Quiet, clean, and calm, most electric cars are a joy to drive. They are more environmentally friendly and less likely to increase your stress levels than traditional cars. But if you’re the kind of driver who wants to get an adrenaline rush without burning any gas, you don’t have many options.
Ford hopes to change that with its latest high-performance special edition, the Mach-E Rally. After sliding a few laps around Ford’s private, private off-road track in Michigan, I can attest that this is a machine that lives up to its name.
But Ford’s mission to ramp up its electric vehicle efforts has led to some other, wilder machines with some unusual shapes, so-called “demonstrators,” whose performance levels are so high that in Definitely illegal on the streets. It’s a two-pronged approach to support the company’s electrification efforts, but in many ways, it’s just a continuation of the same theme the company has been singing since its inception.
super truck
In June of this year, a Ford F-150 Lightning stopped at the starting line of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Since 1916, this difficult road has challenged cars and drivers with one simple goal: to reach the top of the mountain faster than everyone else.
And that’s exactly what Ford’s all-electric model did, taking just 8 minutes and 53 seconds from start to finish, more than 10 seconds faster than the next fastest competitor. It was an impressive feat for a truck, but even more incredible was the fact that Ford’s so-called “Super Truck” came to an abrupt stop just a few feet after starting. It was stationary for 26 seconds while pilot Romain Dumas performed the restart procedure.
8 minutes and 53 seconds
“Fortunately, Roman had been working on how to deal with what had happened the night before,” said David Root, exterior designer of the F-150 Lightning super truck. “He knew exactly what to do.”
That Alexandre Dumas still Winning the race after being stationary for half a minute showed the truck’s dominance and looked like something out of a video game. That’s because it is – at least mentally. SuperTruck design manager Anthony Meyer admitted to me that he drew inspiration from the epic, big-winged Suzuki Escudo that was dominant at the time. GT Sports Car 2.
This wild look is possible because the SuperTruck has nothing in common with the road-going F-150 Lightning. Built on a custom frame and equipped with three high-performance motors delivering over 1,600 horsepower, it’s what the brand calls a “demonstrator.” That is, a high-powered, high-performance machine designed to impress, not necessarily compete.
“We felt there was no suitable all-electric racing series to compete in,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance, the company’s racing division. “Because we are not restricted by rules. We can do whatever we want, we can learn whatever we want, and we can tell any spectacle or story we want.
While the Pikes Peak event does have rules that define the various categories of vehicles that compete each year, in the event’s open division, most of the rules are done in the name of driver safety. The Ford team was free to do whatever they wanted, besides building a safe car that was very similar to the road-going F-150. This allows the team to create some crazy stuff, all in an effort to raise the profile of its road-going electric vehicles.
electric glasses
While EV show cars are just one aspect of Ford Motorsports, they are an increasingly important part of the company’s marketing efforts.
First up is the 2020 Mustang Cobra Jet 1400, a 1,400-horsepower dragster designed to run the quarter mile in under 8 seconds, faster than even the blazingly fast Lucid Air Sapphire. Following closely behind is the equally powerful Mustang Mach-E 1400.
However, most of Ford’s efforts in motorsport are still focused on the internal combustion engine, and more specifically, the controlled explosion under the hood of the Ford Mustang coupe. Ford Sports Cars, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, competes in everything from Le Mans to NASCAR to the National Hot Rod Association, with different series having very different needs.
“We are not bound by rules”
It’s all in pursuit of the old adage “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday,” which says success on the track leads to success in the dealership.
To better establish that connection, Ford has a long history of racing-themed Mustang special editions. Models such as the Shelby GT350, Boss 302 and Cobra R all have their roots in racing. However, this year Ford announced the first performance version of another Mustang: the Mustang Mach-E Rally, which came in special edition colors. Like many pony cars before it, the Rally had to pass Ford’s torture testers to succeed.
Proving ground
Many of Ford’s road-going machines, as well as many of its track-oriented machines, cut their teeth in a rather obscure place: the Michigan Proving Grounds, better known as the MPG. It’s located in Romeo, Miss., a rural town of less than 4,000 people 45 miles north of Detroit, and is one of several testing facilities Ford operates around the world.
The MPG headquarters is a shabby-looking building filled with low, dark cubicles. The only color in the place comes from a collection of motorsport posters on the walls, some of which have the signatures of the Ford greats. One shows a Ford Fiesta rally car skidding on a gravel road, with this dedication: “To MPG – thank you for everything! -Ken Block 43”
It’s a little depressing inside, but that’s okay because the real magic happens outside. The building’s backyard is a 4,000-acre edifice of automotive excellence, criss-crossed with roads and trails suitable for evaluating every vehicle Ford makes, plus a few select products from competitors.
