Ford Transit SuperVan 4.2 Smashes Nurburgring Nordschleife Lap Record
The extraordinary Ford Transit SuperVan 4.2 has taken another lap record-breaking scalp for the history books by obliterating the existing marker for vans around the fearsome Nurburgring Nordschleife.
The attempt at a lap record was something of a personal – and poignant - ‘reclamation’ project for Ford Performance in tribute to the late Sabine Schmitz.
Fondly remembered as the ‘Queen of the Ring’, Schmitz – an instructor and ‘taxi driver’ around the epic 13-mile course – rose to prominence with a spot on TV’s Top Gear when she trounced Jeremy Clarkson’s lap time in a Jaguar S-Type while driving a standard Ford Transit.
Setting a new record for vans in the process, while that lap record was eventually bettered in ensuing years by more powerful commercial machinery, Ford returned to the track in its 2000bhp electric Ford SuperVan 4.2.
The attempt was arranged in honour of Schmitz, who sadly died in 2021 of cancer at the age of 51-years old.
While the lap record itself was never in doubt, the hope was that the Ford SuperVan 4.2 – which has already demolished records at Pikes Peak, Goodwood and Bathurst – could produce something particularly special this time around.
And so it proved as Le Mans 24 Hours race winner Romain Dumas returned to the wheel to lap the iconic – yet notoriously difficult – German venue in a mesmerising 6:48.393.
Not only does that take minutes out of existing record for vans, it places the Ford Transit SuperVan 4.2 as the ninth fastest vehicle to have ever driven the Nordschleife.
To put into context, that makes Ford Transit SuperVan 4.2 faster than a Porsche 911GT3RS and a Chevrolet ZR1X.
It wasn’t the only vehicle Ford was trialling on track either with the Ford F-150 Lightning – which tackled Goodwood and Pikes Peak this year – also going up against the clock, though no times have been revealed as yet.
Instead, Ford is choosing to spotlight the achievements of its SuperVan 4.2 in celebration of gone but never forgotten Schmitz.
