.R posted a 43.86-second run on the same track.

Volkswagen said a year of development has allowed the ID.R to produce 670hp and 650Nm, while weighing in at less than 1,100 kilograms with the driver on board. Such figures mean the full-electric car can sprint from zero to 100km/h in 2.25 seconds, with a top speed of 270km/h.

“The Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb is one of the most iconic hillclimb events in the world. The track is so narrow and difficult to master, with zero room for error. Dumas and the whole Volkswagen team performed flawlessly to set the record,” said Volkswagen motorsport director Sven Smeets.

The executive noted a “change is taking place in the field of production vehicles and in motor sports” in which electric cars are “becoming increasingly more powerful.”

“It’s great to see them now rivaling combustion engines on track,” he said.