Ford will bring its Super Mustang Mach-E – an EV racecar that bears little resemblance to its namesake road car – back to Pike’s Peak after having its race win thwarted by inclement weather last year.
The Pike’s Peak International Hill Climb is one of the longest-running races in the world, being held 103 times since 1916.
It’s a famously difficult race, starting at an already-high 9,390ft (2,862m) in elevation and finishing at 14,110ft (4,300m), with an average 7.2% vertical grade. Until 2011, the track was largely unpaved on dirt or gravel roads, and it is still not uncommon for cars to leave the track and crash into the woods or, worse, end up tumbling down the mountain. The race is also commonly stopped by rain, snow, fog, or other inclement weather… of the type you commonly get at the top of mountains.
In particular, the high altitude nature of the race (which earned it the nickname “Race to the Clouds”) has always been difficult, because at high altitudes there is less oxygen, which means less complete combustion of fuel. This means that gas-powered race vehicles need to have incredibly oversized engines to do well.
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That difficulty does not apply to electric vehicles since EVs don’t need oxygen for combustion, so for years EVs have overperformed in the race. In fact, the all-time record for the 12.42-mile (20km) hillclimb, 7:57.148, was set by the all-electric Volkswagen ID.R in 2018, driven by Romain Dumas (put a pin in that name).
That’s not the only EV that’s done well, others with various levels of consumer availability also perform incredibly strongly.
Ford has brought various ridiculous EV racing prototypes out to Pike’s Peak before, including its SuperVan and SuperTruck, but last year it finally brought a real sportscar out, in the form of the Super Mustang Mach-E.
Despite that this racecar is named after Ford’s consumer electric SUV, the Mach-E, it bears little to no resemblance, rather looking like a real low-slung sportscar. And we expected that it would have corresponding improved performance over the big, blocky SuperVan and SuperTruck.
The Super Mustang Mach-E did have a great race, winning its class and coming in second overall. But this was actually a disappointment, because Ford had hoped to win the race outright.
The reason for the loss was likely due to inclement weather. On race day, winds were incredibly high, leading to fears of rockfalls and debris at the top of the course. Given the precarious nature of the course and race, which has resulted in seven deaths over its history, it was decided to limit the race to the lower portions of the mountain.
And, given EVs have a bigger advantage the higher you go on the mountain, that meant the EVs were disproportionately disadvantaged by the closure.
Ford’s driver, Romain Dumas (hey, remember that name?), said that he believed he’d have won a full race, but that “the mountain decides.”
So after last year’s disappointment (if winning your class can be called a disappointment), Ford is ready to head back for more this year.
Ford racing posted this week that it plans to head back up the mountain, which was not unexpected but confirms that the automaker thinks it has “unfinished business” on the mountain.
So far we have no more details on the run, though we imagine it will just be a replay of next year, just with a hope for better weather. The car and driver are the same, but Ford does say it has “updated specs” on the 2026 Super Mustang Mach-E, though declined to give any more information on what those specs are.
We’ll have to wait and see for more on those specs – and see what the competition will be like this year – but no matter what, Ford is already an immediate contender for the win as of this announcement.
If you’re interested in the *non* racecar version of the Mustang Mach-E, use our affiliate link to reach out to local dealers and set up a test drive.
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