As planned, Ford’s new racing EcoBoost V6 engine made its competition debut at Daytona International Speedway. The prototype racer sets three new speed records, showing off the engineering prowess of Ford Racing in the coolest way possible.
The records broken by the new engine, and the brand-new race car especially developed for it, include a single lap speed record of 222.971 mph, bettering the 26-year-old speed record of 210.364 mph set by Bill Elliott in a Ford Thunderbird during qualifying for the 1987 Daytona 500, plus new world speed records for 10 miles from a standing start (210.018 mph average), and 10 kilometers from a standing start (202.438 mph average).
The new Ford EcoBoost V6 Race Engine and the prototype race car are set to compete a full season in the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. They are not one-off purpose-built machines for the record run. Although, the engine was especially tuned for this occasion by Roush Yates Engines, and Continental Tires did a special tire for the run.
The car did the record run in oval configuration. For track use they have switched the settings, which means the real work on adjusting the chassis and suspension has just begun.
“This is an engine project we started probably two years ago,” said John Maddox, road racing program manager, Roush Yates Engines. “There has been a lot of hard work by a lot of people to get it to where it is today, but this EcoBoost engine is relevant, state-of-the-art production technology in racing, and it brings with it power and high efficiency in the same package.
