The tech changes that could seal a Nordschleife record

After obliterating the all-time record at the world-famous Pikes Peak hillclimb last year, Volkswagen decided not to bother defending its title on the 20-kilometre (12.43-mile) mountain pass in Colorado.

Instead, the marque's motorsport division has studiously primed its noble electric-powered chariot for another record attempt - the fastest time for an electric vehicle at the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

Around the terrifying turns and twists of the "Green Hell", the electric-powered record stands at a 6m45.90s, courtesy of Peter Dumbreck in an NIO EP9 sportscar. Inside, the motors were derived from NIO's Formula E powertrain, installing one at each wheel for a total of over 1300bhp - and the time stands just a few seconds slower than a fully kitted-out Porsche 911 GT2.

Impressive, especially when high-performance electric cars remain in their relative infancy. VW is confident that the I.D. R can charge ahead of NIO's electric benchmark.

In its vastly successful tilt at Pikes Peak, the German marque's intent was - again - to beat the fastest time for an electric car: a 9m07.222s. Set in 2015, Pikes Peak veteran Rhys Millen was behind the wheel of a Drive eO PP03 - developed by a small electric vehicle specialist in Latvia. It was an excellent effort - beating the record set the previous year by Mitsubishi's MiEV Evolution III.

Then Volkswagen came out to play with its brand new toy. When Romain Dumas took the I.D. R to the top of Pikes Peak, 4300m above sea level, it had buried Millen's electric record by over a minute.

More impressively, it had taken Sebastien Loeb's outright record with the Peugeot 208 T16 - an 8m13.878s lap set in 2013 - and put it in the shade by 16 seconds to clinch the first-ever sub-eight minute timed run.

Rather than tackle it again, and aim to shave slithers of time off of its best, VW has set its sights a little closer to home - swapping the Colorado Rockies for the Eifel in western Germany.

The assault on Dumbreck's Nordschleife electric record is pencilled in for the summer, and the I.D. R has been given a complete overhaul in preparation. Sure, the two courses are treacherous 20km blasts through thick foliage and mountain ranges - but there's not actually that much in common between them.

Pikes Peak more closely resembles a spaghetti string thrown at a shingled wall and features very little in the way of straights - meaning that the emphasis is on capturing plenty of drive out of the tight corners and staying glued to the road in the sweeping sections.

"Nordschleife presents a completely different challenge for aerodynamics in comparison to the hill climb at Pikes Peak" Francois-Xavier Demaison

There's also a 1.3km (0.81-mile) change in altitude from top to bottom, affecting the aerodynamics of the car further up the mountain pass. Air density reduces with height, and it's around 1.225kg/m3 at sea level, with 15C ambient temperature.

Bring the altitude up to 4000m, and the density drops to 1.058kg/m3. It might not seem like much, but that's got a direct influence on the amount of downforce a car can generate.

Running the numbers in some basic equations, this suggests an approximate loss of 13% of the car's downforce from an area of no altitude compared to the top of Pikes Peak. The course begins at just below 3000m altitude so that loss is closer to a more manageable 3%. But that's still an effect to consider. That's why the car was equipped with a giant, two-metre-plus-change rear spoiler, taking into account the reduced air pressure to develop the downforce needed to put the instant torque from the electric motors straight onto the road.

Squirming out of a tight hairpin is not conducive to a good lap time either but, helpfully, the all-wheel drive can do a lot to steady the ship. With those key properties being channelled effectively into a hugely-advanced prototype electric car, it's easy to see how Dumas was able to beat Loeb's record run (pictured below). The Nordschleife, however, is a very different kettle of fish.

"Though almost identical in length at roughly 20km, the Nordschleife presents a completely different challenge for aerodynamics in comparison to the hill climb at Pikes Peak," explained Volkswagen Motorsport technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison. "In the USA it was all about maximum downforce, but because the speeds are a lot higher on the Nordschleife, the most efficient battery use possible is of much greater importance with regard to the aerodynamic configuration."

That's another area to weigh up. The circuit sits between 300m and 600m above sea level, meaning that the aerodynamics would - in the same configuration as the hillclimb specification - react very differently to the conditions.

As such, the aero package needs to be reworked to develop the right amount of downforce around corners, but offer an absolute minimum of drag for the almost 1.86-mile long section of full throttle. To get the best from both worlds, VW has looked across at Formula 1 for inspiration.

While the drag reduction system appended to F1 rear wings is a much-derided addition to the field, it's an invaluable tool for the I.D. R - especially when working with the full gamut of the Nordschleife's straights and the variation in its 73 corners.

Rather than sacrificing pace in either of those key areas, the DRS will give Dumas options for both. There's also a brand new floor and front end to combat the effects of pitch sensitivity; the Pikes Peak pass has only recently been surfaced, while the Nordschleife is significantly more undulating - meaning that the greater motion of the car in response to the road can throw up significantly more aero challenges.

