16 whichcar.com.au/wheels
Run for the hills
VW makes EVs exciting with amped
up 500kW Pikes Peak charger
VOLKSWAGEN’S first-ever racing
EV is designed for Pikes Peak,
which just happens to be a place
that could have been purpose-
designed for EV racing.
Volkswagen Motorsport, which
designed and constructed the
500kW racer, dubbed I.D R, in
just eight months, won’t say how
much the project is costing. But
they do admit the budget needed
approval at the highest level ...
the VW board of management.
VW saw an opportunity to add
some go-fast gloss to the image
of EVs ahead of the 2019 launch
of the first of its battery-powered
I.D. line-up, while also promoting
its established high-performance
R sub-brand. So it’s important the
I.D. R Pikes Peak does well.
Romain Dumas, the French-
born endurance racing specialist
who will pilot the car on 24 June,
brims with confidence. “If you
speak about performance, the
best there is is electric. It is not a
compromise, it’s the best choice.”
Dumas is a two-time 24 Hours
of Le Mans winner, driving an
Audi in 2010 and Porsche in 2016.
He has run at Pikes Peak five
times and won on three of them,
including 2016 and 2017.
“At Pikes Peak, electric is the
best concept you can have,”
Dumas says. “Why? Because you
don’t lose power. ”
Internal combustion engines
grow weaker as altitude increases.
Thinner air means less oxygen
to burn fuel, curbing power. The
effect is significant at Pikes Peak,
where the finish line is 2000
metres higher than the summit of
Australia’s highest mountain. An
engine’s power up here is reduced
more than 40 percent compared to
what it makes at sea level, where
air is densest.
Battery-powered EVs burn
nothing, so their power is
unaffected by altitude.
“You have the disadvantage of
the weight, sure,” says Dumas,
referring to the batteries. But the
run up Pikes Peak is only 20km,
taking around nine minutes, so
enough energy can be stored in
a pack that’s not too heavy.
The I.D. R will generate energy
while it’s racing, reducing the
weight of the battery pack it
requires for Pikes Peak. VW
Motorsport estimates that
slowing for the course’s 156 turns
will provide 20 percent of the
car’s total energy needs through
regenerative braking.
VW Motorsport says the I.D.
R Pikes Peak will weigh less
than 1100kg, with Dumas in
the driver’s seat. Though more
than five metres long and well
over two metres wide, it’s a
lightweight. The monocoque
chassis and all the bodywork is
carbonfibre. Suspension is double
A-arms all round, and there’s a
steel rollcage.
The I.D. R Pikes Peak is
powered by two electric motors,
one for each axle, making it
all-wheel drive. VW Motorsport
tech director, François-Xavier ‘FX’
Demaison says the rear motor
will be more powerful than the
front, but the precise split is
something to be decided during
a frantic test period in France
before the racer is air-freighted
from Europe to the USA.Road car battery packs
aren’t right for a racer, so VW
Motorsport is sourcing them
from US-based specialist A123,
a company with experience in
providing lithium-ion cells for
motorsport applications.
“We need the batteries to
provide the best power density
they can,” says Demaison. “That
is different to the electric vehicles
you see every day. Their energy
density must be high enough to
generate a higher range.”
VW Motorsport aims to beat
the current Pikes Peak EV record
of 8:57.118, set in 2016. But the
division is clearly hoping fora higher return on investment
than this, mountain weather
permitting. As an Unlimited
Division runner, the I.D. R must
have some chance of setting
2018’s best outright time, too.
“Pikes Peak is very difficult,”
says Romain Dumas. “You have
only one try, only one chance.
You invest a lot of time, you
can invest a lot of money. You
can have the best driver, the
best car. But let’s say it’s snowing.
Then you have made everything
for nothing...”
JOHN CAREYJUNE 2018Reddline
NEWS, VIEWS AND A BRUSH WITH THE LIMITER