Ford is getting very serious about making electric vehicles go incredibly quickly. First came the seven-motor Mustang Mach E 1400, a one-off, 1400bhp smoke-making machine. Then there was SuperVan 4, a machine that had the bones of a Transit van buried somewhere beneath its bespoke body and 1973bhp drivetrain.
An updated version, SuperVan 4.2, took on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb last year, taking second overall with course record holder and two-time Le Mans winner Romain Dumas at the wheel.
Ford Supervan 4.2 Pikes Peak
That second place obviously stung, because Ford has announced it’s heading back to the Colorado mountain this year with a new challenger, based on the electric F-150 Lightning pickup. Information is sparse at the moment, but we’d bet on it using a version of the SuperVan 4.2’s drivetrain – in last year’s Pikes Peak spec, that means a triple-motor, all-wheel drive setup making around 1400bhp, although we wouldn’t be surprised to see Ford try and extract a little more to go for that overall win. Perhaps they’ll add the fourth motor that the non-Pikes Peak SuperVan had for the full 2000bhp.
Ford has some major history with Pikes Peak. The very first car to complete the 12.4-mile course in 1916 was a Model T, which ascended nearly 5000 feet from start to finish in 28 minutes and three seconds.
Ford F-150 Lightning
The overall record, 7:57.148, was set in 2018 by Dumas in the bonkers Volkswagen ID.R, and since then, nobody’s been able to top that. We’d be shocked if this F-150 was able to – after all, it’ll be nominally based on a roadgoing pickup truck whereas the ID.R was close to an LMP1 racer in its looks and philosophy.
Still, it should be in with a decent shout at victory this year when it takes on the mountain on 23 June. We’ll be watching closely to see what it can do.
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