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The aerodynamic efficiency of the vehicle body plays a key role in both motor sport and in series production vehicles. The lower the drag coefficient – also known as the Cd value – the less resistance the moving body of a vehicle has to the air. The aerodynamics of the Volkswagen ID.R were optimised by extensive testing in the wind tunnel and computer simulations.

The ID.3 only existed as a show car at the start of development of the ID.R in 2017. This model already had particularly aerodynamically shaped wheels. The ID. family’s “Sanya” wheels are still a strong identifying feature of the range. This wheel design is also used on the ID.R, although the requirements of a motor sports wheel differ greatly from those of a series wheel. However, both wheels have an important factor in common: what is known as the “aero lip” that covers the inside of the wheel edge. “During tests in the wind tunnel we found that this improved the Cd value,” explains Dr. Hervé Dechipre, responsible for the Aerodynamics division at Volkswagen Motorsport. “The air flow around the wheel arches is improved, and air resistance and consumption are reduced. That is totally comparable with the series model.”

There are also parallels between motor sport and series development in terms of battery management. In general, the ID.R electric racing car fares well with significantly less cooling air than racing cars with a conventional drive. Just like the vehicles in the ID. family: they also forego the typical radiator grille and, with their smooth front, convey a uniform appearance.

In electric vehicles, the focus is on correct battery temperature control, and on cooling the electronics and electric motors. For the Volkswagen ID.R, this meant fitting batteries with different performance levels, depending on where the car was being driven, to adapt the capacity to the respective route. And because this is impossible with series cars, different battery configurations are marketed to meet different customer needs in terms of performance and range.

Twice the power, no driving emissions: two powerful electric drive motors with a system power of 500 kW (680 bhp) accelerate the Volkswagen ID.R from a standing start to 100 kilometres per hour in under two seconds – that’s faster than a Formula 1 car today.

Electric drive beats petrol-driven cars: after only 250 days of development, Romain Dumas completed the 19.99-kilometre route at Pikes Peak in the US state of Colorado in 7:57.148 minutes on 24 June 2018 – beating the existing overall record held by a petrol-driven racing car by more than 16 seconds. Never before in the history of the mountain race, which has been held since 1906, had a driver reached the 4,302-metre high peak in under eight minutes.

This was followed on 3 June 2019 by the fastest lap by an electrically-powered racing car on the Nürburgring’s North Loop. The ID.R, which was specifically developed for the record attempt, completed the 20.8-kilometre long track, considered to be the most demanding in the world, in 6:05.336 minutes. Dumas improved on the previous 2017 record held by Peter Dumbreck (GB, NIO EP9) by 40.564 seconds. With an average speed of 204.96 km/h, the ID.R again underlined the high performance of Volkswagen’s electric drive.

The British Goodwood Festival of Speed is one of the world’s most traditional and prestigious motor sports events. Volkswagen and ID.R have already thrilled the many fans of the festival on two occasions: in 2018, just a few weeks after his victory at Pikes Peak, Romain Dumas set a new record for electric vehicles on the 1.86-kilometre short sprint track with a time of 43.86 seconds – at the same time coming first overall in the competition. Then in July 2019, the duo won again and beat the overall track record by 1.7 seconds with a new best time of 39.90 seconds. The latter track record had been set by Nick Heidfeld in 1999 in a Formula 1 car with almost 800 bhp of power.

The ID.R’s first outing in the Middle Kingdom: Tianmen Mountain, about 1,300 kilometres as the crow flies from China’s capital, Beijing, forms the connection between heaven and earth, according to Chinese folk legend. The “Heaven’s Gate” is a natural opening through the rock in the mountain measuring around 7,000 square metres. One of China’s most spectacular roads winds up to this gate to heaven. With 99 hairpin bends, it climbs around 1,000 metres of vertical elevation. On 2 September 2019, Romain Dumas stormed up the 99 narrow bends of the Tianmen mountain road in 7:38.585 minutes and reached the summit quicker than anyone before.

Although the global coronavirus pandemic cancelled or postponed some of the Volkswagen ID.R’s missions, the electric sports car once again made people sit up and notice in 2020. During a test drive on the Bilster Berg race track, test and development driver Dieter Depping set the absolute best time on the 4.2-kilometre track in Eastern Westphalia, Germany. The new ID.3 was also involved in this test. For the first time, the technological pioneer and the fully developed series model covered several kilometres together. The new record underlines once again the enormous potential of electric drive technology for future models in the series.