- Ford late January showed off a NASCAR-style Mustang Mach-E demonstrator
- Coincidence? It shares some basic specs with the ABB NASCAR prototype
- Bonus: Jim Farley is musing about a dedicated Raptor off-road “supercar”
There’s no shortage of motorsport news coming out of the Blue Oval, with Ford recently taking a podium in Dakar and doing well at the Daytona 24, not to mention looking forward to a new LMDh program a couple of years from now. And while details on that latter effort are sparse, its announcement was accompanied by the unveiling of a NASCAR-style take on the all-electric Mustang Mach-E.
Billed as a “technology demonstrator” rather than something which will immediately see track time, the vehicle is said to meld elements of today’s NASCAR chassis with an EV powertrain and custom bodywork intended to resemble a Mach-E. Alert readers will notice this prototype has far more of a two-door-like silhouette than any production Mach-E, a decision which was surely intentional.
Ford isn’t spilling many beans about the powertrain, but did say there are three motors and a 78.0-kWh battery. Those specs are markedly similar to last year’s F-150 Lightning SuperTruck that belted up the hill at Pikes Peak; that unit produced more than 1,600 horsepower.
Speaking of Pikes Peak, the brand also released a teaser photo of this year’s entrant, a machine the company suggested will use an EV powertrain similar to the SuperTruck, but wrapped in styling also meant to evoke the Mach-E. Will it look like this prototype? We shall see.
Whatever shows up at the hill climb in Colorado, it is worth acknowledging this is the second all-electric crossover-esque vehicle that has appeared recently attached to NASCAR. Back in July at the Chicago street race, the sanctioning body showed what it called the ABB EV Prototype, developed as a collab between all three brands currently at Cup level in NASCAR.
If you guessed it was powered by three electric motors and a – you guessed it – 78.0-kWh battery, you’d be exactly right.
Meanwhile, reporters at Top Gear magazine speaking with Ford head honcho Jim Farley at a motorsports kickoff event late last month are saying the boss is musing about applying the mighty “Raptor” name to a “standalone” supercar of sorts. What sorts, you ask? As the Magic 8-Ball might say: Answer Unclear.
“We’re in the middle of creating something, so we don’t have all the answers yet, but the question is: should Ford make an off-road supercar? Not a version of a car, a standalone supercar,” Farley said.
As noted above, Ford earned a podium finish at this year’s gruelling Dakar off-road event, which takes place nowhere near Dakar. The machine used in that campaign was called the “Raptor T1+,” and could provide the template for the bespoke consumer-grade beast Farley has in mind.
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