Late last year, Volkswagen announced that it would bring an electric car to the 2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Now, we have a better idea of how it’ll look.
One of Volkswagen’s many Twitter accounts tweeted out a heretofore unseen picture of its electric Pikes Peak race car. Whereas last year’s teaser was entirely in the shadows, this gives us an actual shot of its front end. Aside from the massive splitter up front — key to producing downforce during the hill climb — the front end reminds me of the automaker’s I.D. concepts.
It makes sense that this racer would end up resembling the company’s electric concepts. Starting in the next couple years, Volkswagen will introduce an entire line of vehicles based around a single, flexible vehicle platform built from the get-go with EVs in mind. Using the same style on its Pikes Peak car will only draw more attention to the slew of electric cars we can expect to see on roads in the coming years, including Roadshow’s personal favorite, the I.D. Buzz microbus.
Volkswagen has some history at Pikes Peak. The #UnfinishedBusiness hashtag in VW’s tweet refers to its effort at the 1987 Pikes Peak event. It brought a twin-engine Golf, which is quite the refreshing take on all-wheel drive, but it failed to complete the hill climb. Now, with a brand-new electric car and an entirely paved road (the gravel went away in 2012), VW is ready to give it another go.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a bear of a race. Cars go up one at a time, snaking up 12.42 miles of paved road to the top of Pikes Peak, covering more than 150 turns in the process. It’s like the Nürburgring Nordschleife, except if you fall off, there’s a good chance you’ll die.Â
