After months of promises, VW has formally unveiled its electric Pikes Peak race car… and its performance might be surprising even in light of earlier hype. The I.D. R Pikes Peak is built to smash Pikes Peak’s EV record of 8 minutes and 57 seconds not through brute force, but by achieving a finely tuned power-to-weight ratio. While the 680HP two-motor powerplant may not sound like much when the existing record holder (Drive eO’s PP100) packed a whopping 1,596HP, VW’s vehicle will weigh under 2,500lbs versus 2,646lbs for its archrival.
Combine that with potentially better aerodynamics (the VW car is closer to a Le Mans car than the usual hill climber) and the result is an EV that can outperform some of the fastest race cars. With a 0-60MPH time of … More
This week, Porsche managed to shatter the Formula 1 lap record around Spa-Francorchamps with an upgraded version of its 919 Hybrid. How did it manage such a feat? Matt Somerfield takes a closer look.
It’s rare that we get to see the result of race programmes when they come to an end, but Porsche has done something incredibly special by creating the 919 Evo tribute, a machine that totally ignores the technical regulations that held back the potential of its FIA World Endurance Championship-winning brethren.
In most motorsports, the engineer’s cruelest foe isn’t the rules of physics or the driver’s inability to wring every crumb of power from their vehicle. It’s the rules. Rules laid down by overbearing governing bodies, imposing limits on weight, dimensions, power output, tire choices, aerodynamics, braking, and whatever else they can think to control. Usually the point is to keep the drivers safe or make racing more entertaining with evenly matched machines, but that doesn’t mean the engineers like it.
So when Porsche gave its people the chance to break free and show what their machines can do, they over delivered … More
Time to say Goodbye: A world tour with the 919 Hybrid in 2018
20 Pole-Positions, 17 race victories, 6 World Championship titles and a Le Mans Hattrick: the Porsche 919 Hybrid will one last time say its final goodbye and leave the motorsport stage after its world tour 2018.
83-year-old Foyt was to be grand marshal at this weekend’s 12 Hours of Sebring
For the second time in his life, A.J. Foyt has survived an attack by Africanized killer bees. Thursday’s attack sent the 83-year-old racing legend to a local West Texas hospital, where he was treated and released once his system was stabilized.
Foyt, the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 who also won the 1972 Daytona 500 and 1967 24 Hours of Le Mans, was also attacked by killer bees in August 2005. During that attack, he sustained … More