Monday 18th August

Ford SuperVan claims 9th quickest 'Ring lap ever

Remember how much faith Sabine Schmitz had in the lap time potential of a Transit van? Ford does...

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We haven’t heard a great deal of the Ford SuperVan 4.2 since its imperious appearance in the summer of 2024, when it not only romped to the Shootout crown at the Festival of Speed, but also made a whirring mockery of the closed-wheel lap record at Mount Panorama Circuit. Ford left Pikes Peak this year to its sibling, the SuperTruck, which somehow failed to have quite the same impact (at least to European eyes). At any rate, it lacks the zany, combustion-powered heritage of the SuperVan, which is rightly lauded. 

Anyway, it turns out Ford Performance hasn’t been resting on its laurels; evidently, it spent part of this year limbering up to make an appearance at the one place where a lap record guarantees you some ink. Even better, it apparently turned up at the Nurburgring with an additional purpose in mind: to celebrate the late, great Sabine Schmitz and her memorable place in Transit history. Certainly no one reading this needs reminding of the very Germanic gauntlet she threw down on TG back in the day, or her heroic attempt to back it up. 

As you might expect, this event rather stuck in the mind of the good people at Ford Performance - doubly so, since Schmitz passed away in 2021. “Ever since that day, taking a Ford Transit to the limit around the ‘Ring has always been the dream for a few of us at Ford Performance, but it wasn’t until now that we had the right Transit, the right driver, and the right conditions to see what might be possible,” said demonstrator programme manager, Michael Norton. 

Well, guess what. The right Transit turned out to be the 2,000hp SuperVan; the right driver was EV lap specialist Romain Dumas; and the right conditions, it seems, were available this summer. The result, somewhat predictably, was a monster lap, as evidenced in the video. It goes without saying that it was the fastest van ever on the Green Hell, but the mind-bogglingly brevity of its 6:48.393 lap does require some standing back and more than a little blinking. 

After all, according to Ford, that makes it the ninth fastest ‘car’ ever to complete a timed lap. And even if you were inclined to quibble with that count, there isn’t really any arguing with it stealing the Corvette ZR1X’s thunder (6:49.275) nor eclipsing Ford’s own Mustang GTD time (6:52.072). It’s even quicker than the lap Porsche recorded in 2022 for the 911 GT3 RS (6:49.328). Obviously, we’re talking about preposterously powerful EV custom-made to set absurd lap times— but still. 

In fairness to it, Ford acknowledges this fact and does admit to the SuperVan being on slick tyres (which the other cars mentioned were definitely not). But you only need to watch the lap to see that Dumas had his work cut out. Or to begrudge the firm’s core message: “There is more to come, not least with the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck that was also at the Ring on the same day,” noted Norton. “For now, we will celebrate this achievement and also remember Sabine Schmitz and her part in this amazing story. She will never be forgotten.”

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• Supervan beats Mercedes-AMG GT3 Bathurst lap
• Original V8 Supervan restored to former glory

[dukebox9reg]

Its not a van if it cant do van things.

Edited by dukebox9reg on Monday 18th August 13:15

[ImFeelingSaucy]

dukebox9reg said:

Its not a van if it cant do van things.

I agree

[lukeyman]

True. That splitter will impede tailgating.

[Kipsrs]

Yep totally agree with the above, that is not a van!

[Turbobanana]

dukebox9reg said:

Its not a van if it cant do van things.

Edited by dukebox9reg on Monday 18th August 13:15

Yes but "Bespoke spaceframe chassis with bespoke aero package and bespoke EV powertrain claims 9th quickest 'Ring lap ever" doesn't have the same, err, ring, does it?

[Angelo1985]

That’s a van like an Ariel atom is a family car.

Impressive performance, but belongs to prototype category. Claiming a win because it’s faster than a road legal corvette, mustang and 911 (which can all be bought for real) who were on road tyres is tosh.

[GreatScott2016]

Impressive, but as others have said, not really a van. Couldn’t watch for more than a few seconds though, the constant whine reminded me of kids screaming on a rollercoaster at a theme park

[WPA]

Angelo1985 said:

That’s a van like an Ariel atom is a family car.

Impressive performance, but belongs to prototype category. Claiming a win because it’s faster than a road legal corvette, mustang and 911 (which can all be bought for real) who were on road tyres is tosh.

Agreed

[Jon_S_Rally]

dukebox9reg said:

Its not a van if it cant do van things.

Edited by dukebox9reg on Monday 18th August 13:15

None of them have been vans in reality though. The first one was a Transit body welded onto a race car chassis, while two and three were scaled down plastic bodies fitted to a Group C chassis. Four actually used elements of a Transit Custom body, though obviously a lot of it was thrown away.

It is a shame that they're not actual vans but, if there were, they'd probably be pretty forgettable in reality.

Regardless, while it's all a bit pointless in the grand scheme of things, it's nice that they used this to pay tribute to Sabine Schmitz, so well done Ford.

[fantheman80]

dukebox9reg said:

Its not a van if it cant do van things.

I dunno, I dont see the mcMurty taking a small Kallax unit on a cold rainy tuesday night in stoke unlike this bad boy

[Water Fairy]

If this was actually a van then it would be very impressive. The fact that it is actually a bespoke built machine with the only focus on going fast around a track renders it rather 'meh' to me.

[trails]

What a bunch of miserable gits, it's never been able to do van things...the OG was on here recently.

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/general-pistonhea...

The Super Vans have always just been cool engineering exercises.

[Turbobanana]

trails said:

What a bunch of miserable gits, it's never been able to do van things...the OG was on here recently.

https://www.pistonheads.com/news/general-pistonhea...

The Super Vans have always just been cool engineering exercises.

None of us "miserable gits" has said anything negative about the Supervan concept or legacy. Personally I think they're brilliant, particularly the original. But you have to admit that this is a long way removed from being a van.

I have personally witnessed Romain Dumas' talent in the WEC, but in order to set that sort of a time around the Nurburgring even he would need a bespoke piece of kit. That is exactly what Ford gave him: it just happened to be styled like a van. A bit like a van, anyway.

[trails]

Turbobanana said:

None of us "miserable gits" has said anything negative about the Supervan concept or legacy. Personally I think they're brilliant, particularly the original. But you have to admit that this is a long way removed from being a van.

I have personally witnessed Romain Dumas' talent in the WEC, but in order to set that sort of a time around the Nurburgring even he would need a bespoke piece of kit. That is exactly what Ford gave him: it just happened to be styled like a van. A bit like a van, anyway.

Comment was -in keeping with the 'it's not a van' posts- very much tongue in cheek, perhaps I should have added an icon of some sort to make that clearer...here you go

[Brinyan]

A Mercedes Sprinter wouldn’t be far off that time & that’s a big van.

[Xenoous]

Brinyan said:

A Mercedes Sprinter wouldn’t be far off that time & that’s a big van.

Specially the way some of our local delivery drivers hammer them around....

[Maccmike8]

I couldnt be less interested in any of these electric records.

[wolfracesonic]

Did anyone ever take an Astravan around the Ring?

[Terminator X]

Maccmike8 said:

I couldnt be less interested in any of these electric records.

Double the battery size and give it 4000hp. Twice a good

TX.

[chrisironside]

30 years too late Ford!