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Ford has announced that the 2012 Focus Electric will silently pace this weekend's Capital City 400 Sprint Cup race in Richmond, Virginia. The company says this is historic, because never before has an EV paced a NASCAR race. Ford's previous pace car "first" came in 2008, when it fielded NASCAR's first hybrid pace-setter in the form of a Fusion hybrid.
There isn't anything particularly wrong with the Focus Electric, but we'd say the battery-powered pace car is massively underwhelming compared to, say, a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG Coupe Black Series. Despite having a light bar—which typically adds an instant dose of cool to any car—the Focus is let down by what appears to be a leaf-filled cloud motif decaled over a sea-foam, bluish-green Frosted Glass paint job. After all, we can't think of anything that says "Start your engines!" better than a pastel-colored hatchback whirring its way around a track. At least it will be followed by a bunch of stock cars.
We also can't help but wonder how the Focus would fare if there were to be a particularly long caution—we're confident there are plenty of slow-moving objects Juan Pablo Montoya could seek out and crash into. Regardless of Montoya's potential antics, the Focus Electric should have sufficient driving range to survive the race; it recently snagged a 105-MPGe rating from the EPA, which also certified the car as having a 76-mile range. Richmond's D-shaped oval is just three-quarters of a mile, so as long as a 101-lap caution doesn't happen, the Focus should make it. from Car and Driver Blog http://blog.caranddriver.com | |||
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Thursday, April 26, 2012
2012 Ford Focus Electric to Serve as NASCAR’s First Electric Pace Car
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