Volkswagen has finally unveiled their I.D. R electric race car.
They’re calling it the Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak in honor of the race Volkswagen hopes to win in Colorado Springs in June. Before then, Volkswagen engineers took the I.D. R Pikes Peak to France where they put her through some laps at the Alès racetrack, right at the feet of the Cevennes Mountains. Volkswagen hopes the altitude there will be a good simulation for how well the I.D. R will behave in the Rocky Mountains.
Volkswagen also finally gave us some stats for their electric hill climbing monster. The I.D. R is powered by two electric motors that put out a combined 680 hp and 480 lb-ft of torque. Zero to sixty is done in 2.25 seconds, which is faster than most Formula One or even Formula E cars.
All that power is pushing a car that only weighs 2,425 lbs, which is very light for an electric car—even one that races.
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Thanks to the lack of air at such high altitudes, Volkswagen’s engineers had to make the car’s exterior seem a little extreme in order to generate the necessary amount of downforce using so little atmosphere. That’s why the spoilers in the front and back stick out a little more than a regular racer's would, and why the rear wing seems large enough that the I.D. R could take flight given a long enough runway.
And in a sense, the I.D. R will. Pikes Peak race starts at an altitude of 9,000 feet but climbs to a height of 14,000 feet above sea level. Lucky for Volkswagen, they’ve got a three-time Pikes Peak champion at the wheel.
“It was absolutely fantastic to see the completed I.D. R for the first time, and to take it out for its first spin,” said I.D. R’s driver Romain Dumas in a press release. “What Volkswagen has managed to put together from scratch over the past few months has my greatest respect. I had obviously seen initial pictures of the car – but it is even more spectacular in the flesh. We now have a packed schedule of testing ahead of us, and I am looking forward to every meter!”
The I.D R will head to Colorado in two weeks to undergo more testing in the actual conditions it will race, then it will be ready to race.