Months ago, Vezess reported on Ford’s plan, according to which the American brand set itself a goal no less steep than setting a new record on Pikes Peak.
The muscle van with traces of the Transit Custom’s underpinnings has since undergone a major makeover, thus earning the name SuperVan 4.2. In addition to the usual grinding, it was a significant achievement that it was possible to cut about 400 kilograms from the mass of the Ford, but it still weighed more than 2 tons.
However, the engineers not only reduced kilograms, but also – unusually – reduced horsepower, so the three-motor propulsion technology that had previously been around 2,000 hp could now produce “only” 1,400 hp.
The 101st Pikes Peak race was held recently on the non-classic asphalt track in Colorado Springs (USA), where Ford debuted its turbo-electric Transit. Before that, Ford had only six weeks to prepare, because during the tests, not everything went as planned with the improved truck: the SuperVan 4.2 gearbox was damaged during the test run, so they had to modify it during the official event.
However, months of hard work still paid off. If Romain Dumas and Volkswagen ID. The R was not dangerous even on his sub-8-minute lap, improving the previous best in class by 37 seconds: he completed the 20 km in a time of 8:47.682.
source: Ford, Motor1.com
Image source(s): stronghold