“Acceleration wise, it feels very similar [to F1]. Honestly, it just feels like Formula 1. But you sit so tall.”
Those comments belong to Liam Lawson, a driver who is no stranger to fast cars. The rising Kiwi star has raced in Formula 1, Super Formula, Formula 2 and more, so he knows a quick car when he’s behind the wheel. But we’re not strapped into a quick car, we’re inside Ford’s SuperVan 4.2, the awesome 2000hp electric beast that has already conquered Pikes Peak and Mt Panorama.
VIDEO: Ford SuperVan v Pikes Peak
Torquecafe was one of selected media outlets to be invited by the blue oval to the Adelaide Motorsport Festival last weekend for a rare ride inside SuperVan alongside Lawson. He was tabbed for driving duties because he’s the official Red Bull F1 reserve driver and Ford’s partnership with Red Bull Racing has already begun, even though they won’t hit the F1 track together until 2026.
SuperVan 4.2 is actually the work of STARD, the Austrian former rally team turned electric race car specialists, and has been fine-tuned specifically to conquer the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. It came to Australia to take on the lap record at Mt Panorama and succeeded and last weekend thrills crowds in Adelaide and is headed to Albert Park this weekend.
There isn’t any actual Ford Transit Custom in SuperVan, it’s a combination of spaceframe and carbon fibre, but it’s still the same basic size and shape as a van, which does make it a very different-looking machine on a racetrack. Especially at the Adelaide Motorsport Festival, where it’s surrounded by some of the most classic and iconic racing cars of the last 40 years.
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But even amid a crowd that includes former F1 machines, Supercars heroes and European exotics, SuperVan draws a crowd. Seeing something so unconventional in appearance go so fast is a sight to behold.
3, 2, 1… blast off
We didn’t fly all the way to Adelaide to just look at it from the outside. Suited up and helmet on, we climb aboard SuperVan for a passenger ride alongside Lawson. You’d think getting into a van would be fairly straight forward, but this is a proper, purpose-built race-spec vehicle and has such there’s plenty of safety cage to contort through and into the snug racing seat.
Once inside there is actually a surprising amount of room in the cabin, having been purpose-built from the ground up you sit much lower than you would in an actual Transit and there’s no road-going components to worry about – just the essentials.
Lawson sits in front of the (recently modified) steering wheel, a small pedal box (only an accelerator and brake, as there’s no need for a clutch) and a tall, rally-style handbrake. My favourite detail is the small rocket sticker next to the green button which unleashes a burst of the full 2000hp the electric motors are capable of; a nice touch.
Thankfully the STARD team that runs the SuperVan helped strap me in tight, because even though the Festival only uses a tiny portion of the Adelaide street track, as soon as Lawson hits the throttle it feels like we’ve been launched from a rocket.
If this is what an F1 car feels like I can understand why every racing driver in the world considers it the pinnacle. It is an absolutely fantastic feeling as the acceleration starts with a rush and just keeps coming.
Remarkably, from a standing start on the outside of the last corner, the speedo reads 230km/h before we get to the Senna chicane – a Supercar only manages 215km/h and that’s when they come out of the last corner at pace.
Lawson, like all professionals, has taken no time to get comfortable in this strange new vehicle and happily launches it over the kerbs at the chicane before smashing the brakes and taking a hard right turn onto the shortened Festival layout.
“It takes curves really well,” he tells us after the run. “I was really surprised that the kerb riding is really smooth. It lands really smoothly.”
And in another common racing driver habit, he’s keen to really explore the limits of this new toy at his disposal. If he’s been given the chance we would have happily replaced Romain Dumas at the recent Bathurst record attempt.
“It would be cool to take it on to Bathurst,” he said. “It would have been good because I would have been able to have a direct comparison from F1, [in 2023 at] Bathurst, to something like this.”
Even after a short ride I’ve got to say I can’t blame Lawson for his enthusiasm. SuperVan is a remarkable feat of engineering and a great showcase of what both Ford and electric vehicles can achieve. But, more than all that, it’s just an awesome race car. I’ve been doing rides for more than 20 years and it’s a thrill every time, but the SuperVan really was something special.
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