Volkswagen now lays claim to the fastest time ever up to Goodwood hill climb, thanks to an astonishing run from its all-electric ID.R at the Festival of Speed.
Set at the very end of Saturday just gone, the electric machine set a sensational 30.90-second time along the 1.16-mile tarmac stretch with Le Mans winner Romain Dumas at the helm. It beat a previous record time of 41.60 seconds set by Nick Heidfeld, behind the wheel of a McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13 F1 car in 1999.
In order to achieve this impressive time, Volkswagen had refined the ID.R specifically for Goodwood — using a smaller battery to optimise weight. It had previously carried larger cells for its record runs at the Nürburgring and Pikes Peak hill climb.
Sven Smeets, Volkswagen Motorsport director, said: “In setting the new all-time record at the ‘Goodwood Festival of Speed’, the ID.R has once again shown that Volkswagen’s electric powertrain can outperform even the most powerful conventional powertrain.
See Available Volkswagen deals“Romain Dumas exploited the full potential of the ID.R on this short but tricky track. After the victory on Pikes Peak and the e-record on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife, he has now achieved another milestone for electromobility. It was a strong performance from our whole team, which only had a very short time, in which to get a lightweight variant of the ID.R up and running for the ‘Festival of Speed’.”
Not only did the ID.R set this astonishing Goodwood record on the Saturday, it returned again for the famed ‘Sunday Shootout’ to beat every other car at the event.