Volkswagen to Field EV in 2018 Pikes Peak Race

Volkswagen sets sights on glory at the legendary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in 2018 with the development of a new electric-powered race car, says Frank Welsch, the German automaker’s R&D chief.

Pictured in a darkened image issued by Volkswagen, the new all-wheel-drive race car is being developed by Volkswagen Motorsport in cooperation with its technical development operations in Wolfsburg, Germany.  

VW is using the 2018 Pikes Peak entry to highlight its push to become a leading manufacturer of electric-powered production models following the fallout from its entanglement in a scandal over diesel-emissions-test manipulation.   

“The Pikes Peak hill climb is one of the world’s most renowned car races. It poses an enormous challenge and (is) excellently suited to proving the capabilities of upcoming technologies,” Welsch says. “The extreme stress test on Pikes Peak will give us important findings that will benefit future development, and it will showcase our products and their technologies.”  

To be equipped with what Welsch describes as “innovative battery and drive technology,” the new VW car is to be driven at next year’s Pikes Peak race by Roman Dumas, the event’s 2014, 2016 and 2017 overall victor, according to insiders familiar with the automaker’s plans.

The head of Volkswagen Motorsport, Sven Smeets, describes the assault on Pikes Peak as an “important milestone in the company’s new motorsport orientation.”

The new prototype is the first electric race car to be developed by Volkswagen Motorsport. VW last competed at Pikes Peak in 1987 with a 652-hp twin-engined Golf sporting a 1.8L 4-cyl. engine up front and at the rear. 

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is run over a course of 12.4 miles (20 km) in a climb from 0.9 mi. (1.44 km) to a summit of 2.7 mi. (4.3 km) above sea level.  The current electric-car-prototype class record of 8 minutes, 57 seconds is held by Rhys Millen in a Toyota-sponsored prototype established in 2016.

In this year’s running of Pikes Peak, Dumas drove a 600-hp turbocharged 2.0L 4-cyl. Honda-powered Norma MXX RD Limited race car to victory in a time of 9 minutes, 5.7 seconds.