The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is a racing occasion that’s been occurring since 1916. It’s a 12.42-mile run that climbs 4,720 ft and serves as a proving floor for carmakers to check the velocity and agility of their new autos.
Electric automobiles are inclined to do effectively within the Pikes Peak race; they don’t need to take care of the issues of excessive altitudes and thinner air that may stymie racecars powered by fossil fuels, making it a super testing floor. The first electrical automotive to win was in 2015, when Honda claimed victory with an electrical CR-Z. Volkswagen’s ID R set a course report in 2018, blasting up the course at over 90 mph in just below eight minutes.
But for the previous two years, one firm has claimed the title of King of the Mountain with its wildly designed electrical demonstrators: Ford. The engineers on the automaker’s racing division strategy the race with the zeal of a mad scientist. First there was the SuperVan 4.2, a 2,000 horsepower (not a typo) “flippantly modified” Transit van with a rear wing so huge it appeared prefer it may merely fly to the highest of the notorious hill. Then there was the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck, a beastly model of the automaker’s electrical pickup that, just like the SuperVan, took residence the highest prize — even after briefly coming to a whole cease throughout its run.
For the previous two years, one firm has claimed the title of King of the Mountain with its wildly designed electrical demonstrators: Ford
This 12 months, Ford is switching issues up with the Super Mustang Mach-E, an EV demonstrator with specs much like the SuperVan and SuperTruck, with some key variations. Still, the Super Mustang Mach-E may have the identical problem: get to the highest of the hill sooner than anybody else.
And whereas SuperTruck was an evolution of SuperVan, the Super Mustang Mach-E is extra of a “ground-up train,” stated Zach Burns, F1 and EV demonstration program engineer, in an interview. That features a new suspension, a full aerodynamic redesign, carbon brakes, and different additions designed to assist the demonstrator cost up the infamous hill as quick as potential.
Much of that may come all the way down to downforce, and Ford Performance has actually outdone itself with this one. Perhaps you’ve seen the large rear wing that’s harking back to a extra conventional racecar design with endplates over the curved, body-joining construction. This will assist the Mustang Mach-E generate a staggering 6,900 kilos of downforce at 150 mph, surpassing even final 12 months’s SuperTruck high-downforce configuration.
“You’re solely going to see that sort of degree [of downforce in] F1 and LMP1 [vehicles] again within the day,” Burns stated. “So it’s a really excessive downforce automobile.”
The Super Mustang Mach-E is extra of a “ground-up train”
Design work started final September, Burns stated. By the tip of October, the Ford Performance staff had “totally dedicated” to the design of the automobile. And remaining meeting happened a few month and a half in the past in Austria by STARD Advanced Research and Development, Ford’s manufacturing accomplice within the challenge.
The staff began with a point-mass mannequin, biking by means of “a whole bunch and a whole bunch” of iterations till they settled on the shape issue that will be best on the monitor, Burns stated. “So you’re taking a look at wheelbase monitor, width, lengths, weights, energy, downforce — simply sort of all of the totally different spectrums of a automobile and to choose the attributes you’d wish to have,” he added.
Crucially, the Super Mustang Mach-E is a lighter and extra nimble racer than its predecessors, with extra regenerative means and a extra balanced weight distribution. This will assist with the 12.42-mile course’s twisty ascent, Ford says.
At the center of the Super Mustang Mach-E are three STARD UHP 6-Phase motors producing over 1,400 horsepower, all fed by 50kWh of ultra-high-performance Li-polymer nickel-manganese-cobalt pouch cells. Like final 12 months’s entry, the demonstrator operates on a voltage of 799V, however this 12 months’s setup sheds crucial weight — over 260 kilos — whereas delivering regenerative braking of 710kW. The automotive’s carbon braking system, solid magnesium wheels, and Pirelli P-Zero tires are engineered to resist the punishing 156 turns as much as the 14,115-foot summit.
At the center of the Super Mustang Mach-E are three STARD UHP 6-Phase motors producing over 1,400 horsepower
Ford is eyeing a possible hat trick (or would it not be a Triple Crown?) with this 12 months’s race, which takes place June twenty second in Colorado. As with Ford’s earlier Pikes Peak entrants, French racing impresario Romain Dumas will pilot the Mach-E to the summit. To mark Dumas’ milestone with the staff, the Mustang Mach-E will carry the official race quantity 310 — a nod to his third entry with Ford Performance and tenth general run up Pikes Peak.
But this isn’t some vainness challenge for Ford. Key learnings from the Super Mustang Mach-E and its counterparts are “actively influencing” the subsequent era of Ford EVs for manufacturing, the corporate says. This contains improvements in battery chemistry, thermal administration, and high-performance electrical drive models “examined below excessive stress at Pikes Peak.”
“These autos are the higher echelon of the height of what you possibly can see and what we do right here,” Burns stated. “I feel that undoubtedly helps validate and enhance what we do on the manufacturing facet.”
