Jason is out at Ford’s event in Charlotte, and it wouldn’t be a performance-oriented event in Charlotte if there wasn’t a little NASCAR sprinkled in there somewhere. Well, other than Frankie Muniz giving people rides. It’s a great example of what life is like in 2025 when Ford is showing both a 1,000-horsepower Megazilla crate motor and a NASCAR-flavored Mach-E.
According to the company, this is a 100% electric race car based on the ABB-developed NASCAR platform. The series already has cars (Cup, Xfinity) and trucks (Truck Series) handled. What’s next? Crossovers! And not just any crossovers, but electric ones.
The demonstrator uses Cup Series parts in the car’s suspension, brakes, steering, and even the wheels. The rest could be from Ford’s bin of crazy high-performance EV stuff used in vehicles like the bonkers 1,400 horsepower SuperVan 4.2. Or, perhaps, it’s just what’s already in ABB’s demonstrator. A clue to that might be the fact that the driver in the photo Ford released is David Ragan, the former driver who also drove the non-Ford version of this in Chicago:
Also, he’s a test driver for Ford, so that also makes sense.
Will it be racing this year? Probably not. As of now, there’s no work I know of being done to field a fleet of these in a series. It’s more likely that this demonstrator will be used at events and to set some speed records as NASCAR’s COO Steve O’Donnell alluded to recently in an interview with Sports Business Journal:
“I wouldn’t say it’s definitely on the table but the engines and engine architecture is certainly a big topic for us with our existing (OEMs) and potential (OEMs) coming into the sport and that would mostly revolve around some type of hybrid model.”
Hybrids are being used in IMSA, which is owned by NASCAR, so I imagine a hybrid makes a lot of sense. Also, Toyota and Ford make a lot of hybrids. As many of you know, I’m a big NASCAR fan and I try to go to at least one race a year (the last three years I’ve done Watkins Glen, Dover, and the Chicago Street Race). A lot of the appeal is the noise and the IMSA hybrids do a great job of bringing drama.
Here’s the Cadillac GTP at Daytona:
What’s Ford saying about this? The press release is literally just this:
New Mustang-Mach E Demonstrator is a NASCAR Prototype
Introducing the Mustang Mach-E NASCAR prototype!
This 100% electric racer is the latest demonstrator to join the Ford Performance family following SuperTruck, SuperVan 4.2, Super Cobra Jet 1800 and others. The new Mach-E demonstrator features components from the current Cup Series car including suspension, brakes, steering and wheels. It also features three motors, a full carbon fiber tub, and a 78 kWh battery.
Hey, it exists! Look at this thing. It’s possible there are a bunch of these prototypes and we’ll see a Blazer and a BZ4X soon. Or maybe this is it.
Either way, I’m specifically interested in the fact that this is a coupe. It makes sense. There are no four-door NASCAR vehicles. All the trucks are single-cab. All the Xfinity and Cup Series cars are coupes. You get the Camaro (or, this year, just the Chevy, I guess, since the car was discontinued?). The Mustang. The Supra. And a Camary coupe, even if it doesn’t exist in real life.
The Mustang Mach-E is only available as a five-door crossover. This, though, is definitely a coupe:
I kind of love this as a coupe, actually.
Can Ford just make a stripper Mach-E that’s $8,000 cheaper and is just a Mach-E Coupe?
Let’s do that Ford! A fun little stop-gap while we wait for the new Skunkworks car.
So what you’re saying is that the next Mustang should be all EV?
Seems to me that the current Mustang should have been an EV all along.
Looks like a third gen Renault Mégane coupé to me!
If I ever moved to America,going to a NASCAR event would be the first thing I’d do.
And buy an automatic rifle for hunting badgers.
Who decided to slap a Lexus grille on its ass?
“Electric NASCAR!”
Fans: DrakeHotlineBlingNo.jpg
“But it’s powered by coal plants.”
Fans: DrakeHotlineBlingOK.jpg
I’m just waiting for electric drag racing. It probably won’t happen until we run out of Dino juice. Also, drag fans exist on nitrous and exhaust fumes so there’s no attraction for electric. Just dreaming….
Even if we were to run out of the dino juice, there are the Top Alcohol dragsters that run methanol which is a renewable resource. So it is unlikely electric drag racing will take over the top spot at NHRA events in the next 30+ years.
Thanks for turning my dream into a nightmare.
Happy Friday!!!
How they have not already made an AWDish Hybrid Mustang is surprising to me, same with the Mach E. a sportier coupe option seems like a no brainer.
Focus Ex3 ?!?
Would that be a… Mustang?
The shape of this car is awesome. Too bad it’ll never translate to a production car. It’s like a bigger hot hatch.
