Volkswagen officially returns to Pikes Peak after 30 years with the goal of reaching the summit in record time competing in the electric vehicle class.
Featuring an oversized front splitter and rear wing, the all-wheel drive prototype has been produced by Volkswagen Motorsport as part of VW’s newly focused development of electric vehicles.
The iconic route measures just under 20km, climbing over 4,500ft to an elevation of 14,100ft above sea level.
Dr Frank Welsch, VW Board Member for Development said “The Pikes Peak hill climb is one of the world’s most renowned car races. It poses an enormous challenge and is therefore excellently suiting to proving the capabilities of upcoming technologies”.
Veteran of the Peak, Rhys Millen, holds the current record for electric vehicles with a time of 8m 57s set in 2016 in the e0 PP100, which was later revealed to have been suffering power difficulties during the run.
Although electric vehicles have the advantage of not being affected by atmospheric changes towards the top of the Peak, the outright record is still held by Sebastien Loeb in his Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak from 2013, with a time of 8m 13s.
Volkswagen Motorsport Director, Sven Smeets, stated “The race on Pikes Peak is a new beginning for us… Our team is literally electrified about taking on this incredible challenge”.
