VW IDR Breaks 20 year old Goodwood Hill Climb Record

Caporegime
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The Volkswagen I.D.R electric racecar just broke a 20-year-old record at the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb.

Driven by Romain Dumas, the I.D.R made the climb on Friday in just 41.18 seconds, which is a half-second clear of former F1 driver Nick Heidfeld’s hairy 41.6-second run all the way back in 1999 in his McLaren MP4/13.


Heidfelds original record run.



Saw this live when he set the record, will never forget the noise and the fact it looked as though Nick was only ever a millisecond away from crashing during the entire run.



Contrast to Romain Dumas new record run, so calm, so nailed to the road, no drama, and no noise, is this really the future of racing ???

 
Soldato
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That’s the future right there and still very early days for EV’s.
Sounds and looks like an oversize R/C car
 
Soldato
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Yeah current EVs somewhat limited by the battery tech as they can only supply the power for a limited time at full chat. Bigger and more cells mitigate that hence the performance of Tesla (4000+ cells). When super capacitors start to get implemented in cars then there should be another boost in performance especially in road cars and maybe endurance racing too.

I can imagine it's still fairly exhilarating driving that car though!
 
Soldato
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I'd like to see what a 2018 or 2019 Mercedes F1 car would do, if it was run up there properly.

Bit heavier than the old McLaren, a bit more power though, more downforce etc.
 
Caporegime
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I'd like to see what a 2018 or 2019 Mercedes F1 car would do, if it was run up there properly.

Bit heavier than the old McLaren, a bit more power though, more downforce etc.


Yeah pretty sure they would smash the record, but the real test would be if they were allowed to modify the car past existing F1 rules, to make it purpose built to run the hill, with no compromises, that would seriously be something to watch.

Back in 2002 Alan McNish went up in a then current Toyota TF102, and set a time a tenth quicker than Heidfelds, but because the F1 ban on cars setting timed runs outside of F1 weekends was in place, the record was never ratified.

In 2003 Graeme Wight, Jr. In his Gould GR51 set a time of 42.90.
That was a purpose built hill climb car run by the then British Hill climb champion, but could not get within a second of the record., but then the car did not have the technology or resources that a current F1 team could put into a car.


I think the F1 ban on "testing" outside of allowed times is out of date, avd should be scrapped.
Let the teams do events like FOS and I think the face of F1 could be improved and get more people following the teams and races.
 
Soldato
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Yeah current EVs somewhat limited by the battery tech as they can only supply the power for a limited time at full chat. Bigger and more cells mitigate that hence the performance of Tesla (4000+ cells). When super capacitors start to get implemented in cars then there should be another boost in performance especially in road cars and maybe endurance racing too.

I can imagine it's still fairly exhilarating driving that car though!

When Toyota came into WEC they used super capacitors in the TS040 and then switched to batteries for the TS050 as these proved to be superior.
 
Caporegime
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Has the modified Porsche LMP1 car been up on a timed run? I’d have thought that would beat the F1 time too

In 2018 Porsche were invited to have a go at the record with the 919 hybrid evo, but declined, and only did demo runs instead.
 
Man of Honour
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Hugely impressive car. People can bitch and whine about EVs and how soulless they sound, and how artificial they are, and how they'll have their internal combusion engines prised from their cold, dead fingers, but it's the way things are going.
 
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New record again today for the IDR
This time completely official and ratified.

39.90.

New record, impressive speed from the VW IDR.

However, its like Man City celebrating beating a Sunday league team and claiming some super record on the back of it, and no other Champions league grade team being allowed to compete in same competition. Let an F1/dedicated hillclimb car have a go at a run. To avoid F1 test ban, doesn't need to be this years spec, even the Brawn/Lotus/Red Bull that was running at this weekend should be able to give it a good run for its money I would expect.
 
Caporegime
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New record, impressive speed from the VW IDR.

However, its like Man City celebrating beating a Sunday league team and claiming some super record on the back of it, and no other Champions league grade team being allowed to compete in same competition. Let an F1/dedicated hillclimb car have a go at a run. To avoid F1 test ban, doesn't need to be this years spec, even the Brawn/Lotus/Red Bull that was running at this weekend should be able to give it a good run for its money I would expect.


They have had pure bred hill climb cars, with the British Hill climb champion driving, didn't get within a second of the then record.

They have had older F1 cars run up on timed attempts, again, never got within seconds of the time.

Thing is its mot just the car, you'd need a top ranked current F1 driver too, and they are forbidden.

Back in 2002 Alan Mcnish went up in the then current Toyota TF102, current car, current driver, broke the then record, by a tenth, but because of the F1 ban it was never counted.
 
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Wasn't the reason always that it was unsafe to allow the car to run at that sort of pace up the hill? (unless you have a VW size cheque book).

Also has had a resurface and looks less bumpy then previous years as a result.

It is an impressive time, and great achievement and good to see that in the future EV can be developed to motorsport in a way that speed isn't one of the compromised factors. I would just like it to be more ratified competing against machinery that is capable of giving it a fight on the day.

If it beat a modern f1 car, then fair enough, even the more impressive. However, can't help but feel its a bit empty when nothing with that sort of pace has competed for 20 years.
 
Caporegime
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It's purely F1 rules on testing and commercial rights that stopped F1 teams from doing timed runs on the hill.

Goodwood and Lord March, would adore to have several current F1 teams there competing for times.

As for if F1 would ever be competitive with the IDR or other top line electric race cars, I doubt it very much, unless F1 rules are seriously changed to allow 4WD and bigger more powerful engines.

Yes the IDR only has the equivalent of around 650 to 700bhp.

But its instant and gets evety single one of those down onto the road far quicker than F1.

Off the line the 4WD IDR is 0 to 100km/h in around 2 seconds, way quicker than any current 2WD F1's could manage.

It's that instant torque and acceleration off the line, and out of the corners, where electric will always and forever outpace internal combustion.
 
Soldato
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This car is also the current Pikes Peak record holder, make no mistake, it's an exceptionally quick car and has proven itself against some top machinery in other settings.
 
Caporegime
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Really tempted to go tomorrow...

Guranteed you will not regret it if you do go.

But you will regret it if you had the opportunity and don't go.

This is my 22nd year of going there, and I think its been the best.

Still to go see the rally section tommorow, and probably going back to the arena for a bit too.
 
Soldato
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It’s an impressive time though I do wonder if / how much faster a more modern f1 car would be than Heidfeld’s time. Yes the VW has all the advantages of 4 wheel drive, instant torque etc but it still didn’t beat the record by that much so I think a current F1 car could match it.

Say what you want about a EV’s and this record but the car is damn impressive to watch going up the hill. The video really doesn’t do it justice.
 
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