VW electric racer smashes Pikes Peak's overall record

VW may have been overly cautious when it hoped to beat Pikes Peak's electric vehicle record with its purpose-built racer. Official lap time data has confirmed that Romain Dumas' I.D. R Pikes Peak made it up the legendary hill in just over 7 minutes and 57 seconds, crushing not only the EV record (8 minutes and 57 seconds) but the overall record (just over 8 minutes and 13 seconds in the Unlimited class). It managed that with an average speed of 90.5MPH, clearly trouncing the 83.5MPH of its closest competitor, a Norma M20 SF PKP.

There's not much mystery to why the I.D. R Pikes Peak came out in front: it made the most of its electric motor. It doesn't have the most raw horsepower at 680HP, but the combination of instant access to 479 pound-feet of torque, a relatively light weight for an EV (2,500lbs) and Porsche-derived aerodynamics make for a vehicle that can quickly recover speed when exiting the hill's 156 turns. EVs are practically tailor-made for twisty hill climbs, and VW's achievement serves as proof.