Volkswagen Aims To Break Pikes Peak EV Record With This!

Volkswagen has announced that it will try and break the Pikes Peak electric vehicle hill climb record with a purpose built race car. Although official images of the race car haven't been revealed just yet, Volkswagen has teased a silhouette of the frankly insane looking race car that is poised to take on the challenge. The car will be driven by Romain Dumas who is an ex-winner at Pikes Peak and also an ex record holder himself. The current record of 8 mins 13.878 seconds was established in 2013 by none other than legendary rally driver Sebastian Loeb in a purpose built Peugeot 208 T16 Pikes Peak which featured outlandish wings to add to the aero downforce.

The new car by Volkswagen will also feature an outlandish winged setup to add to downforce and will have two records in sight. The first one will of course be the overall unlimited class record that was set by Loeb in 2013 while the second and more important one will be the electric car record that was set by Rhys Millen in a purpose built vehicle 'e0 PP100' that set a time of 8 mins 57.118 seconds. The production car record for electric vehicles was also set last year by a Tesla Model S at 11 mins 48.264 seconds.

While Pikes Peak might not be a very well known event, it is possibly as prestigious a feather-in-the-hat as winning the likes of the Monte Carlo Rally or the 24 Hours Of LeMans. While the original course was actually gravel in some parts, in 2012 the organisers decided to pave the entire course and make it a tarmac hill climb. While some saw this as a dilution of the original course, the popularity of the course skyrocketed post 2012 as it was now much safer to run and quicker too. The course measures a total length of 19.99 kms and 156 turns climbing 1,440 metres from start to finish! The most legendary run in history, which was also turned into its very own short film 'Hill Dance' was Ari Vatanen's 1988 attempt in a Peugeot 405 Turbo 16GR that broke the outright record and held it for years.