Volkswagen ID R smashes electric Nurburgring record

The 671bph Volkswagen ID R has smashed the electric lap record at the Nurburgring Nordschleife, with Romain Dumas lapping the 12.9-mile circuit in 6 min 05.336 secs.

The time around the 156-corner circuit eclipsed the previous 6min 45.90secs mark for an electric car, set by the 1341bhp, four-motor Nio EP9 in 2017. While that was a officially production-based machine, the ID R is a one-off purely for competition.

Dumas, who also drove the ID R on Pikes Peak, completed five laps of the circuit, setting the new electric record on his final lap of the day. "It was very exciting," said Dumas. "We worked hard on the car after each run, and improved the balance on each lap. I was getting quicker every time, and with each lap you had to adapt your style. During the lap you have to keep your confidence so you can keep pushing even more.

“Pikes Peak was one of the biggest achievements of my career, and what is impressive is how we improved the car in one year. One year ago in Pikes Peak everyone was surprised by the time we achieved, but now we’re playing with the limiter, and the engineers are working harder and harder to get to that limit.”

The electric Nurburgring mark is the latest record set by the ID R, which last year set a new outright hill record on the 12.42-mile Pikes Peak International Hill Climb course. It followed up with an electric hill record at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. The ID R is set to return to Goodwood this year and, in Nurburgring specification, could well challenge for the outright hill record.

To break the Nordschleife record, the ID R was heavily modified from how it ran at Pikes Peak. With that event taking place on a hairpin-laden course at high altitude, the car was designed for maximum downforce and acceleration, with a relatively low top speed.

While a similar length, the Nurburgring offers a vastly different challenge, with long straights and fast corners. VW maintained the same twin motor and battery set-up as it did on Pikes Peak, but altered the energy management system to help the car reach its top speed faster.

It also introduced an F1-inspired aerodynamic package featuring a new rear wing, new front splitter and a drag reduction system that can reduce downforce by up to 20%.

Remarkably, the ID R’s time was nearly six seconds quicker than the long-time lap record of 6min 11.13secs set by Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 in 1983. That mark stood for 35 years until being eclipsed last year by Timo Bernhard in the Porsche 919 Evo. That machine, which lapped the track in 5min 19.45secs, was a heavily modified Le Mans prototype consisting of a 2.0-litre V4 hybrid powertrain tuned to produce 710bhp, with an additional 433bhp coming from an electric motor. It also featured heavily reworked aerodynamics.

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