The current best time on the Nürburgring is 6:45.90 minutes.
Last year, the electric Volskwagen ID. R race car tackled the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with Romain Dumas at the wheel. It shattered the course record, hitting the summit in 7:57.148 minutes. Now, the company is setting its sights on one of the most demanding tracks in the world: The Nürburgring Nordschleife. Dumas gets the shot at another record, after winning the Nürburgring’s 24-hour endurance race four times.
In conquering “The Green Hell”, Volkswagen announced some changes to adapt the car to its environment. This time around, Volkswagen changed the aerodynamics of the car to achieve a higher top speed. “Last year, the number of turns and the thin air at Pikes Peak demanded maximum downforce,” explained François-Xavier Demaison, Volkswagen Motorsport’s technical director. “On the Nordschleife lap, the ID. R will reach an average speed of 112 mph — with a top speed on the straight of up to 168 mph.”
To achieve the higher top speed, Volkswagen fitted a new aerodynamic package using DRS — or drag reduction system — borrowed from Formula 1 racing. Using that system, Dumas can reduce the car’s air resistance by about 20 percent on command.
Volkswagen did not announce exactly when it would send the ID. R on its record-breaking attempt. In the meantime, the company did release the “ID. R time attack” simulation in collaboration with RaceRoom.
