VW I.D. R Electric Pikes Peak Challenger, Engineering Discussion
Recently the covers were finally taken off the Pikes Peak challenger from VW. The I.D. R is the fully electric machine optimised to tackle the 19.99km course, with an aero package developed by the small team previously concentrating on the marque’s assault on the WRC. Full Electric – Why? More and more we read the growth of alternative fuel sources and powertrains. Reflecting the changes to the road car industry, motorsport has adapted to innovate technologies in this field, for example the meteoric rise of hybridisation performance following the battery technologies developed in the Hybrid LMP1 class of the World Endurance Championship. This ‘road relevance’ is also backed up by the application of this vehicle, a short duration sprint with a large altitude gain of 4,720ft (1,440m). The importance of this altitude gain is the way this affects conventional Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) as they lose performance as the air density reduces; as much as one percent of th