Some people like to joke that many pickup trucks only haul air, but the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck was designed to harness it.
The purpose-built electric racing vehicle will be going for an open class record at the 2024 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 23.
Qualifying begins on June 18 and Ford has unveiled the vehicle in its final red, white and blue Ford Performance livery ahead of the event.
The truck shares nothing but its name and pickup shape with the production F-150 Lightning, but is all-electric.
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It uses a tri-motor drivetrain rated at around 1,400 hp powered by ultra-high performance lithium-polymer NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) batteries.
The bodywork is designed to provide incredible downforce that Ford said is equal to 6,000 pounds at 150 mph. It achieves this through the use of a splitter/wing arrangement up front, vents where the headlights should be, a giant hoop-shaped rear wing and a rear diffuser that looks big enough to drive a car into.
“To make the best vehicles for our customers, our research takes us racing in the harshest and most challenging conditions – the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck is the latest example of that,” Mark Rushbrook, Global Director of Ford Performance, said in a press release. “Our pursuit to the top of the mountain is charged by the commitment to make all our electric vehicles more capable, more advanced, and more exciting.”
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Ford hasn’t announced all of its performance specs, but it is based on the SuperVan that set a record at Pikes Peak last year and could sprint to 60 mph in less than two seconds. Sports car ace Romain Dumas drove that vehicle and will be back to get behind the wheel of the SuperTruck.
“After a successful 2023 climb, I’m thrilled to be behind the wheel again with this team and to help push the limits of what an electric vehicle can achieve on the turns of this legendary course,” Dumas said. ”In testing, the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck has surpassed my expectations, so we are hoping for some good weather to try and do something very special.”
