Prologue. On June 25, 2017, Romain Dumas crosses the finish line of the 95th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb with a time of 9 minutes, 5.672 seconds, securing his place in the sub-10 minute club and winning the event overall for the third time. To Dumas, this result is an abject failure. He's fallen short of his goal of nine minutes flat or below due to a spark plug malfunction, his car falling victim to the harsh, high-altitude racing environment. From this, Dumas concludes the path to future success at Pikes Peak had to be electric, but he knows his small privateer team was incapable of constructing the car to prove it. Not without help, anyway.

Rainier Erhardt/Getty Images Romain Dumas in his Norma in 2013

October 18, 2017: Work on Volkswagen's first factory entry into the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb since its ill-fated 1987 campaign begins, approved by the board of director over the summer. The Plan : An electric prototype, designed to surpass the 8:57.118-minute EV record Rhys Millen set in the eO PP100 in 2016. At Volkswagen's disposal: motorsport-grade electric drivetrain components, experienced technical director François-Xavier "FX" Demaison, and the budget of one of the world's largest automakers.

: An electric prototype, designed to surpass the 8:57.118-minute EV record Rhys Millen set in the eO PP100 in 2016. At Volkswagen's disposal: motorsport-grade electric drivetrain components, experienced technical director François-Xavier "FX" Demaison, and the budget of one of the world's largest automakers. The Goal: Use the setting of the electric vehicle record to promote the 'I.D.' marque, and further refurbish the post-Dieselgate perception of Volkswagen.

Use the setting of the electric vehicle record to promote the 'I.D.' marque, and further refurbish the post-Dieselgate perception of Volkswagen. The Problems : Inadequate facilities for constructing carbon-fiber monocoques, no experience developing cars that race more than two miles above sea level, and no driver with Pikes Peak expertise.

: Inadequate facilities for constructing carbon-fiber monocoques, no experience developing cars that race more than two miles above sea level, and no driver with Pikes Peak expertise. The Solution: Bring VW money and tech to Romain Dumas and Norma, who had the chops to handle both the build and the racing at 14,000 feet. A match made in heaven for racing in the heavens. Even with their powers combined à la Captain Planet, the joint venture faces the daunting task of preparing an electric prototype in less than eight months, while factoring in the needed live-fire testing time. Chief among challenges is designing the I.D. R to handle the unique environment in which it was destined to race. Pikes Peak's starting line is at 9,390 feet, where the atmospheric density is a mere 72 percent that of sea level; at the 14,110-foot checkered flag, it further declines to 60 percent.

Denver Post via Getty Images Pikes Peak

Traditional motorsport engineering relies on abundant, stable air pressure for pneumatic tires, aerodynamic downforce, cooling, and horsepower. With the I.D. R there would be no worries about the engine suffering an automotive pulmonary edema, as electric cars are immune to power loss as they scale mountains. But all the other problems remain regardless of propulsion type; tire pressures fly out of whack as altitude increases, cooling margins become slimmer, and downforce disappears. On top of the environmental challenges, the race's regulations introduce additional complications. If a run is aborted due to a red flag, the car must be rechargeable in 20 minutes, which pushes the limits of modern fast-charging technology. (Extra credit if that power can be made green to match the I.D. brand's ethos.) If Volkswagen is to take the record, it needs serious expertise—but the barebones Norma aero department and Demaison's breadth of knowledge won't suffice for making the I.D. R capable of making enough downforce while racing miles above sea level. A specialist is needed. Veteran technical director Willy Rampf, whose projects include the only Sauber Formula 1 car to win a Grand Prix and the quadruple World Rally Championship-winning VW Polo R WRC, gets a call from Volkswagen. The company wants Rampf to reprise his role with the company to develop the I.D. R's aero package. He asks where he needs to sign.

Volkswagen Willy Rampf

October 19, 2017: Volkswagen reveals its intent to return to Pikes Peak to the public. Rampf, Demaison, and a minuscule Skunk Works of no more than 30 personnel toil away on the car for months, simulating every last imaginable detail. A goal weight 10 percent beneath that of the 1,200-kilogram (2,646-pound) eO PP100 record holder is targeted, forcing added complication onto the battery capacity and weight calculations. To keep mass down, two electric motors are to be used (instead of four), and they're linked via reduction gear to traditional differentials front and rear. Regenerative braking will harvest energy during the race to allow for a smaller battery pack. Computational fluid dynamics—common in high-level motorsport—are relied upon for aero development for the low-pressure racing environment. Though a Porsche wind tunnel is used to test correlation between digital models and reality, it cannot replicate Pikes Peak and its thin air. There is confidence that the design will behave at altitude, but real-world performance remains hypothetical. January 31, 2018: Romain Dumas and Volkswagen announce to the public that they have joined forces for the Pikes Peak campaign, though the I.D. R name remains unspoken; the car is not ready to be seen. March 21, 2018: The first concept renderings of the I.D. R make their public debut. Manufacturing and assembly is underway with the aid of 3-D printing, allowing the rapid prototyping of more than 2,000 components during the car's development.

Volkswagen I.D. R Concept Rendering

April 22, 2018: Volkswagen shows the I.D. R in the flesh in a livestream hosted at Pôle Mécanique Alès Cévennes, a racetrack in France. The car is mechanically complete, but the bodywork is still bare carbon fiber, and does not bear the gray livery hinted at in concept images. Performance figures begin to trickle out of the program. The electric motors create 680 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, all kept in check by a traction control system. Combine that with the car's sub-1,100 kilogram (2,425 pound) weight, and the I.D. R is good for a zero-to-60-mile-per-hour time of 2.25 seconds. Outspoken detractors point out the car's immense power deficit when compared to the eO PP100 it was designed to beat, which raced with almost 1,600 horsepower and 1,859 pound-feet of torque. A small weight advantage and more developed aerodynamics are thought by many not to be enough to give Dumas the tools he needs to dismantle Rhys Millen's record. Dumas is unworried. "I have real faith in Volkswagen Motorsport," he says. "The team is highly motivated and has already shown on many occasions that it is capable of achieving success right away on unfamiliar terrain."

Volkswagen

April 23, 2018: Morning dawns on humming generators and battery tenders, which prepare the I.D. R for Dumas to take out for his first track test session in Alès. The generators burn glycerol, a clean-burning byproduct of biodiesel manufacturing. Like the most advanced of internal combustion race cars, the I.D. R has an IV drip of coolant running through its twin batteries, to bring them to the ideal temperature. Dumas clambers into the I.D. R for a shakedown test, and the car whines its way out on track. He fiddles with the torque split controls, which allow minor adjustment of the car's normally-50:50 power split between the front and rear axles. Both the regenerative brakes and the carbon-ceramic friction brakes work, and the maximum of 2,200-plus pounds of downforce help stick the I.D. R to the track. Though it may pack Volkswagen's most technologically-advanced electric drivetrain, elements of the I.D. R use established technologies. There is no torque vectoring—it would add weight and development time—just a motor and differential at each axle. Heat recycling tech, too, is absent. The I.D. R is equal parts cutting-edge and old-school, and Dumas is impressed. "It was absolutely fantastic to see the completed I.D. R for the first time, and to take it out for its first spin," he gushes afterward. "What Volkswagen has managed to put together from scratch over the past few months has my greatest respect. I had obviously seen initial pictures of the car—but it is even more spectacular in the flesh. We now have a packed schedule of testing ahead of us, and I am looking forward to every meter!" Time to test the I.D. R on its home continent is limited. Before long, every component is boxed up for the trip to America.

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