Volkswagen’s latest evolution of the all-electric I.D.R racer officially became the second-fastest thing ever to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife recently, after smashing the old electric car lap record by over 40 seconds.

The current kings of Pikes Peak, the I.D.R and its driver Romain Dumas, lapped the 12.9-mile German circuit in 6min 05.336sec, smashing the previous electric record – recorded by Briton Peter Dumbreck in a NIO EP9 supercar in 2017.

It’s an impressive feat for Volkswagen, but it’s still well shy of the outright record which is held by the Porsche 919 Hybrid EVO which completed the circuit in 5min 19.546sec with Timo Bernhard at the wheel.

The flurry of records has prompted some to wonder where it will all stop. In the last year alone the entire top three fastest laps ever have fallen – the Porsche 911 GT2 RS by Manthey-Racing went third-fastest during last October.   

The Lamborghini Aventador LP770-4 SVJ topped the production car times last July, just a year after the firm’s Huracan Performante did it, only to be beaten by the Porsche 911 GT2 RS. And the sheer number of categories extends well beyond supercars – Renault reclaimed the front-wheel-drive record with the Mégane RS Trophy R this year to hold off attempts from Honda, SEAT and Volkswagen.

How about for four-door cars? That’ll be the Jaguar XE SV Project 8, which beat Alfa Romeo’s Giulia Quadrifoglio in 2017. What about the fastest BMW in a shade of grey to run on the second Tuesday of the month? That could be anyone…

The point is, does any of this matter? Especially in production cars where the handling characteristics’ most stringent test will likely be a Milton Keynes roundabout or six? But if it gives manufacturers a certificate for their walls, it can’t be that bad.

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