Although it may not be as well-known as the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and the Le Mans 24-hour, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is one of the most challenging motor racing events in the world.
With production and honed race cars taking on the 12.42-mile course up one of the tallest mountains in the American state of Colorado, it has hosted some truly incredible vehicles and race drivers.
This year, Volkswagen will be taking on the twisty ribbon of tarmac with its all-electric I.D. R Pikes Peak car. It will be driven by French racer Romain Dumas, who will hope to right the wrongs from the German brand’s last attempt up the mountain in 1987.
On that occasion, Volkswagen had sent a twin-engined Golf hatchback up the hill climb, but after a near-faultless run, the car broke down before the finish so it couldn’t complete the course.
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This I.D. R also has a twin-motor setup, but in this case, both are electric, meaning a consistent delivery of power up the whole course. As the hill climb finishes at over 14,000ft, internal combustion engines struggle to put the power down due to the reduced level of oxygen. This is where electric models have the advantage, as they don’t need any outside elements to help them go – just the charge that their batteries hold.
To ensure the I.D. R is ready to race, Volkswagen is putting it through its paces in final testing before the competition on June 24.
With 670bhp and 650Nm of torque at its disposal, the I.D. R can get from 0-60mph in under 2.25 seconds – which is faster than a Formula One or Formula E car. Volkswagen aims to beat the 8:57.118 electric car record set in 2016 by Rhys Millen at the wheel of an e0 PP100 – a Latvian all-electric prototype race car.
After the first event was held back in 1916, the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb has become the world’s premier hill climb challenge, but for a long time, the route wasn’t fully tarmacked. That meant the cars had to tackle both smooth and rough surfaces on the sprint to the summit. But from 2011 onwards, the course has a smooth surface to the top, meaning more track focused cars could take the mountain on. With classes for motorbikes and cars, the I.D. R will be used in the Electric Modified Class.
What does the I.D. R have to tackle? The course itself is 12.42 miles of tarmac that takes in 156 corners, snaking up the side of a Rocky Mountain peak. Starting at 4,720ft above sea level, the course finishes just five feet shy of the summit at 14,110ft – taking in almost 13,500ft of climbing.
The current outright record of 8:13.878 is held by Sebastien Loeb in a modified version of the Peugeot 208 hatchback, called the 208 T16 Pikes Peak – which is named after the Peugeot 405 Turbo 16 driven by Finnish rally driver Ari Vatanen on his run up the climb back in 1988 and the star of the 1989 film Climb Dance.
