√Ford SuperVan with 1470kW electric power track-tested at the Nurburgring

The newest member of Ford’s radical SuperVan series, the electric SuperVan 4, is getting up to speed ahead of a global tour – including Australia.

Official testing and tuning of the the radical Ford SuperVan 4 – officially known as the Ford Pro Electric SuperVan – is underway at the Nurburgring in Germany ahead of a global tour including Australia.

However, it doesn’t mean online orders are going to arrive at your front doorstep any quicker, because the super-fast delivery vehicle is not planned for showrooms.

Instead, it is a stunt to showcase a range of new Ford electric vans that are just around the corner.

The 1470kW electric speed machine has only the thinnest connection to the 2024 Ford E-Transit Custom electric van production vehicle, with a custom performance package including a competition chassis, slick racing tyres, a 50kWh liquid-cooled battery and individual electric motors for each wheel with the promise of a sub two-second sprint to 100km/h.

Even the carbon fibre bodywork is massively pumped and aero sculpted as Ford uses the radical van as a flag-waver for its electrification plans – not a hint at any sort of production vehicle.

It starred through its first appearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK at the end of June – finishing sixth in a timed hillclimb and beating rivals including Porsche 911 Carrera Cup and Dodge Viper racers – and is now being tweaked for maximum speed.

“Yes, the SuperVan4 was at the Nurburgring and lapping. We’re pretty proud of that piece,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports, in a motorsport briefing with Australian media.

“That was part of its scheduled testing. That’s a great proving ground around the Nordschleife that we use for a lot of vehicles and certainly SuperVan is part of that.”

He refused to do into any detail about the work, which saw the SuperVan lapping with a Ford Mustang shadowing it, or any plan for a lap record attempt.

“It’s a great spectacle. I can’t say any specifics about what exactly it will do.”

Ford is expected to use the SuperVan4 at major motoring and motorsport events around the world, and there is an unconfirmed plan to bring it to Australia – perhaps for the Bathurst 1000 Supercars race meeting in 2024.

“We are going to use that vehicle globally, for shows, for demonstrations, for spectacle,” said Mr Rushbrook.

“The performance capability of full electric vehicles, in this case, is what we have in our Transit van.

“So it’s got a pretty full schedule in terms of where it’s going to be tested.

“It is going to be in a lot of places and it’s going to go very fast.”

SuperVan4 is part of a line-up that stretches back to the early 1970s and is the first of its kind not to have a motorsport-based combustion engine.

The original SuperVan was built in 1971 from a production transit van and was fitted with a mid-mounted V8 engine from a Ford GT40 Le Mans racer, the second SuperVan had a fibreglass body over a competition chassis with a 430kW racing V8 engine, and SuperVan3 got a radical body update with a 480kW Formula One V8 engine of type used by Michael Schumacher to win his first world championship with the Benetton team.

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