When a Mustang Learns to Fly…
Image Credit: Ford Performance.
The latest automotive lunacy to emerge from Dearborn is something entirely else. Ford has once again decided that a perfectly sensible electric SUV simply isn't enough. They've taken their rather popular Mustang Mach-E, stuffed it full of electric go-fast bits, and pointed it squarely at the sky. Or, more accurately, at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, also known as the "Race to the Clouds." A truly fitting name, because what they've created defies gravity. Well, almost.
You might recall last year's shenanigans, where Ford unleashed a sort of Frankenstein's monster of an F-150 Lightning onto the mountain. The "SuperTruck" went and won the whole blooming thing. Fair play. But apparently, winning wasn't enough of a statement. This year, Ford has gone full send with the "Super Mustang Mach-E." A Mach-E. Super-sized. One can only imagine the boardroom meeting where this idea was hatched. "Right, we need something even crazier! Something that makes the previous crazy thing look pedestrian!" And thus, the Super Mustang Mach-E was born, amidst a shower of carbon fiber dust and the distinct scent of burnt rubber.
Image Credit: Ford Performance.
But this isn't just a souped-up Mach-E you can pop down to the grocery store in, unless your grocery store happens to be at the top of a very steep, very twisty mountain. This beast is built from the ground up on a unique chassis. Unique, in this case, means "designed to defy the laws of physics." It's packing three electric motors, because one or two simply wouldn't do. These three electric hooligans collectively churn out a mind-boggling 1,421 horsepower. That's a smidgen more than last year's winning SuperTruck, just to ensure they don't accidentally come in second.
And since power without poise is just a recipe for an expensive accident, the engineers have managed to trim a rather impressive 249 pounds off the car compared to its predecessor. Now, 249 pounds might not sound like much when you're talking about a vehicle that could probably tow a small planet, but on a course with 156 turns, every single ounce counts.
Image Credit: Ford Performance.
You'd expect something with this much oomph to have a battery the size of a small shed, right? Nope. They've gone with a rather modest 50-kilowatt-hour unit. Your average road-going EV probably has more than that. But the Pikes Peak sprint is only about 12.42 miles long, and a massive battery would just be way too heavy. And we've already established that heavy is bad.
This compact battery sends 700 volts of electricity to those high-performance, six-phase motors. And, because wasting energy is simply not done these days, the regenerative braking system is an absolute beast, capable of capturing up to 710 kilowatts of energy. Last year's truck only managed a paltry 600 kilowatts. See? Progress! It's as if Ford wants to be efficient, even when being absolutely ludicrous.
Image Credit: Ford Performance.
But the real party piece, the showstopper, is the aerodynamics. This car is designed to stick to the road like a very determined gecko on a freshly painted wall. The carbon fiber bodywork is a giant, meticulously sculpted wing. At 150 miles per hour, this car generates 6,900 pounds of downforce. That's roughly the weight of two regular SUVs pushing the car onto the pavement. Think about that for a second.
And if this magnificent beast could somehow reach 200 miles per hour, that downforce figure would skyrocket to an astonishing 12,000 pounds. That's the kind of aerodynamic grip you need when you're trying to defy gravity and take corners at speeds that would normally send you plummeting into a ravine. To ensure all this downforce doesn't just rip the wheels off, they've fitted forged magnesium wheels, wrapped in sticky Pirelli P-Zero tires, and armed it with powerful carbon brakes. What goes fast must also stop, preferably before it becomes an expensive, crumpled mess.
Image Credit: Ford Performance.
Behind the wheel, guiding this electric rocket ship up the side of a mountain, will be none other than Romain Dumas. This chap is practically a permanent fixture at Pikes Peak. He's a veteran of the "Race to the Clouds" and, rather impressively, holds the overall course record, which he set in 2018 in an all-electric Volkswagen ID.R. So, he knows a thing or two about making electric vehicles fly. He also piloted Ford's SuperTruck to victory last year, so he's clearly got a knack for taming Ford's electric monsters, and this will be his tenth go at the famous hill climb. Good luck, sir, you'll need it.
The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb kicks off this weekend, and I will be glued to the screen, watching the Super Mustang Mach-E make history, popcorn in hand. It's been fascinating to watch electric cars absolutely dominate this event over the last few years, pushing those antiquated combustion-powered relics off the podium. We might not like it, but it's a sign of the times. The future is electric, and it's ridiculously, unbelievably fast.
