DEARBORN, Michigan – It won’t hurt your ears, doesn’t use a drop of fuel, but is slated to crush the quarter-mile drag in the low eight seconds at better than 270km/h. Yep, Ford Performance has built an all electric, one-off, Mustang Cobra Jet factory drag-racer.
The battery-powered prototype was purpose-built to deliver more than 1040kW and better than 1490Nm – instantly.
Dave Pericak, Ford Icons’ global director for iconic brands such as Mustang and Bronco (pick-up), told The Corner:
“Ford has always used motorsport to demonstrate innovation but now electric powertrains give us a new kind of performance and the all-electric Cobra Jet 1400 is an example of pushing new technology to the limit.
”We want to showcase what’s possible with the Mustang Mach-E joining the Pony Car family.”
The fastback follows the build of Ford’s all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV – the first all-electric Mustang. The Cobra Jet 1400 prototype, we’re told, is another opportunity to advance the Mustang heritage with the most-advanced technology.
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It also, Ford says, honours the original Cobra Jet that first dominated drag strips in the late 1960s but is and still is a major force on the strips.
Mark Rushbrook, global director for Ford Performance Motorsport told The Corner the project was a challenge…
”We loved jumping intothe fray,” he said. “We saw the Cobra Jet 1400 as an opportunity to start developing electric powertrains in a race-car package using our experience. We have performance-benchmarks we wanted to beat and this will become the first of many projects.”
Testing will continue until the Cobra Jet’s Cobra Jet’s official global debut later in 2020 at a drag event to which fans, news media and competitors will be invited.
For the record, Ford Performance worked with several specialised suppliers:
MLe Racecars – Vehicle builder, designer, integrator, tuner.
Watson Engineering – Chassis support, rollcage development.
AEM EV – Software, motor-calibration, controls.
Cascadia – Inverter and motor supplier.
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