Volkswagen I.D. R Smashes 20 Year Old Record At Goodwood — All Hail Romain!

Published: Saturday, July 6, 2019, 19:03 [IST]

Records seem to be the 'in thing' at Goodwood this year. The Volkswagen I.D. R electric race car just broke a 20-year-old record at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb. The all electric car was driven by Romain Dumas, and clocked a time of 41.18 seconds - half a second faster than the record set by former Formula 1 driver Nick Heidfeld back in 1999.

The record-breaking run comes just a month after Romain Dumas smashed the electric vehicle record at Germany's Nurburgring with the 680bhp Volkswagen I.D. R, breaking the record set by the EP9 supercar built by Chinese EV manufacturer NIO. Romain Dumas also holds the record for the fastest run at Pikes Peak - the event for which Volkswagen built the I.D. R race car.

The I.D. R was designed specifically for venues like Goodwood. One can see evidence of that via the video of Dumas' run. The race car looks rather indifferent as Romain drives up the Goodwood hill. Compare that to the video of Heidfeld driving 780-horsepower V10 F1 car up the hill 20 years ago, where every turn looks like he really had to work the wheel.

Interestingly, this wasn't Romain Dumas' first run up Goodwood with the Volkswagen I.D. R. The car was at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2018 and the duo set the all-electric hill climb record, as well as the third-fastest time overall despite nearly losing the car after a dramatic slide through the dirt during an early run.

This time around, the Volkswagen I.D. R arrived at Goodwood in its new Nürburgring trim. All the work Volkswagen had put in over the last year seems to have given Dumas a potent car. He has not finished with the hill climbs though. He has more driving over the weekend, and we won't be surprised if Romain Dumas betters the 41.18 seconds record he just set.

Thoughts About The Record Set By Romain Dumas In The All Electric Volkswagen I.D. R

Okay so we really want to be at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Records are being smashed and re-set this year. Most manufacturer have bettered their hill climb specific vehicles and there's still two days of drama left. Congratulations to Romain Dumas and Volkswagen.