The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb happens every June in Colorado, sending cars from the base of Pikes Peak up to its top in an arduous climb to a 14,000 feet elevation. The speeds gained are not spectacular by today’s racing standards, but the climb itself is a mixture of brute power and endurance like no other race in the world.
Climbing Pikes Peak even on a normal day is not easily done. Most production vehicles will struggle to get to the summit and many will fail to do so. That’s under standard driving conditions on what is now a fully-paved roadway. The reasons for this are many, but boil down to altitude, the uphill grade, and the huge number of curves in the 12.42-mile road into the clouds.
This year, the Pikes Peak IHC record was blasted through by an electric car. Not for the first time, but so definitively that it’s considered a huge milestone. The car was a Volkswagen purpose-built design whose name specifies what it’s for: the I.D. R Pikes Peak. Meant to showcase the electrification efforts of VW’s new I.D. brand, the car was built specifically to make the Pikes Peak hill climb as quickly as possible. The engineering behind the car is amazing.
Read about it at Teslarati.com.
Aaron is an automotive journalist living in Wyoming, USA. His background includes technology, mechanics, commercial vehicles, and new vehicle evaluations. Aaron is a member of several automotive media groups and writes for many well-known publications.