The approaching Ford F-150 Lightning efficiency demonstrator will not be the one battery-powered present of Ford muscle this yr. The Supervan 4 is headed to this yr’s operating of the one hundred and first Pikes Peak Worldwide Hill Climb, making this fairly the yr for transferring heavy weight up the mountain. The Supervan 4 joins a privateer Rivian R1T among the many cadre of enormous electrical contrivances racing to the clouds, and a possible BMW factory-backed run may put an XM Crimson Label on the beginning line.
Ford’s taking three massive benefits to the race which could put the Supervan in a stunning spot on the end. First, the factor has 1,973 horsepower due to 4 electrical motors. Second, electrical energy implies that horse depend will make all of it the way in which up the mountain, which isn’t the case for ICE automobiles succumbing to variously extreme circumstances of bronchial asthma on their method as much as 14,115 toes. Third, Romain Dumas would be the wheelman. In eight journeys to the PPIHC since 2012, Dumas has gained 4 occasions. A Honda combustion-powered Norma M20 earned three victories, and the latest triumph and the general file that also stands got here within the battery-electric Volkswagen ID.R.
There’s been a Ford at first line of each Pikes Peak because the race began in 1916, however the producer is underrepresented on the historic leaderboard. Cody Vasholtz gained in 2020 in a home-built automotive known as the 2013 Ford Open powered by an 850-horsepower, 402-cubic-inch, carbureted big-block V8 operating on methanol. Earlier than that, one should make the leap to 1971 when Ak Miller gained in a 1970 Ford Mustang operating a customized 351 Cleveland motor. We do not count on the Supervan to vary Ford’s fortunes on the prime, however the hauler ought to present a wild trip up the mountain. And if it will get a time assault aero package deal as wild as its EV specs, all the higher.
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