Ford will debut its new 3.5-litre EcoBoost racing engine in the 2014 TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.
The new engine will make its first competitive appearance at the Rolex 24 at Daytona, although it will take to the Daytona circuit on October 9th, before contesting the 12 race long inaugural season of United SportsCar Racing. The engine will be the power behind a new look Daytona Prototype car, with Michael Shank Racing the first team to sign up to the new EcoBoost challenger.
“At Ford Racing, we really put great emphasis on racing production-based vehicles as well as production-based technologies,” said Ford Racing director, Jamie Allison. “We’re proud to bring a direct-injected, twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 EcoBoost engine to the United SportsCar Championship in a field of competitive V8-powered entries. We want to show Ford EcoBoost’s capabilities as an engine that provides both performance and fuel economy, on and off the track.”
A new Ford-inspired Riley Technologies Daytona Prototype will join the EcoBoost engine in Daytona, featuring enhanced Ford production vehicle design cues from lead production designer Garen Nicoghosian and aerodynamic support from Ford’s chief aerodynamicist Bernie Marcus.
“It’s really a privilege to have an opportunity to put your name in the record books like this,” says team owner Mike Shank, who will be hoping to eclipse the current lap record of 210.364mph, set by Bobby Allison qualifying for the 1987 Daytona 500 in a Ford Thunderbird . “It is almost inconceivable that this record has stood for such a long time, so it’s pretty special to be involved. We worked a long time to develop our relationship with Ford to be in a position to take on projects like this. Anytime you can get in the record books, it is a great opportunity and just builds on what this company has done.”
“Ford Motor Company stands for innovation and leading-edge technology, so having a chance to debut our Ford EcoBoost technology in a high-visibility setting such as this record run attempt, as well as the entire 2014 USCC schedule with its iconic races, is great,” concluded Allison. “Through TUDOR Championship racing and its fan outreach, we want to showcase how EcoBoost technology presents the combined benefits of performance and fuel efficiency – something all consumers would want in their vehicles.”
