Evidently this is the week for breaking speed records! No sooner had we marked
30 years of Thrust 2
, the news came that Mike Newman had reclaimed his
blind land speed record
. Now Ford has blasted into the fray with a Daytona lap record.
The Riley Technologies Daytona Prototype racer you see here is powered by a Ford Ecoboost engine. It's not the 1.0-litre marvel that made for such a fast Formula Ford, but instead a 3.5-litre (this is American downsizing, don't forget) V6 turbo.
Braun broke an '87 record. He was born in '88...
Driven by Colin Braun, the Daytona Prototype recorded a ludicrous single lap average speed of 222.971mph. You may have guessed this smashed the previous record; that was set 26 years ago in qualifying for the Daytona 500, when a Ford Thunderbird driven by Bill Elliot averaged 210.364mph.
And that's not all. Whilst they were at it, the team running the Riley Prototype also set new record times for 10 miles from a standing start (averaging 210.018mph) plus 10km from stationary too (averaging 202.438mph).
So a great publicity stunt for Ford, Colin Braun and the Michael Shank Racing team that prepped the car. But that's not the end for this fantastic-looking thing. They'll race it. Next year begins the inaugural Tudor United SportsCar Championship, an amalgamation of the previous Grand-Am and American Le Mans Series. The 12-race championship kicks off back at Daytona on January 25. With cars like this racing, we're saving for the plane tickets already!
