This is Volkswagen’s I.D. R Pikes Peak racer

A couple of years ago, when we first heard about Volkswagen’s MEB electric platform, we were informed it would cover “cars bigger and smaller than the Golf”. Turns out, it will also cover banshee racing cars, too.

This is our first proper look – following a shady teaser late last year – of Volkswagen’s brand new I.D. R prototype. It is a car with two specific aims in mind: one, to smash the Pikes Peak electric car record. We’ll come to the second shortly.

“It is about time we settled the score,” explains Volkswagen’s motorsport boss Sven Smeets. Game, and indeed, on.

So, it’ll sit on that electric car platform, and while there aren’t any technical details to run with, Volkswagen’s latest I.D. concept – the Vizzion – featured two electric motors, one on the front axle and one on the back, from a powerful lithium-ion battery serving up 301bhp.

It’ll probably turn the dial up quite significantly for this racer, mind, because not only does Volkswagen want to smash the Pikes Peak EV record, it also wants to inject a bit of fun into the grey world of electricity.

And thus we reach VW’s second aim. “The I.D. R project represents a fantastic opportunity for Volkswagen to change the conversation about e-mobility, both emotionally and from a sporting perspective,” explains VW’s Jurgen Stackmann.

The company also points to its last Pikes Peak entry: a 652bhp twin-engined Golf. Now, it’s back, and it wants Rhys Millen’s 8m 57.118s record.

Reckon VW can do it?