Volkswagen's electric car smashes 20-year-old Goodwood Festival of Speed record

[Shawn Knight]

Bottom line: Electric vehicles are the future of the automotive industry and VW just proved it again with a record-setting run up the famed hill climb. Will the company and driver Romain Dumas be able to best themselves again next year?

Volkswagen at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed took home top honors, besting all others by completing the hill climb in a blistering 43.86 seconds. It was the quickest vehicle of the event but not the fastest ever – that honor belonged to Nick Heidfeld who reached the summit in 41.6 seconds in a McLaren-Mercedes Formula 1 car way back in 1999.

The record held firm for two decades but at this year’s event, VW finally clinched the all-time top spot and did so in convincing fashion.

Driver Romain Dumas managed to complete the renowned 1.16-mile hill climb in just 39.9 seconds behind the wheel of Volkswagen’s I.D. R electric prototype.

Dumas said he was proud to have set the all-time record. “Because the track is so short, I could not afford to make even the slightest mistake, and every aspect of the fine-tuning of the ID. R had to be perfect. That was particularly challenging, as we were not able to test on the route beforehand,” he said.

Electric vehicles are notorious for being quiet but as you’ll see and hear in the clip above, the I.D. R was absolutely screaming down the narrow roadway.

The Volkswagen I.D. R also holds the record at Pikes Peak and the electric car record at the Nurburgring.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/80851-volkswagen-electric-car-smashes-20-year-old-goodwood.html

 

[Lew Zealand]

LOL my brother had a remote control Audi Quattro in the '80s (with a real differential!) which sounded like that. *Exactly* like that, it's weird. Makes sense I suppose as it was also all-electric but I'm gonna guess that it might take more than 40s to climb a 1.16 mile hill…

 

[m3tavision]

That GT500 sounded bad azz too, for a production car.

 

[VitalyT]

When you are divided between watching another race video or making it to the toilet...

I think the previous world record would have gotten me into trouble...

This modern car progress makes me a believer.

 

[m4a4]

Am I missing something? I would hope that tech that's 20 years newer has the ability to perform better (with the right driver).

Also, what are the other stats comparatively. Is this thing just kitted out for a sprint? Or can it also compete in longer races against a "standard" race car in that configuration?

And why has it been so long since the record was broken? I'm sure combustion race cars have become a lot faster...

Basically, I just don't see this as a big accomplishment with what I'm seeing.

 

[Vulcanproject]

Unofficial record. It was set in qualifying for the main hill climb event. Generally times set in the main event are the ones that are counted. It did not do it in the main event, as conditions had changed.

The record fell to a state of the art machine designed specifically for this exact type of sport. Hill climb car with rather more loose regulations than any F1 car has to meet. For example the four wheel drive system of the VW is a big advantage over a rear drive only F1 car in this type of event.

However it goes without saying a 2019 F1 car is considerably faster than the 1998 one that was used in the previous record.

Arguably a leading 2019 F1 car is too fast to go up the bumpy hill at full speed. It's something like 6+ seconds a lap faster than the 1998 McLaren at average F1 circuits......

 

[cliffordcooley]

Where are the all electric 500 mile races? I want to see them rapidly changing out those massive batteries every 30 miles.

 

[stewi0001]

Where are the all electric 500 mile races? I want to see them rapidly changing out those massive batteries every 30 miles.

You gave me a crazy idea. They could do a push through system. When they push in the new battery on one side of the car, it pushes out the old battery of the other side of the car! XD

 

[EEatGDL]

Where are the all electric 500 mile races? I want to see them rapidly changing out those massive batteries every 30 miles.

Probably when the Tesla Roadster is here, with its 600+ miles range. Probably two cars per team would be all that is required to meet 500 miles without problem.

 

[Markoni35]

That was uphill? Wow. My car wouldn't go that fast if you dropped it from a helicopter.

 

[bluetooth fairy]

Nowadays F1 is around 10% faster than that McLaren MP4/13 (if we consider fastest lap time during qualy in Melbourne, Australia). So in terms of pure racing, which Goodwood fest is about, this VW isn't a beast at all.

Moreover, this electric VW is nowhere near even with an LMP1 class vehicle (if we consider Nordschleife track, also mentioned in the news piece).

Goodwood hillclimb suits to ID.R much better though, because it's way shorter than any other typical race track, and it requires less power-cells to carry onboard.

 

[Ludak021]

Where are the all electric 500 mile races? I want to see them rapidly changing out those massive batteries every 30 miles.

Probably when the Tesla Roadster is here, with its 600+ miles range. Probably two cars per team would be all that is required to meet 500 miles without problem.

600+ miles, doing 50mph, not at high speeds... (I don't know how long they can go if you would to race them)

 

[EEatGDL]

600+ miles, doing 50mph, not at high speeds... (I don't know how long they can go if you would to race them)

I've known of many drivers who drive at 75 mph average for hours and get about 75% the rated autonomy. It's pretty safe to assume that driving fast would cut the rated autonomy by half and would require two cars to meet the 500 miles.