Also, I will go to my grave saying Ford was wrong to call these Mustangs. Not just for the “normal” reasons, but because it fails at the very most basic reason the OG was such a hit.
In ’65 they were cheap, lightweight, sporty cars that were very attainable. The MachE is none of that.
Iacocca’s price target for the Mustang was $1/lb in 1965. At about 2500-2600 lbs he was pretty close to that target. That’d be about $10/lb in 2024 dollars. Reduce weight. Give avreal world range of 225-250 miles and maybe it’d sell better. Get base price down to about 30k out the door.
These things would be aerodynamic nightmares on the superspeedways. There’s a reason why track series across the world have no teams fielding CUVs despite all the weird other shit that shows up including touring cars based on station wagons and LMP1 prototypes. And not because they can’t be certified, there’s categories for “off-road” that some CUVs race in. The high pressure bubbles on the sides and low pressure bubble on the back must be the size of a twin bed
You say all this like it would be a bad thing.
For the teams? Yes. For us, the audience? It would give us so many entertaining crashes. Although I’m not the type of fan who watches for the crashes.
I mean more that it would promote drafting and passing.
The Ford Scirocco looks really good!
Tangential aside: I’d be curious to see an electric racing series where friction brakes aren’t allowed. (*) Regen is a big part of theoretical EV efficiency over internal combustion and I understand there’s lots of room for improvement. Maybe we can get some via race-motivated technological development?
Formula E puts spotlight on regen, but I understand those cars still use friction brakes entering every corner.
Teams will naturally try to
cheatcreatively interpret this rule, but friction braking always turn energy into heat. You can’t cheat physics and thermal cameras are no longer exotic technology. Also, if you burn your energy budget like that you won’t make it to the finish line.I suspect such a racing series would be impractical because, with today’s weak regen braking, it won’t make an exciting spectator sport. That’s not a recipe for commercial success.
(*) Or at least set up so it can only be used once for an emergency. Save the car, save the driver, but they’re done racing for the day.
Regenerative braking is limited by how fast the battery can be charged, which is never as fast as they can be discharged.
Regen-only braking would be a safety nightmare. It would also limit your top speed in straights.
“Regenerative braking is limited by how fast the battery can be charged” is true if the same battery pack is the only place regenerated energy can go. Which is true of most consumer EV but there’s no reason race hardware has to be subject to the same limitation. Possibilities include supercapacitors, kinetic energy (flywheel) storage, or maybe a separate bank of batteries with chemistry optimized for power density over energy density.
I don’t understand the logic behind “a safety nightmare” or “limit your top speed”. Please elaborate?
Weight inhibits top speed, Unsprung weight affects control, especially when braking and accelerating. Batteries also like to generate heat when gaining charge and when being drained, and then there is the whole rubbing is racing thing, and the massive amp requirements to legitimately race these things would make for some pretty spectacular wrecks, but likely fewer survivors.
Because, as I said, you can only use regenerative braking to slow down as fast as you can charge a battery.
If you needed to slow down faster than that, you would be SOL without friction brakes. Even the most high-performance cars need to slow down going into turns, which means that if you can’t decelerate as quickly, you can’t go as fast.
Regen-only braking would not be efficient enough to slow the car as quickly as friction brakes for the speeds these cars are going.
wait till you try to explain the Law of Conservation of Energy to the people suggesting alternators on the wheels and windmills in the grills. That being said some of this stuff could be useful for increasing efficiency overall, but there is a sweet spot with regard to diminishing returns.
That’s the best looking 2-door hatchback I’ve seen since the 3rd gen VW Scirocco. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/VW_Scirocco_III_2.0_TSI_DSG_Collectors_Edition_54_von_100_Oryxwei%C3%9F.JPG
I thought the exact same thing (and commented before seeing your own comment)
Okay, I’ll be that guy.
Isn’t a Mustang Mach E Coupe just a Mustang?…?…?
No, you don’t understand. These go to eleven.
It almost looks more like a focus, oddly enough
No one wants 2 door suvs. See the Range Rover Evoque as and example.
I’d be satisfied if Ford would just offer manuals throughout its lineup again. Even if it’s only on the base level, I’d be willing to go crossover if I could row my own. I actually like what Ford’s done with the Escape and an available manual might seal the deal for me.
As a former Mustang owner, this is the only way I’d get another one. Love it.
No way.
I want a long-roof hot wagon. Pleeeeeeeze!
People buy Mustangs because they’re a solid alternative to a Model Y. A Mustang coupe would never sell, too hard to get kids in and out of the back seat
You’re the first person I’ve heard refer to a Mach E as simply a Mustang.