There you’ll find asphalt roads that are both smooth and rough, steep and shallow, as well as endless dirt and off-road sections. Still, nothing is quite right when it comes to the development of the Mach-E Rallycross.
“To MPG – thank you for everything! -Ken Block 43”
“We surveyed all the tracks on the 4,000 acres we already had. We also looked at other proving grounds in Arizona and Germany, and there was nothing quite suitable for rallycross.
Mach-E Rally is dedicated to the sport of rallying, the age-old pursuit of going fast in any condition. But rallycross is a special form of this pursuit. In the American mind, rallycross is typically a rural affair, a hobby where people drive Subaru cars around traffic cones on pastures or gravel parking lots. Each competitor performs multiple runs throughout the day; ultimately, the rider with the shortest cumulative time wins.
Just about any car with functional suspension can compete and survive, as long as its drivers don’t pay too much attention to their paintwork. However, not all survive. It is not uncommon for courses to begin to deteriorate over time. As ruts deepen, the risk of damage increases.
Off-road rally racing is not easy for cars. Serious competitors will invest in a suspension system that provides extra compliance, ground clearance and durability for rough trails. Aluminum skid plates are also common to prevent damage to the oil pan, exhaust pipe, and differential. Without these basic upgrades, competitors that drive hard are asking for trouble.
To replicate what rallycross racers might encounter on an average Saturday, Ford’s development team did what any racer with a fast car and a 4,000-acre playground would do: They made their own track.
The result is a short, dirt and gravel track with interconnecting loops to provide variety. After several modifications and extensions (at a cost no one would disclose), the Mach-E team had the perfect testing ground.
As ruts deepen, the risk of damage increases
The goal is 500 hours of rigorous testing. “Always send it full throttle,” said Anthony Magagnoli, Ford’s off-road attributes engineer and one of the test drivers.
“Full send” is rally lingo for driving as hard as possible without a shred of mechanical sympathy. Our goal is a car that can go 500 hours without breaking anything. The team believes that’s 10 years’ worth of games.
This is an impressive feat considering that many cars can go 10 minutes in a cross-country rally without losing bodywork. In fact, the Mach-E had a rocky start.
“In the first 50 miles that we tried this, we found a lot of parts falling off the car,” says Ford’s Kistler.
“None of them are structural things,” adds Chris Berchin, an off-road attributes engineer and avid rallycross enthusiast who was responsible for most of the 500 hours time. “It’s this trim piece that came off, this guard that came off… Most of the car is solid.”
The team redesigned the Mach-E’s body by upgrading the tops of the struts, which are the parts of the suspension most likely to fail under hard compression. But most of the car survived without any problems.
The result is a machine that’s trained to pull. During the car’s recent media launch, dozens of bumbling reporters slid the car through gravel and mud for days without a glitch.
Selling on Monday?
It’s safe to say that Ford’s EV efforts are currently in question. The Blue Oval recently revised its electric vehicle outlook again, canceling a planned three-row electric SUV and adjusting the dates for other unannounced products. Even as sales of electric vehicles continue to climb, the market remains weak, and a curious group of American EV haters are fanning the flames.
By itself, the Mach-E rally won’t change their minds. Rallycross is a wonderful pursuit and truly one of the most fun things to do on four wheels, but it’s hardly becoming mainstream. Various series have tried and failed, including the Red Bull Global Rallycross Championship, which was discontinued in 2018, and the Americas Rallycross Championship, which resumed from there before shutting down in 2019.
“Always send a complete message.”
Still, sometimes it’s in chasing a niche that mainstream success is found. Hyundai is following the same path, ramping up its electrification efforts with the Ioniq 5 N, which features fake shift noises and endless performance-guided sliders on the touchscreen. Nissan also makes a limited-edition, high-performance Nismo-style Ariya SUV, but it’s currently only sold in Japan.
Adding a dose of aspirational potential to everyday products is a proven way to appeal to American consumers, and Mustang has been taking this approach for years. In fact, it’s hard to look at the Mach-E Rally’s rally-style wheels, big wings, and running lights without getting some bad ideas about cruising the nearest gravel road.
It was antics like this that gave Henry Ford some ideas of his own. “It goes back to 1901, when Henry Ford won a race. I believe that ultimately led to the founding of our company in 1903.
Fittingly, that 1901 race was held on dirt.
