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.
READ 10 MORE Mustang features on Carman’s Corner
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.
