1-liter EcoBoost powered Formula Ford achieves 7:22 on Nurburgring
Another feather in the cap for Ford’s EcoBoost engineers. Their 1.0 liter 3 cylinder EcoBoost engine left supercars in its dust at the famed Nurburgring circuit.
Ford Press Release follows:
Ford’s 1.0-litre EcoBoost Powered Race Car Leaves Supercars in its Wake at Famed Nürburgring Circuit
- A unique Formula Ford race car powered by Ford’s tiny 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine produces a supercar-beating performance at the legendary Nürburgring track in Germany
- Unique road-legal racer records the 11th fastest lap ever at the Nürburgring’s famed Nordschleife circuit – 7 minutes, 22 seconds – higher on the list than such 600+ horsepower supercars as the Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari Enzo and the Pagani Zonda
- 1.0-litre EcoBoost-powered Formula Ford boasts an unofficial top speed of 255.5 km/h (158.8 mph) and a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of less than four seconds
- Fuel economy is equally eye-popping: unofficially 2.4 l/100 km (118 mpg) at 56 km/h (35 mph), and 5 l/100 km (57 mpg) at 120 km/h (75 mph)
- The three-cylinder Ford 1.0-litre EcoBoost was recently named 2012 “International Engine of the Year”. The turbocharged, direction injection petrol engine is now available in the Ford Focus and coming soon in the B-MAX, new Fiesta and C-MAX
COLOGNE, Germany, Sept. 4, 2012
– Ford’s tiny but feisty 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine is the reason why a unique road-going Formula Ford race car has scored one of the fastest lap times ever at Germany’s famed Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit.
The one-of a-kind, road-legal version of the latest Formula Ford single-seat racer completed the lap in 7 minutes, 22 seconds to register the 11th fastest time ever on the circuit – a performance that puts it ahead of a host of supercars including the 600+ horsepower Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari Enzo and Pagani Zonda.
“This little engine has people rubbing their eyes in disbelief,” said racing driver and course specialist Nick Tandy, 28, who completed the drive. “It’s simply astonishing that a 3-cylinder, one-litre engine can deliver that kind of performance.”
Ford engineers have led several months of work on the project to switch the Formula Ford’s usual 180 PS,1.6-litre EcoBoost power unit with a specially tuned 205 PS version of the company’s new global 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engine, which was recently named “International Engine of the Year”.
The project team also modified the vehicle so it would be fully street legal for on-road use by fitting it with wheel covers, front and rear lights and indicators, aerodynamically designed wing mirrors and a horn. The car is fitted with a 6-speed manual gearbox and was driven on road-legal tyres.
The car’s unofficial top speed is expected to be 255.5 km/h (158.8 mph) with a 0-100 km/h (0-62 mph) time of less than four seconds. The vehicle completed the 20.832 km (12.94 mile) Nordschleife circuit at an average speed of 169 km/h (105 mph).
The 1.0-litre EcoBoost powered Formula Ford car beat previously recorded fastest times of many supercars including the 700 horsepower Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4, the 660 horsepower Ferrari Enzo and the 602 horsepower Pagani Zonda. No other three- or even four-cylinder car has posted a faster time at the legendary circuit.
“We wanted to prove that size doesn’t matter by showing everyone what an amazingly capable engine we have developed in the 1.0-litre EcoBoost,” said Roelant de Waard, vice president of Marketing and Sales, Ford of Europe. “What better way than by beating some of the best supercars in the world on the Nordschleife, while using a fraction of the fuel.”
In-house testing also showed the 1.0-litre EcoBoost-powered Formula Ford is capable of extremely frugal fuel economy, delivering 2.4 l/100 km (118 mpg) at 56 km/h (35 mph), and 5 l/100 km (57 mpg) at 120 km/h (75 mph).
While the 1.0-litre EcoBoost-powered Formula Ford car isn’t available to buy, the Ford Focus equipped with this engine is already proving a success with customers around Europe. About 30 percent of new Focus buyers in recent months have opted for the 1.0-litre EcoBoost.
In the Focus, the 100 PS version 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine delivers 4.8 l/100 km (58.9 mpg), and the 125 PS model achieves 5 l/100 km (56.5 mpg).* The engine also will be available in the all-new Ford B-MAX, and C-MAX as well as the redesigned new Ford Fiesta coming later in 2012.
Earlier this year, a Ford Focus equipped with the 125 PS 1.0-litre EcoBoost set 16 Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) speed world records at the CERAM test circuit in France.**
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* All fuel consumption and CO2 emissions figures in g/km are from officially approved tests in accordance with EC Directive 93/116/EC. Fuel economy figures quoted are based on the European Fuel Economy Directive EU 80/1268/EEC and will differ from fuel economy drive cycle results in other regions of the world
** All records are subject to Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) homologation in Category B (series production cars), Group 1 (4-stroke engine), Class 5 (with engines of between 850-1000cc)
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About Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 168,000 employees and about 65 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford and its products worldwide, please visit http://corporate.ford.com/.
Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 51 individual markets and employs approximately 66,000 employees. In addition to Ford Motor Credit Company, Ford of Europe operations include Ford Customer Service Division and 22 manufacturing facilities, including joint ventures. The first Ford cars were shipped to Europe in 1903 – the same year Ford Motor Company was founded. European production started in 1911.
A Dose of the ’60s at The Nurburgring
So you’ve spent the big bucks restoring an original 1964 Holman-Moody Fairlane 500 to Grand National specs. Where better to take the ultimate American stock car but to conquer the ultimate German racetrack? The Nurburgring, of course. Turn up your speakers, go full screen – and note the speed!
Things have certainly changed for the better at the ‘ring. Back in the day, in the actual 60s, a track day at the Nurburgring meant all sorts of flying pedestrians, bad driving, rollovers. If you think you’ve seen it all, you haven’t seen this original footage:
Live coverage of the 2012 24 Hours of Nurburgring
If you can’t join the quarter million fans camping out at the Nurburgring to watch the ADAC Zurich 24h Race in person, you can still watch it live via internet streaming here: http://www.24h-rennen.de/LIVE.94.0.html.
Sadly, there are only two S2000s this year, a single 370Z, and two GT-Rs. We’d like to see more of our favorite cars. Read the final list of entrants here.
Gazoo Racing brought a pair of Toyota 86s and an Lexus LFA to the event. Gazoo is staffed by Toyota employees with a passion for racing and an interest in gaining first-hand technical experience under the most demanding circumstances with the products they work on. Two more Toyota 86s were entered by Toyota Swiss Racing team.
See our extensive gallery of the Toyota 86s competing at the ‘Ring here.
Toyota Press Release follows:
GAZOO Racing, Toyota GT86 and Lexus LFA set to take on the Nürburgring 16/05/2012
- Four Toyota GT86 and one Lexus LFA set to take part in this year’s 24 Hours Nürburgring race from May 17 to May 20
- GAZOO Racing Lexus LFA and Toyota GT86 driven by employees to hone technical skills and craftsmanship
- Toyota Swiss Racing Team enters two Toyota GT86 vehicles race prepared by Toyota Motorsport GmbH
The 40th edition of the ADAC 24 Hours Nürburgring race this year will be the sixth time for Japan-based GAZOO Racing Team at the world-famous German circuit. Through the team’s various racing activities, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) aims to make ever-better cars by putting its products and people through the challenges such as the endurance race at the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit, with each lap exceeding 25 kilometres.
GAZOO Racing personnel – including drivers and mechanics – are comprised of TMC employees with normal day-to-day jobs within the company in Japan. Putting the company’s employees through the paces on the racetrack gives engineers and technicians involved in vehicle development a chance to hone their skills and craftsmanship to continue to deliver products exceeding the customers’ expectations.
In addition to the GAZOO Racing Lexus LFA (car no. 83, SP8 class), the team also entered two race-prepared Toyota GT86 vehicles (car no. 165 and 166, SP3 class). Seasoned endurance racing drivers will join vehicle development employee drivers from TMC.
Prior to taking on the 24-hour endurance race, GAZOO Racing Team kicked off its 2012 race season at the shorter VLN2 and VLN3 races in April this year, with the Lexus LFA claiming class victories and both Toyota GT86 vehicles showing promising progress.
Speaking after the VLN3 race, GAZOO Racing driver Akira Iida commented: “The momentum of our team is very good. Our target for the 24 Hours Nürburgring race is to maintain a steady pace, which is how we chose to set up our cars. Nevertheless, we ran at good speeds and we are confident to be fully ready before the 24-hour race.”
Toyota Swiss Racing Team will join GAZOO Racing at the legendary Eifel circuit with two GT86 vehicles race prepared by Toyota Motorsport GmbH based in Germany. Both entries by the Swiss team (car no. 200 and 201) will compete in the V3 competition class for production vehicle models during the 24-hour endurance race.
In conjunction with the summertime European launch of the Toyota GT86, Toyota Switzerland aims to inspire a new generation of car enthusiasts around the world through its grassroots motorsports activities with the marque’s newest rear-wheel drive sports coupe.
Follow Toyota Europe’s live race coverage on social media: Corporate Blog (blog.toyota.eu) and Twitter (@toyota_europe, @Toyota_EU, @Lexus_EU and @lexuseurope)
About GAZOO Racing
GAZOO Racing is about communicating the pleasure, passion and dream of motoring to a new generation. Various programmes are prepared to showcase the appeal of motoring: 1) pride and pleasure of ownership: introducing a process in which cars are honed and refined through race participation and other tests; 2) joy and excitement of driving: communicating the joy through thrills and excitement of race circuits; 3) talking cars and sharing passion: providing a forum for car fans to gather and talk about their passion. For more information, visit http://gazoo.com/racing
GM sweats the engineering at the Nurburgring for the Camaro ZL-1
We’ll have to admit it: as much as we dislike the Camaro’s rediculous size and bulk, as well as it’s concept car styling (especially the dashboard), we have to admire its engineering. It gets the worldwide platform with IRS that the Ford Mustang is still missing, it takes full benefit of GM’s engine families, and next spring it gets a 580 HP version of the Cadillac CTS-V supercharged V-8 engine.
