Volkswagen's electric ID R race car broke its own Goodwood Hill Climb record
Volkswagen's electric ID R race car smashed a 20-year-old record at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Volkswagen's electric ID R.
Volkswagen's electric ID R race car broke the Goodwood Hill Climb record on Saturday, completing a 39.9-second run up the infamous English circuit. That's more than a full second quicker than the ID R's Friday run of 41.18 seconds, which had already smashed the previous long-standing record of 41.6 seconds, set in 1999 by a McLaren MP4/13.
Yes, Volkswagen set the hill climb record twice in one weekend.
Driver Romain Dumas was the one who piloted the ID R to this victory, and he's no stranger to record-breaking runs. In 2018, Dumas set the record for electric vehicles at Goodwood, with a 43.96-second time. Dumas also set the overall record run at the 2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
The ID R is a fully electric race car. At the time of its Pikes Peak run in 2018, it had an impressive 680 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, fed by a 43-kilowatt-hour battery pack, with an electric motor at both axles. At the time, Volkswagen said the ID R could accelerate to 60 mph in just 2.25 seconds, which is seriously quick.
Volkswagen says it "opted for a far more aggressive energy management strategy for the short distance" at the Goodwood circuit, according to a statement. "You need very high output for a very short time for the sprint in Goodwood," said François-Xavier Demaison, Volkswagen Motorsport technical director.
Whether or not Volkswagen will be able to hold onto the Goodwood record remains to be seen. But with more and more electric racers hitting the Goodwood scene each year, we're sure the competition will get seriously fierce.
Originally published July 6.
Update, July 7: Adds new record time information.