Energy efficiency is also paramount. With greater density comes greater drag, and that means the twin motors - pumping out a total power output of over 500kW (or 680bhp, to the imperialist) - need to drink up more energy from the battery.

The inclusion of DRS goes some way to ease the amount of energy consumption, but there's still plenty that the engineers can do - and not just in terms of aerodynamics. A lot of VW's brainpower is being thrown at numerous simulations, using topographical data from the circuit and the characteristics of the car, to determine how to save energy in certain situations.

Every single movement from each wheel is carefully monitored so that not a single joule of energy is wasted.

"With regard to the Nordschleife, we are in the fortunate position of being in possession of a wealth of data on the track layout and road surface," says Dr Benjamin Ahrenholz, VW Motorsport's head of simulation.

"This allows us to adapt the I.D. R virtually as efficiently as possible, despite the fact it has never driven a lap of the Nordschleife before."

Using data gleaned from kinematics tests and the analysis of the vehicle dynamics, a greater picture can be built up through numerous simulations. Those variables, along with the virtual driver profile built up from Dumas' time in VW's simulator, means that the simulation team can pinpoint an achievable lap time from their upcoming trip to the Nordschleife.

Splitting the battery into two, with one powering the front axle motor while the other powers the rear, means that the energy transfer can be independently monitored to dial out any possibility of understeer, which wastes further energy. The car also has no transmission, meaning that there's no potential of energy loss between shifts.

On paper, the reconfigured I.D. R looks to be every bit a world-beater

Like on FE cars, the I.D. R also features recovery systems to allow for regeneration under braking, a key part of the Nordschleife lap. In doing so, this assists with the braking performance itself, taking energy out of the rotational motion of the wheels and recapturing it within the batteries. That means the car can run with smaller brakes, marginally reducing the overall weight of the car.

At Pikes Peak, around 20% of the energy used through the lap was through regen under braking, a needle that the battery and motor developers respectively must thread to make it until the end. Alongside the brakes, the reduced cooling demands of an electric motor means that there's a further boon to the aerodynamics; the bodywork is less punctuated by various inlets, meaning that the aerodynamicists at VW's base have more area to play with.

There's also a switch from the Michelin tyres, with which the I.D. R tackled Pikes Peak, to Bridgestone rubber, giving VW's engineers another challenge to get their heads around.

"That was very reactive to our demands, our needs," explained Sven Smeets, the motorsport director of Volkswagen AG. "I think already in the last test they had new tyres with them, they have new tyres here for them. They're constantly trying to improve. And it happens really quick, when the tyres are made in Japan each time, they are really on the case. They've put some [Super GT] GT500 experience in it, but it's a bespoke mixture for us.

"Michelin did Pikes Peak with us, but they always announced that it was for Pikes Peak and nothing more. They decided to not continue with this project, which was fine - so we had to find somebody new. Bridgestone, we have a good relationship with the brand, and Romain told us the tyres in Japan are still top of the bill. Once they said yes, they've been fully engaged with it."

On paper, the reconfigured I.D. R looks to be every bit a world-beater and, after its running at the Nordschleife, the car will be carted off to China to tackle the Tianmen Shan Big Gate Road in September - where Dumas will race against the fastest virtual times clocked in a competition.

But the prestige - and the focus - lies with the attempt at overturning Dumbreck's Nurburgring electric lap record. VW has already taken the I.D. R out for a dummy run. Despite reams of data and many simulated runs on the Nordschleife, there's no substitute for the real-life string of asphalt nestled between endless trees.

Dumas, post-test, had already pinpointed some further changes than needed to be made to the car - tweaking the suspension characteristics to improve its response to the vast, billowing circuit.

"It was a great moment to drive the I.D. R on my favourite track for the first time," says Dumas. "The cornering speeds in the I.D. R are much higher than I am used to in GT race cars. But I feel good in the cockpit and that is really important here.

"The Nurburgring Nordschleife has larger and more numerous bumps than the race tracks on which we have tested so far. So, we have concentrated on adapting the shock absorbers and the ride height to suit the unique characteristics of this track."

This doesn't promise to be a repeat of Pikes Peak, and the all-time Nordschleife lap record (5m19.546s) set by Timo Bernhard last year in Porsche's showstopper 919 Evo looks far out of reach.

But VW's overtures to beating NIO's EP9 look very credible. And if yet another record falls to the Volkswagen I.D. R this summer, surely it should be the latest addition to the pantheon of great automotive icons.

It's a culmination of every modern-day technique for creating the perfect car - and it deserves to reap the adulation if it breaks boundaries at the Nordschleife.