How to Make a Volkswagen Faster than a Formula 1 Car
Its 2,200 pounds of downforce, sub-2,500 pound weight, and 479 ft/lbs of electric AWD torque make the I.D. R faster than just about everything.
Electric vehicles are definitely making their way as mainstays into our modern automotive infrastructure. Most of us consider electric cars to be boring, uninspiring, and lacking of emotion or feeling. How can you replicate the raw sensation of thousands of explosions making incredible noises all with the slight touch of a pedal? Well, Volkswagen isn’t the company to shy away from the challenge.
After the emissions scandal of 2015, the global manufacturer pulled out nearly all of their motorsport programs. Their return to glory was a fully-electric vehicle. Its codename was the Volkswagen I.D. R and its faster than a F1 car in certain circumstances. Not to mention that it holds more lap records than you can imagine, electric or gas-powered. How the hell did Volkswagen make the most ironic turn ever and still come out a success? Thanks to Drive Tribe on YouTube, we get to understand what makes this thing as fast as it is.
Basically, this car is a sub 2,500 pound, 700 HP beast. It is powered by two Lithium-ion electric motors (one per axle) that instantly can provide 479 ft/lbs at any given moment. However, none of these factors are particularly impressive enough by themselves to make a car have this many accolades. The secret sauce to this race car is actually its most apparent feature: downforce. Lots of it. In some situations, even too much.
The car currently holds the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb record, the Goodwood Festival of Speed record, the EV Nürburgring Nordschliefe lap record. The jaw-droppingly large rear diffuser, the massive front wing and canard system, and the rear airfoil which is larger than some compact vehicles, make this I.D. R incredibly stable at speed. The Volkswagen team actually has a “smaller” wing that they use for tracks with less downforce dependent applications, such as Goodwood. During the Nürburgring lap record, the rear wing actually utilized a DRS (Drag Reduction System) exactly like a Formula 1 car for the high-speed straightaways.
This makes for a healthy 2,200 pounds of downforce ready for use. That’s more downforce than a LMP1 car or an F1 car by far. With the instant torque from the electric motors, it accelerates to 62 mph in 2.25 seconds, also faster than both of the aforementioned. We are curious to see what will turn up at the 2020 Goodwood show, because everyone wants that record. What we can be sure of is that the Volkswagen I.D. R will be ready to defend its title at any cost.
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