What do you get when you put together Ford’s expertise, a one-seater Formula car, and avid automotive enthusiast Chris Harris? Well, as we found out from the latest Chris Harris on Cars episode from the DRIVE network, you get a lot of crazy shenanigans. Don’t believe us? Just check out the video above.
The Ford EcoBoost engine is legendary in its mild displacement compared to the power it puts out. But if you want to make a legendary engine even more of a trip, you throw it into a professional race car and let ‘er rip.
That’s exactly what Ford did with their 1-liter engine, originally found in the Ford Fiesta.
But instead of a standard daily driver, Ford engineers plopped the engine into one of their famous Formula Ford racecars, equipped it with a larger turbo setup and tested the limits of its stock internals. The larger turbo pushed the little 1.0 to an amazing 200 hp at the flywheel. To put that into perspective, if the current Coyote engine made the same amount of power per liter, the Mustang GT would carry 1,000 hp from the factory!
What’s even more impressive than the feat of fitting the Formula Ford with the 200 hp engine, is the fact that professional racer Nick Tandy was able to get the car around the famous Nürburgring in just seven minutes and 22 seconds. That’s not bad, considering that time puts the 3-cylinder powered Formula Ford right in line with lap times laid down by the coveted production Dodge Viper ACR and the Corvette C6 Z06.
As for non-series/ non road legal vehicles, the Formula Ford’s lap time gives it equal play against the Mygale M12-SJ-Ford EcoBoost, another modified Formula Ford tested by the Ford Motor Company.
While this Formula Ford’s time around the Nürburgring is impressive, what’s even more so is that it is also street legal. With a plate, headlights, brake lights and other safety equipment, Chris Harris is able to hit the highway with little issue. And yes, this stunt is as crazy as it seems!