Ford’s electric van breaks Bathurst lap record

An electric van reaching speeds above 300km/h has broken the unofficial lap record at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.

The Ford SuperVan 4.2 lapped the circuit faster than the V8-powered Mercedes-AMG coupe which had set a new record only eight days earlier.

With two-time Le Mans winner Romain Dumas at the wheel, the electric Ford set a 1:56.28 to beat the fastest lap set by Jules Gounon in the Mercedes-AMG GT, a 1:56.6064.

“A lap record, no matter who it is [against] … a lap record is a big deal for us,” Ford Performance Motorsport Director, Mark Rushbrook, told media including Drive.

“We didn't know that AMG was going to come here last week and do their lap, so that gave us a target to go for it, for sure,” he said.

For comparison, the SuperVan’s 1:56.28 came moments before Broc Feeney set the fastest time for pole position in the afternoon’s V8 Supercars race with a 2:06.5465.

The best time of the weekend set by a V8 Supercar was 2:05.317.

Only one vehicle has ever made it around the 6.213km circuit quicker than the Ford – a McLaren Formula One car with an unofficial 1:48.8 set in 2011, driven by former world champion Jenson Button.

The SuperVan is the fastest ‘closed-wheel’ vehicle, meaning the wheels are contained inside the body of the car – or in this unusual case, van.

The oddity of an electric van outpacing sports cars and V8-powered Supercars is part of the car maker’s development of electric performance applications, such as the electric car burnout mode it patented in 2023.

A 10-person crew, including driver Dumas, worked on the SuperVan across two consecutive weekends – the Bathurst 12 Hour GT sports car event and the Bathurst 500 Supercars round – to hone the electric drivetrain to maximise its speed at the venue.

Several times during the fastest lap it passed 300km/h – the top speed of the Supercars on the fastest section of the track in qualifying was 281km/h, yet using a much smaller body than the SuperVan’s Transit shell.

Rushbrook said the lessons from challenges overcome by the crew in setting the record – most notably using an electric powertrain – have long-term benefits for Ford’s road car division.

“It is the electrified powertrain technology, but it's also the total vehicle and other things that affect those road cars like aerodynamics,” he said.

“You train those people and you better your tools, so that you can then apply that to road cars. And sometimes you apply it in a different way, but it's still the processes that matter.”

Ford developed the SuperVan 4.2 to compete at the 2023 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb where Dumas drove it to second place.

It will be on show at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival in March, before a cameo at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park.

The pool of Red Bull Racing drivers – which includes Australian Daniel Ricciardo – may be used to find a driver for these events.

Ford will join Red Bull Racing in Formula One from 2026, working on powertrains for the team, which includes hybrid electrification technology.

Ford Performance has also produced the F-150 Lightning Switchgear demonstrator, an electric pick-up with off-road upgrades.

Despite the focus on research and development, fluctuating demand for electric vehicles in the US saw the car maker scale back production of its electric F-150 Lighting electric pick-up in December 2023.

It also dropped prices of the Mustang Mach-E electric SUV in both Australia and the US and revealed substantial losses on every electric car it sold in 2023.