The Ford Transit van that could win The Shootout

As of the end of Saturday's Timed Shootout Qualifying, it was a two-horse race between the Ford Supervan 4.2 and the Subaru Project Midnight, with the Supervan in the lead with a 45-second time.

It is, of course, not your average load lugger. Supervan 4.2 has more in common performance-wise with a Rimac hypercar than the humble long-serving workhorse you can buy at any Ford dealer. In place of an efficient diesel engine, four 500PS electric motors fed by a high-voltage battery for a 1,400PS (1,030kW) combined maximum output.

In place of generous load space, a scalloped-out rear end that turns the box-end extremities of the transit into giant wings above an enormous diffuser at the bottom. Those giant wings have themselves, a giant wing hanging off the back. At the front, a giant splitter and heat exchanger. The downforce potential, Ford claims, is some two tonnes at 150mph.

That will have been useful at Bathurst, where he drove the Supervan to a 1:56.605, triple-world-record-setting lap time – fastest closed-wheel, fastest commercial model and fastest electric vehicle, if you’re wondering. 

The only time Romain will get anywhere near that on our Hill is across the finish line, where in qualifying he hit 147mph. Further down the Hill, it’s more about driver skill, as Dumas is tasked with threading the not-diminutive mutant load-lugger up past the flint wall. He really has no choice but to use all the track.

F1 ace Sergio Perez warmed up the Red Bull-liveried Supervan for the morning run. He was no doubt under instructions to not bring it to any harm, given it’s in with a chance of victory, so after a fairly smoky start the Mexican no doubt wound it down to six-tenths. All eyes on you, Romain…

The 2024 Timed Shootout kicks off at 15:00 on Sunday at the Festival of Speed, and you can watch every moment of the action on our live stream right here on GRR!