Mercedes-AMG was very pleased with itself last week. On the Monday after the Bathurst 12 Hour, it sent ‘a special version’ of its current GT3 car around the famous (and formidable) Mount Panorama Circuit. With Jules Gounon doing the hero-driving, the 650hp de-restricted racer stopped the clock at 1 minute 56.605 - beating the previous GT record by more than two seconds. “The record lap demanded everything from me, especially in the middle sector with reaching over 240 kph (149mph) across Skyline,” Gounon said. “The car really comes into its own in the corners and it takes a lot of commitment to make use of this performance.” You’re telling us; the on-board video below will make your teeth itch.
Sadly, Gounon and his 6.2-litre V8-powered car only got to sit on their laurels for six measly days. Because on Sunday, during the Thrifty Bathurst 500 event, Romain Dumas and his dastardly Ford Performance SuperVan 4.2 proceeded to (silently) steal all the thunder for themselves. The all-wheel drive, 2,040hp Transit look-a-like completed a lap of Mount Panorama in 1 minute 56.324, not only setting an electric and commercial vehicle benchmark (surprise, surprise) but also securing the unofficial lap record for a closed-wheel vehicle. Only Jensen Button, in a McLaren MP4-23 F1 car has gone quicker.
“The effort and expertise it took to reset the benchmark lap time for a closed-wheel vehicle around Mount Panorama cannot be understated,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “Romain Dumas worked alongside our team to innovate, learn, adapt, and the result is a time that exceeded our own expectations. There is a reason why we chose to bring SuperVan 4.2 to Mount Panorama after Pikes Peak – there is nowhere quite like it in the world.”
This is true. The demands are obviously very different and apparently the team took two weeks to ensure that Ford’s purpose-built demonstrator - which is probably double the height of a GT car and weighs almost 1,800kg - was up to a street circuit that encompasses a 174m difference between its lowest and highest points. “This is the first time I have driven SuperVan 4.2 faster than 300km/h, and we left nothing on the table as we pushed for the fastest lap possible,” said Dumas. “No one has ever driven a vehicle like SuperVan 4.2 around Mount Panorama, and certainly not this quickly.” Talk about salt in the wound.
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