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Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak Designed Using Over 2,000 3D-Printed Parts

There’s no limit to the amount of enthusiasm German carmaker Volkswagen expresses when it comes to its latest Pikes Peak challenger. And there’s a good reason to do so, as the brand has skipped the world’s most famous hill climb for about 30 years.
Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak testing 3 photos
Photo: Volkswagen
Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes PeakVolkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak
As announced countless times before, this year’s climb would be completed by Volkswagen in an electric car. Called the I.D. R, the vehicle aims to defeat the existing record for electric vehicles of 8:57.188, set two years ago by Rhys Millen.

To do that, the car will use two electric motors that give it naught to sixty-two acceleration of only 2.25 seconds, a bit faster than Formula 1 and Formula E cars. 680 horsepower and a torque of 650 Nm are meant to insure its success on the 156 turns spread over a 12.42 miles (20 km) distance.

Not using a combustion engine, the I.D. R Pikes Peak will be capable of maintaining constant power as it climbs to the top.

But power is not all a car needs to do a successful climb. Aerodynamics had to be taken into account as well, perhaps more than anything.

Volkswagen says it tested several different half-size scale models of the I.D. R before setlting on the current configuration, which features a huge rear wing. For the full-size chassis, Volkswagen claims to have used around 2,000 3D-printed parts.

The rear wing is supposed to compensate for the 35 percent of downforce loss compared to a racetrack at sea level.

“For this reason, we concentrated mainly on achieving optimal cornering speeds,” said François-Xavier Demaison, Volkswagen Motorsport technical director.

“The entire chassis is designed to generate as much downforce as possible, without causing too much aerodynamic drag,”

When going for the new record on June 24, the I.D. R would be driven by  Le Mans winner Romain Dumas.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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