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Volkswagen announced Monday that its groundbreaking electric I.D. R Pikes Peak prototype race car will be on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California until Feb. 1, where it will be one of the vehicles that make up the “Driving Toward Tomorrow” exhibit.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to showcase the I.D. R Pikes Peak race car at a world-renowned museum like the Petersen,” stated Volkswagen of America marketing executive Derrick Hatami. “We are excited for members of the public to have a chance to see the record-breaking electric vehicle while it is on display, especially as it leads into the Petersen’s future-of-mobility exhibition.”
“As we head toward an electric future, we are proud to be at the forefront of the discussion,” added Terry L. Karges, executive director of the Petersen Automotive Museum. “Through our collaborations with Volkswagen, we are able to showcase one of the most impressive electric cars in the world, inspiring our audience to be curious about the future of mobility and the implications it has on the automotive industry as a whole.”
The I.D. R Pikes Peak was developed specifically to set a course record at the race for which it was named. To accomplish this, Volkswagen formed a skunkworks team of the best motorsport engineers available—some with Formula 1 experience—to design, construct, test, and deploy the I.D. R. From conception to completion, the I.D. R program took just 249 days.
As for the car itself, it’s made largely from carbon fiber, giving it a weight under 1,100 kilograms (2,425 pounds). Power comes from a pair of electric motors, each attached to a mechanical differential, one per axle. Together, they produce 680 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque. Traction control aids the I.D. R with its 0-to-60 blitz, which takes only 2.25 seconds. An electronic limiter prevented the car from exceeding 150 miles per hour—higher speeds weren’t necessary on Pikes Peak and would be an unneeded expenditure of energy.
The program culminated in a single timed run, driven by 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Romain Dumas. The Frenchman flattened the electric vehicle course record by almost a minute flat, and made a casualty of the overall record in the process, effectively changing the way people will talk about Pikes Peak records.
Volkswagen and Dumas may not yet be done, either. After thrashing Goodwood’s electric course record, the I.D. R is said to be headed to Germany’s Nürburgring for an attempt at rewriting the track’s electric vehicle lap record before returning to Goodwood to chase the overall course record. We hope the car’s story isn’t over—it’d be a shame if we never got to say “I.D. R Evolution.”
