Volkswagen and its various brands may be pulling out
of racing series around the world, but that doesn’t mean that it will stop
competing in motorsport – it’ll just do it in a different way. Set to be
unveiled in the metal next week, this is our best
look to date at the new Volkswagen ID R Pikes Peak racer.
Powered entirely by electricity, the ID R is set to
tackle the famous Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in Colorado this June. It
looks something like the hybrid Le Mans prototypes that Porsche and Audi have
fielded in recent years, only it doesn’t have an internal-combustion engine.
Moreover, it doesn’t have to comply to regulations as tight as those issued by
the FIA and ACO, so there’s more freedom from a design and an engineering point
of view.
The project brings together the forthcoming ID line
of electric vehicles together with the Volkswagen R GmbH performance division,
and it’ll be out to settle a score from some 30 years ago as in 1987, the
German manufacturer set out with a twin-engined Golf to tackle the infamous
Race to the Clouds, but fell short of victory.
To hustle it to the top of the hill, the automaker
has solicited the services of Romain Dumas. The Frenchman won the 24 Hours of
Le Mans for sister company Porsche two years ago and it’ll be in his home town
of Ales, France, where VW will finally unveil his new ride in full on April 22.
