Building racecars to go round a track? Easy. Smashing high-speed records? Old news. Volkswagen is taking on a much bigger challenge by creating an electric racer designed for the Pikes Peak hillclimb challenge.

The international climb has run since 1916 in the Rocky Mountains near Colorado Springs, US. The sprint up is 20km long and scales 1,400 metres to the summit, 4,300 metres above sea level.

The Volkswagen prototype has no name and no details as of yet, but will be a part of the brand’s vision to become to the leading producer of electric vehicles. By 2025, it aims to be offering 23 all-electric models.

“The Pikes Peak hill climb is one of the world’s most renowned car races. It poses an enormous challenge and is therefore excellently suited to proving the capabilities of upcoming technologies,” explains Dr Frank Welsch, Member of the Board responsible for Development.

“The extreme stress test on Pikes Peak will give us important findings that will benefit future development, and it will showcase our products and their technologies.”

The previous electric record is 8 minutes 57 seconds, set by US driver Rhys Millen in an eO PP100 EV with peak torque of 2,237Nm. Reckon VW can beat it?