I love the Ford SuperVan. It’s one of the goofiest promo vehicles in Ford’s massive automotive history, involving cramming a powerful-as-heck drive system into a flippin’ van, of all things. That body gives Ford a lot of room to play with, and previous incarnations of the famed van have included V8s and experimental engines. And now with the most recent incarnation, 4.2, an electric drive system, which has just beaten the all-time closed-wheel lap record at Australia’s most famous racetrack, Mount Panorama in Bathurst.
The Ford SuperVan 4.2 achieved a lap record of 1:56.3247 surpassing the record set the previous weekend in a Mercedes AMG GT3 car (1:56.605, as reported by SpeedCafe). Keeping in mind that it didn’t break the all-time mountain record, which is 1:48.88, and set by Jensen Button in 2011 in a Formula 1 car. Still, the SuperVan holds the record for a closed-wheel car, and the record for an electric car.
Was the SuperVan actually competing in any race? Heck no, look at it, it’s a brick on wheels (1,995kg, by the way, more than double that of the SuperVan 3, but in line with modern electric cars). I’m not sure there’s a category in the world that the SuperVan could legitimately enter, which is why the SuperVan has mostly existed as a promotional vehicle since its second model, particularly for Transit vans (though the SuperVan 4 and 4.2 do go a long way in showing off Ford’s electric abilities).
Christ, listen to that noise.
The van is capable of producing 2,000 horsepower. It has a 600kW regenerative braking system, and it has a three-motor AWD design, enabling a 0-100km/h speed in less than two seconds. It also looks completely out of this world.
“Lessons learned from SuperVan’s running in Australia will have a direct flow into Ford’s next generation of electric road cars. That means future products that Aussies drive on our roads will have a little spirit of Mount Panorama carried within them,” President and CEO of Ford Australia Andrew Birkic said.
Speaking of, we’ll be picking up the Ford Mustang Mach-E GT later this week to review, and while we won’t be able to set lap times on Bathurst, we are excited to get behind the wheel (again). Stay tuned.
Image: Ford
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