It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s SuperTruck: Ford F-150 EV track monster rips Nürburgring

Posted by Talbot Payne on August 29, 2025

Give this pickup a cape.

Ford Performance took its electric Ford F-150 Lightning SuperTruck EV Demonstrator to the Nürburgring, the world’s most daunting race track, and set the fifth-fastest time ever recorded. Based on a similar platform to Ford’s Transit SuperVan 4.2 that recently set the seventh-fastest time, SuperTruck is nearly 10 seconds faster than Ford’s fastest production car, the Mustang GTD.

The 6:43.5-minute lap around the so-called Green Hell’s 12.9-mile circuit was nearly on par with the Porsche GT2 RS (6.43.3 minutes), the second-fastest production car to circle the track behind the Mercedes-AMG One at 6:29.1 minutes. The SuperTruck is one of three cyborgs, including the SuperVan and Super Mustang Mach-E, developed in Ford’s EV Demonsrator program to push the limits of electrification.

Driver Romain Dumas with the Ford SuperVan 4.2 (left) and the F-150 Lightning SuperVan EV demonstrators at the Nürburgring.

Driver Romain Dumas with the Ford SuperVan 4.2 (left) and the F-150 Lightning SuperVan EV demonstrators at the Nürburgring. Ford

“That time represents something bigger than speed. It’s proof that when we go electric, we’re bringing everything Ford stands for with us,” said Ford Performance Global Director Mark Rushbrook. “We build the future by testing it at the limit. It’s called the ‘Green Hell’ for a reason. When our systems survive this punishment, they’re ready for whatever you throw at them.”

Like SuperVan, SuperTruck was piloted by Romain Dumas, a two-time Le Mans 24-Hour winner. Dumas had already won the 2024 Pikes Peak Hillclimb in Colorado and the 2025 Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb in the bespoke, track-focused truck. It has also set the Car and Diver Lightning Lap record at Virginia International Raceway.

Despite weighting a hefty 4,000 pounds (estimated) and pushing a lot of air with its boxy truck proportions, SuperTruck achieved these feats with a staggering 2,200 horsepower, instant torque off corners, and 6,000 pounds of downforce — more than an IndyCar — at 150 mph from its giant rear wing and front splitter.

SuperTruck also demonstrates the limitations of electric technology (in addition to its hefty curb weight, courtesy of a large battery). In its Lightning Lap VIR configuration, for example, the SuperTruck sucked down 60% of a charge in one 4.2-mile lap and required a stream of dry-ice-cooled air to quickly chill its heat exchangers between runs. Though Ford didn’t provide details, even more robust measures would have been needed for the over three-times-longer Nürburgring lap.

The Ford F-150 Lightning SuperVan EV demonstrator set a record up Pikes Peak in 2024.

The Ford F-150 Lightning SuperVan EV demonstrator set a record up Pikes Peak in 2024. Ford

Competitions like the 24 Hours of Nürburgring are a long way off. But Rushbrook said SuperTruck is focused on engineering learnings.

The production Ford F-150 Lightning, which shares little with the carbon-fiber-body, tube-frame, winged Lightning SuperTruck, is the first electric version of Ford’s best-selling pickup. Ford said racing SuperTruck helps accelerate aerodynamic and battery learnings crucial to the Lightning’s development.

“These crazy fast laps teach us things you can’t learn anywhere else. Our engineers get to work with real data from real extremes,” he said. “We’ve been doing this forever — Daytona, Le Mans, now the ‘Ring. The track teaches you things a conference room never could. Every breakthrough we’ve made, from the flathead V-8 to EcoBoost to these electric beasts, started with someone saying, ‘Let’s see what this thing can really do.'”

The Ford SuperVan puts down 2,950 pound-feet of torque through all-wheel-drive (Picture from SuperVan's record closed-wheel car lap at Bathurst track at New South Wales, Australia, 2024).

The Ford SuperVan puts down 2,950 pound-feet of torque through all-wheel-drive (Picture from SuperVan’s record closed-wheel car lap at Bathurst track at New South Wales, Australia, 2024). EDGE Photographics/Mark Horsburgh

Nürburgring is the benchmark for single-lap speed and has been the focus of Ford and Chevrolet this year for their latest performance programs. The 1,250-horse Corvette ZR1X hypercar set the fastest American production car record around the ‘Ring this summer at 6:49.3 minutes — nipping the Mustang GTD’s 6:52.1.

The fastest electric prototype lap around the Nürburgring was set by the Volkswagen ID.R at 6:05.3 minutes. The absolute record is held by the hybrid Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo race car at 5:19.5 minutes.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

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