5.4.2019. The next challenge for the ID. R is short: In the summer, a new record on the Nurburgring is to be placed in the North loop. Therefore, the Volkswagen Motorsport Team is working intensively on the further development of the purely electrically powered racing car.
The focus of The Test and development phase, the efficiency of the vehicle. The two electric motors with a system output of 500 kW (680 HP) driven ID. R is the sporty harbinger of the ID. Product family, the future of the Volkswagen series for purely electrically powered production vehicles.
“The developments in electric mobility are immense and we would like to with the ID. R again this year to prove that Volkswagen can build fast electric cars that evoke emotion,“ says Volkswagen Motorsport Director Sven Smeets. “As the Pikes Peak, Nürburgring-Nordschleife is one of the biggest challenges for an automobile. We want to show how powerful cars with electric drive are already.“
“It is Cleverness to find the right Balance between maximum speed and the limited available electric power. So we focus on the further development of the drive technology and battery management,“ explains François-Xavier Demaison, Technical Director of Volkswagen Motorsport. The batteries developed by Volkswagen Motorsport, together with the laboratories where the technology for the ID. Product family research.
A clearly visible change on the ID. R will be the aerodynamics. “In the thin air on Pikes Peak, we have the ID. A very large rear wing to generate maximum downforce,“ says Demaison. On the Nordschleife, Volkswagen Motorsport uses a new aerodynamic configuration, which aims less at maximum output, but at maximum efficiency.
“This not only affects a smaller rear wing to the front splitter and the underbody of the vehicle,” says Demaison. For this, different specifications of the Computer were simulated, and the rides in early April, before the test in the wind tunnel to be tested.
These simulations are carried out by Volkswagen Motorsport in Hanover and is also used to optimize the battery Management, and chassis components to the higher loads on the Nordschleife. “We get a lot of help from the Technical development in Wolfsburg,” says Dr. Benjamin Ahrenholz, head of calculation/Simulation at Volkswagen Motorsport.
In the Cockpit of the ID. R is so in this year, Romain Dumas. The Frenchman, to four overall wins at the 24-hour race a real connoisseur of the Nordschleife, is enthusiastic about the development of the car: “It’s great, as the Team ID. R in comparison to the previous year has been optimized. Viewed in isolation, the individual changes do not seem to be as big, but the ID. R is a very complex package. And it will arrive on the sum of the Details.“
The current best brand for pure electric-powered vehicles on the Nordschleife is 6:45,90 minutes – set up by Britain’s Peter Dumbreck at the wheel of a NIO EP9 in the year 2017.
Volkswagen ID. R (photo: Volkswagen AG)
