It won’t hurt your ears and doesn’t use a drop of fuel, but it’s projected to crush the quarter-mile in the low-8-second range at more than 170 mph. For the first time ever, Ford Performance introduces a one-off Mustang Cobra Jet factory drag racer with all-electric propulsion.
The battery-powered Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 prototype is purpose-built and projected to deliver over 1,400 horsepower and over 1,100 ft.-lbs. of instant torque to demonstrate the capabilities of an electric powertrain in one of the most demanding race environments.
“Ford has always used motorsport to demonstrate innovation,” said Dave Pericak, Global Director, Ford Icons. “Electric powertrains give us a completely new kind of performance and the all-electric Cobra Jet 1400 is one example of pushing new technology to the absolute limit. We’re excited to showcase what’s possible in an exciting year when we also have the all-electric Mustang Mach-E joining the Mustang family.”
Following the debut of the all-electric Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV – the first-ever, all-electric Mustang, the Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 prototype represents another opportunity to advance Mustang heritage and performance while simultaneously incorporating some of the most advanced technology coming to Ford’s future powertrains.
Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 also honors the original Cobra Jet that first dominated drag strips in the late 1960s and still is a major force in sportsman drag racing today.
"This project was a challenge for all of us at Ford Performance, but a challenge we loved jumping into,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “We saw the Cobra Jet 1400 project as an opportunity to start developing electric powertrains in a race car package that we already had a lot of experience with, so we had performance benchmarks we wanted to match and beat right now. This has been a fantastic project to work on, and we hope the first of many coming from our team at Ford Performance Motorsports."
Ford have yet to reveal any technical information about the electric Cobra Jet’s motors, batteries etc but we can have a few educated guesses:
- Motors: 2x AM Racing Dual Stack 250 Motors. Most likely 2x of these motors are stacked vertically for a grand total of 4x HVH Remy 250 cores.
- Inverters: 4x RMS PM250 DZ - 450Arms continuous, 600Arms peak, 300-800v
- Transmission: The video sounds like a 2 speed Powerglide.
- Rear-end: Most likely shortened Ford 9 inch diff - typical drag racing equipment.
Ford Performance continues to test Cobra Jet 1400 ahead of its world debut later this year at a drag racing event where fans, media and competitors alike will get to meet the race car, as well as see exactly what it’s capable of up on the asphalt.
Before that, catch a sneak peek starting this Sunday, April 26 by watching MotorTrend On Demand’s “Hard Cell”, a showcase of electric vehicles pushing innovation boundaries.
To maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of the project, Ford Performance has teamed up with several capable and specialized suppliers:
- MLe Racecars – Vehicle builder, designer, integrator and tuner
- Watson Engineering – Chassis support and development, roll cage builder
- AEM EV – Software and motor calibration and controls
- Cascadia – Inverter and Motor supplier
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