Pikes Peak: No chance against electric VW

JURASSIAN IN PLACE 3 Romain Dumas won the famous Pikes Peak hill climb (USA) in a new record time with an electric prototype from VW. European champion Simone Faggioli and Fabien Bouduban from the Jura took the places of honor with conventional Norma turbos. Against Romain Dumas and his Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak, the competition operating with their conventional technology on the [...]

The weather was just right, too: Romain Dumas crosses the finish line at 4300 m as the new record holder at Pikes Peak (Photo: VW Motorsport).

The competition using conventional technology had no chance against Romain Dumas and his Volkswagen I.D. R Pikes Peak on the 19.99-kilometer mountain track with 156 turns - not even ten-time European champion Simone Faggioli.

Pikes Peak International Hill Climb: The world's most unusual hill-climb course, with rudimentary protection.

Frenzied test laboratory
Volkswagen Motorsport had developed an electric prototype with 500 kW (680 hp) of power and a weight of just 1100 kg especially for the world's most famous mountain race in the US state of Colorado - the most innovative and complex racing vehicle the Germans have ever put on wheels. A technology carrier and rolling test laboratory for the future electric production vehicles of the I.D. family, which Volkswagen will be launching on the market from 2020.

Frenchman Romain Dumas, who lives in Arzier VD above Lake Geneva, was at the wheel. Neel Jani's former Porsche LMP1 teammate had won this race three times before in a Norma sports car.

Dumas, however, never came close to Sébastien Loeb's absolute track record, which the latter set in 2013 in the factory Peugeot, a type of four-wheel-drive touring car prototype, in 8'13.878.

Two of the many fathers of success: driver Romain Dumas and Willy Rampf. The former Sauber F1 technical director helped develop the prototype.

Advantageous electrical engineering
On Sunday, he beat it by more than 16 seconds with 7'57.148 (145.6 km/h). The official target was to improve on the existing electric record, which had stood at 8'57.118 since 2016. However, Volkswagen Motorsport had secretly set itself a new absolute track record, but did not communicate this out loud.

So for the first time, a joint competition with electric and conventional vehicles resulted in the overall victory of an e-mobile. In the thin high-altitude air - paddock and start at 2800 m, finish at 4300 m - the I.D. R Pikes Peak did not lose any of its power, unlike the conventional drives.

Romain Dumas: "A blast! We've even exceeded our high expectations with this. Since the tests we knew it was possible to break the all-time record. To do so, everything had to work perfectly, and since you only get one try on race day, the weather also had to play along."

Handshake of two equal opponents with different weapons: Dumas congratulates Faggioli, who is still in the car.

Fast rookies from Team Faggioli
The closest to Dumas was Simone Faggioli. His team fielded two Norma M20s, also specially modified, with 3.4-liter biturbo engines from Nissan (800 hp) for the ten-time European champion and his Swiss customer in the European Mountain Championship, Fabien Bouduban from Belprahon.

Switzerland was also worthily represented: Team Faggioli can be very satisfied with the US performance (Photo: Team Faggioli).

The Italian was unable to make up for the technical inferiority of the thoroughbred sports car with his undisputed driving skills. With a time of 8'37.230, he remained 40 seconds behind Dumas and thus ensured a double victory for the Europeans.

No rider has ever been as fast as Simone Faggioli with conventional rear-wheel drive (photo: Team Faggioli).

Although the multiple day winner and course record holder of the Swiss European Championship race St-Ursanne-Les Rangiers was beaten, he is completely satisfied with his first US start, as he shared via his Facebook page.

Simone Faggioli: "I had a bit of trouble all week and in the race, but in the end I only see the positive. I'm the third fastest ever, no one has ever been faster at Pikes Peak with rear-wheel drive, and no one from a private team has ever been faster. It was an incredible, extreme and almost absurd experience. I've dreamed of this adventure for a long time, and I'll come back here with more experience in all areas to do even better."

Simone Faggioli and Fabien Bouduban (photo: Team Faggioli) share a trip to the hill climb in Colorado Springs.

Fourth overall for Fabien Bouduban
The following onboard video of Faggioli in practice gives an insight into the course of the track in the first kilometers after the start (sector 1):

https://www.facebook.com/Pilota.Simone.Faggioli/videos/1651049698346628

 

Less than a second behind the fastest American Peter Cunningham on an Acura TLX GT, Bouduban finished fourth overall and third in the Cat. Unlimited.

After three of four sectors, the bearded Jura native was still around nine seconds ahead of Cunningham, but lost the entire lead in the top section of the track. Bouduban can also be satisfied with his performance, which earned him third place in the Cat. Unlimited, can also be satisfied with his performance.

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