Ford wrapped the upper part of this pickup in camo, but the facts of the matter are pretty explanatory, eh? Someone asked, “How much wing?” Someone answered, “Yes.” The creation is called the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck EV Demonstrator, it’s tackling the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb later this month, and it could be out for revenge. Last year, Ford climbed the hill with the SuperVan 4.2, a performance evolution of the SuperVan 4.0. The tri-motor, 1,400-horsepower SuperVan 4.2 wasn’t as powerful as the quad-motor, 1,972-hp SuperVan 4.0, but the former van weighed 800 pounds less and hummed up the 12.42-mile course in 8:47.682. That achieved Ford’s goal of a sub-nine-minute time, only one of two vehicles to claim that mark last year. The other vehicle was the overall winner, Robin Shute setting a time of 8:40.080 in his 2018 Wolf TSC-FS.
Ford hasn’t detailed the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck’s powertrain, we’re going to guess it’s not far off that of the SuperVan 4.2. Heck, the van was practically a pickup anyway, designers having caved in the van’s walls behind the cockpit to form a highly complex wing setup stabilized by a vertical fin. The SuperTruck omits all the hubbub and plonks a single, giant wing at the back of the bed that looks a lot like the SuperVan’s primary foil. All we’re told is that said wing can produce 6,000 pounds of downforce at 150 miles per hour. That’s roughly 1,000 pounds down on what the production F-150 Lightning weighs, so, based on stripping a vehicle to race weight, could be right about even for the SuperTruck.
The pickup’s probably got a serious chance of the overall as well. Romain Dumas drove SuperVan 4.2 to second last year and still owns the all-time record of 7:57.148 snapped off in the Volkswagen ID.R Pikes Peak. But Shute, the reigning champion for the past two years, will be driving Hyundai’s 677-hp Ioniq 5 N TA Spec EV this year. It’s game on come June 23.