And, more importantly, this is a Camaro that is much more than the sum of its parts. Endurance testing on the Nurburgring not only ensures that the car can survive the type of track days the rest of us do, it ensures that it can survive them for years on end as well as the travails of daily driving. We’ve experienced the downside of lousy engineering ourselves with our POS 2003 SVT Mustang Cobra, whose supercharged V-8 might have seemed state-of-the-art in its day but which in reality couldn’t survive more than a few hot laps on-track. Nor could it survive hot highways and stop-and-go driving in the heats of a Texas summer.
Note the details in these videos: the ZL-1 is the first performance car that GM has done that has either zero neutral lift or negative lift. Look at the engineering of the ZL-1 and you see a complete package with close attention to nealy all the big and small details: cooling, braking, handling (missing only excellent seating). Ergnomics are still far worse than a Mustang, and the total weight is far greater, but the sum of the engineering and especially the totality of testing is far more extensive. And, yes, we know the upcoming 2013 Shelby Mustang has been briefly tested on the Nurburgring, but that was the first time a Mustang has ever been tested there and it is in our observation (and in our experience as a former Mustang owner, track driver, and instructor) too little and too late.
Kudos to GM engineering for building and testing the most exceptional Camaro ever. The ZL-1 is the last milestone in the current Camaro; an all-new Camaro is in the early stages of engineering and certainly the lessons learned here will be used there.
How to drive your S2000 around the Nurburgring
Well, (unfortunately) not yours. This is Mathol Racing in Germany in their full-race S2000.
But how would a stock S2000 on the Nurburgring compare? Who else to ask but Gan-san himself, driving around the ‘ring in the prototype S2000 in 1999. Yes, it’s faster than an NSX!
Part 1:
Part 2:
What a 7:19.63 lap at the Nurburgring looks like
7th best car, 2nd best “regular” production car. Thanks to AutoWeek for providing the video. See the complete story here: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110609/CARNEWS/110609854
Question: Anybody need a 550-HP Supercharged Camaro?
Answer: of course we do.
And as usual Camaro5.com has all the scoop on the upcoming new models of the Camaro, including the 2012 Z28, the 2011 Camaro convertible, and the styling changes coming for 2012: front and rear lights, side mirrors and more - no word yet on the planned and very much needed dashboard change.
But the best news is their latest video – showing a 2012 Z-28 engineering test vehicle at The Nurburgring.
While Ford might have the hottest engine in a ponycar right now, GM isn’t far behind. The supercharged LSA 6.2 liter V-8 borrowed from the Cadillac CTS-V will also produce over 550 HP in the Z28. It also gets the same big Brembos (6-piston front and 4 rear) as well as specific suspension tuning.
And this is where Ford and GM differ. GM is testing it’s hottest upcoming model on the hottest race track in the world, while Ford tests on a couple of club tracks in Michigan. And while Ford has produced any number of over-heating performance cars, cars that won’t live on a racetrack (and sometimes not even on the street) without over-heating, GM torture tests on the toughest and longest racetrack in the world. The advantage goes to GM here, as well as to it’s customers who will be able to take the Z28 to track days without killing the engine (and their warranty).
GM also tested the Caddy CTS-V there two years ago, and in the process set the fastest production 4-door lap time to date. The test program for the Camaro is at this early point focused on durability, but just like the CTS-V test program a lap time will squeak out of the system sooner or later. And it will be great. It won’t be 911 or GT-R territory, because this is a very heavy and crude car compared to those, but it will be by far away better than any production Mustang could produce. Not that Ford even bothers to test there in the first place.
1999: Gan-san drives the S2000 prototype at Nurburgring
Those were the days, back in 1998 when Honda was testing it’s prototype S2000 at The Nurburgring.
Kudos to Honda for developing the car in the first place, and especially for doing development work at this great track. I remember reading an issue of AutoWeek back in the 1998 timeframe, and seeing a spy picture of a test car in a garage there with a giant stack of exhaust systems that they were testing. I wish I had that picture in my collection of S2000 paraphernalia, which numbers about 200 items at the moment.
Will we ever see this type of effort from Honda again? In their current condition, without a single sporting vehicle in production, it’s hard to see how or when they could ever do this again. What a disappointment the company has become. We have to wonder what Gan-san thinks about it, especially since his beloved S2000 replacement was cancelled. Rumor has it that he was under contract by Honda to assist in the development of the new car. Now we’ll never know.
Cadillac CTS-V promotional video
Hard to believe there might be something to Cadillac for a Driving Enthusiast. We can’t see taking one of these to a high speed driving event – it’d be bigger than everything else present. But on the other hand it does have the benefit of testing at Nurburgring.
And we love those Recaro seats.
New spy video of the Lexus LFA outside the Nurburgring
The full open throttle says it all: the LF-A is “savage”!
And, interestingly, the white car is apparently a full production-dress LF-A. Note the differences from the flat-black prototype we’ve seen so many times before.
And remember, when in Nurburgring, hang out at the gas station. This is where you’ll be able to get up close and personal to all the good stuff. And it’s where test drivers like to show off their engines!