Let’s get one thing straight: the current Nürburgring Nordschleife lap record for fully-electric vehicles is currently a ridiculously fast 6:45.90 minutes, which works out as an average speed of almost 115 mph. It was set in 2017 by Peter Dumbreck in an NIO EP9. And the overall lap record is 5:19.55 minutes, set by the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo, which broke the infamous 1983 time of 6:11.13 minutes achieved by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 C. So, it’s not like the record is an easily broken one. But, having broken the Pikes Peak record in the ID.R in June 2018 (below), VW is now planning to go for the record in summer 2019 at the circuit so famously known as The Green Hell.
VW plans to launch the ID.R as its flagship EV in 2020. It’s powered by two electric engines with a system capacity of 670hp and it weighs less than 2500 pounds, including the driver. The big challenge for the Nordschleife is the aerodynamics to cope with the conditions on the Nordschleife, which are very different from those on Pikes Peak. The US hillclimb starts at an altitude of more than 9000 feet and ends at 14,115 feet, while the Nordschleife winds its way through Germany’s Eifel region at between 1050 and 2024 feet above sea level, and mixes the mind-boggling 75 corners in 13 miles with the long Döttinger Höhe straight.
The driver? Once again it will be Frenchman Romain Dumas, who was at the wheel for the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with the ID. R. There he became the first driver in over 100 years of Pikes Peak to go under eight minutes. He has Nordschleife credentials too, having achieved four victories in the Nürburgring 24 Hours. “The thought of driving the ID. R on the Nordschleife is already enough to give me goosebumps. I know the track very well, but the ID. R will be a completely different challenge, with its extreme acceleration and huge cornering speeds,” says Dumas. “I can hardly wait for the first tests. Breaking the existing electric record will certainly not be a stroll in the park.”
Images courtesy of VW
