Dumas set a searing pace in his SuperTruck
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It had challengers in the form of GT3 sports cars, monster Aussie V8s and a Can-Am brute but, seeing off all comers, a Ford pick-up truck claimed this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed Hillclimb crown.
OK, so not any old pick-up truck. With Romain Dumas behind the wheel the electric, 1,419bhp F-150 Lightning SuperTruck to take top honours set a scintillating time of 43.23sec.
It’s the latest iteration of the high-performance ‘Supervan’ originally based on the Ford Transit. The preferred mode of transport for ‘sparkies’, ‘brickies’, and all variants of the proverbial ‘white van man’, the indefatigable Transit van celebrates its 60th anniversary this year.
The Blue Oval marked the occasion by bringing all its versions of the Supervan to this year’s Festival of Speed.
However, it wanted to add a little something extra to the proceedings and, with the help of the pick-up-on-steroids F-150, Dumas delivered.
The Le Mans winner, rally driver, hillclimber and all-round racing polymath also won the title in 2024 also with a 43.98sec, but was delighted to lop more than half a second off his most recent effort set in the previous version, the Supervan 4.2.
“It was a good run, I’ll say it like that!” he commented after spraying the obligatory champagne.
“A little bit warmer than yesterday to extract everything in terms of grip.
“I think I was missing a tiny bit. If I do one more run – I think we stay one more day for tomorrow right?!”
Ford
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Goodwood
With an average speed of 96.6mph, Dumas wasn’t hanging around, but the SuperTruck is the latest in a long line of souped-up Ford vans.
While the vehicle the Frenchman drove this year is based on the F-150 pick-up truck, its performance lineage can be traced all the way back to the very first Transit ‘Supervan’, which was present at this year’s FoS.
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The original was masterminded by designer Terry Drury emerged in 1971, powered by a 4.7-litre GT40 engine (naturally). The chassis was actually that of a Cooper Monaco sports car with a transit body put on top, which all meant it could shift rather quicker than your standard Transit.
It was bought by ex-Ford apprentice Andy Browne, who worked on the original production line near Southampton.
The 1971 Supervan was broken up after its promotional tour ended, but Browne kept tabs on the main original components and rebuilt it in 1973.
Financial hardship meant he had to sell the van before it disappeared for decades, and he thought it was lost forever.
However last year Browne received a phone call that the remnants of the original were still around, and that formed the basis of the reborn Ford Supervan.
“Originally, I wanted to build a replica,” he told Goodwood last year.
“Then one day I got a call and somebody said to me they thought they knew where the remains of the Supervan were.
The original Ford Transit Supervan
Ford
“I’ve lost count, but this must have been at least the twentieth time, easily. I went to see these remains, ran my hand under the sills and knew that it was the van that I’d owned.
“It wasn’t even a van at all – just a floor pan and a bit of bulkhead, and some parts of a chassis that had been cut.”
With the original restored to its former glory and its newest iteration ripping up the track, the Ford Supervan really is a king of the Goodwood Hill.
