Volkswagen Targets Record at Goodwood Hill Climb With Pikes Peak-Winning I.D. R

Volkswagen reportedly aims to slay the electric record at the Goodwood Hill Climb at this weekend's Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The German automaker plans to accomplish this with its I.D. R prototype racer, built to take the electric record at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Despite lesser power and more weight than the then record-holding Peugeot 208 T16, it smashed the overall benchmark by 16 seconds, and the electric record by a minute, owed to its extreme downforce and experienced driver, Romain Dumas.

"I am really looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the I.D. R Pikes Peak at the Goodwood Festival of Speed," stated Dumas in an interview with Motorsport about his upcoming Goodwood appearance. "The race in Duke of Richmond's estate is a very special event that is steeped in tradition. The I.D. R Pikes Peak may still be very young, but the record-breaking run on Pikes Peak has already made it a living legend."

The Drive learned of Volkswagen's Goodwood entry back in June, though it was then expected only to be an exhibition run, and not a competitive entry. The interview with Motorsport confirms that Dumas will indeed chase the electric record, set in 2013 by Jonny Cocker with a time of 47.34. The overall record of 41.6 seconds set by Nick Heidfeld, however, may be further out of reach than Pikes Peak's overall record was for Dumas.

"This car in the corners, with the downforce we have, it's the best you can have apart from a Formula 1 car," continued Dumas. "I think the electric vehicle record, we can go for this. But what is the record? It's Nick Heidfeld in McLaren, so he had 800 bhp and half of our weight. It could be difficult, but let's see."

Dumas' advantages with the I.D. R consist of 680 all-wheel-drive, instant electric horsepower, and extreme downforce—we estimate more than 2,800 pounds at Goodwood, based on Volkswagen's own description of its aerodynamic efficiency.

With so much performance at Dumas' disposal, we would be unsurprised to see the I.D. R smear the current electric record, or even the overall record at Goodwood—Dumas never said he was after the overall record at Pikes Peak, but he obliterated that anyway. Maybe he'll do the same at Goodwood.