Ford gets ‘Ecoboost’ on track
Race car continues the automaker’s long tradition in motorsports
CONCORD, N.C. To say America’s Ford Motor Co. has been racing cars since it’s been making cars is a bit of a lie. Even before founder Henry Ford started his eponymous company in 1903, he had designed, built and successfully raced a 26-horsepower automobile two years earlier.
Since that prescient start, the Ford Motor Co. has never stopped racing, claiming to be the only automaker to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Grand Prix of Monaco, NHRA U.S. Nationals, Baja 1000 and X Games Rallycross.
“From Henry Ford’s first victory in 1901, to the company’s most recent victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March, no other car company can match our history in motor racing,” said Edsel B. Ford II. He is the great-grandson of Henry Ford and a member of the Ford Motor Co. board of directors and talked with reporters during Ford Racing’s media days, leading up to NASCAR’s back-to-back Sprint Cup All-Star and Coca-Cola 600 races here at Charlotte Motor Speedway, May 17 and 25.
“My great-grandfather understood how motor racing success could benefit a car company in terms of technical innovation and marketing our vehicles, so I think he would be pleased we race for the same reasons today that he did in 1901,” added Ford.
Ford Racing’s global motorsports research says about 40 per cent of potential new vehicle buyers in the automaker’s major global markets (North America, Europe and Asia) have an interest in motorsports. The perception by Ford race fans of key vehicle attributes such as “fun to drive,” “good gas mileage,” “high quality,” and “excellent safety,” are more than 50 per cent higher, compared to non-race fans, he said. So despite not selling a rear-wheeldrive, V8-engine, two-door coupe version of its Fusion to the public, Ford can use suspension of disbelief and compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series with its Fusion race car.
“Our marketing research consistently shows that NASCAR fans are our best customers,” said Tim Duerr, Ford Racing motorsports marketing manager. “So when you have approximately 75 million people who follow NASCAR, either by going to the track, watching on television or tracking it on their mobile device, it’s a very significant customer base.”
While NASCAR may be the most popular form of motorsports in North America, race fans are also helping Ford as it transitions its production performance cars to its new-age EcoBoost powertrains.
EcoBoost-branded engines use fewer cylinders, but are aided with direct-injection and turbocharging. Among other Ford and Lincoln vehicles, EcoBoost engines are employed in Ford’s high-performance subcompact 2014 Fiesta ST, compact 2014 Focus ST and the forthcoming 2015 Mustang EcoBoost — the first four-cylinder engine in the iconic pony car since the 1986 Mustang SVO.
According to Ford Racing’s research, race fans have a 37 per cent higher familiarity with EcoBoost than non-race fans, and a 28 per cent higher favourable opinion of Ford’s latest engine technology.
You could say that among Ford Racing’s various global programs (whether it’s NASCAR’s Sprint Cup, Nationwide or Camping trucks series, Global RallyCross, Formula Drift, Australian V8 Supercars, World Rally Championship, China Touring Car Championship or venerable Ford Formula) the most relevant racing program for North American new-car buyers is arguably its newest entry in the IMSA/TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, which will race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ont., July 12 and 13.
When the merger of the American Le Mans Series and Rolex Grand-Am Sports Car Series took place last year to create the new IMSA/TUDOR United SportsCar
When you have approximately 75 million people who follow NASCAR … it’s a very significant customer base.
series, Ford Racing signed Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates to join Michael Shank Racing. The team’s Ford EcoBoost/Riley race cars compete in the Daytona Prototype class, powered by a racing version of the same 3.5-litre, sixcylinder EcoBoost engine found in the 2014 Ford Taurus, F Series trucks and other Ford and Lincoln models.
The new EcoBoost race engine got its first major test in a record speed run at Daytona International Speedway in Florida last October, where driver Colin Braun set a new Daytona closed-course speed record of 222.97 mph (358.84 km/ h), and also set FIA standingstart 10-mile (210.02 mph/337.9 km/ h) and 10-kilometre (202.44 mph/325.79 km/h) records while driving an EcoBoost Riley race car.