F-150 Lightning SuperTruck EV Demonstrator Wins 2024 Pikes Peak Hill Climb!

Updated with final results - posted by @hturnerfamily











Romain Dumas recovers from early deficit to win fifth Hill Climb title

https://gazette.com/pikes-peak-hill...cle_7ad23b5a-31aa-11ef-952a-8b28b43f8524.html

June 23, 2024

Romain Dumas had to play catch up to win his fifth Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on Sunday.

After the first section of the 12.42-mile track up America’s Mountain, the French driver’s time stood well behind leader Christian Merli. A stop on the track forced him to pause for roughly 20 seconds, seriously slowing down Dumas’ pace.

But the 46-year-old more than made up for his slow, confusing start.

Dumas overcame an 18-second deficit after the first section to win the King of the Mountain title with a time of 8:53.533 in the Pikes Peak Open classification.

“(It was) the most stressful one so far,” Dumas said. “We recovered after that. It was tough, and it was a lot of stress.”


Dumas never panicked. Despite a hefty gap between his time and Merli’s, the driver kicked into another gear and quickly ate away at the deficit.

“It was a little bit of confusion,” Dumas said. “I said OK, I just need to push, and I should be OK.”

He shaved five seconds off at the halfway mark. Dumas then cut nine seconds off Merli’s pace after the third section, trailing Merli’s time by just four seconds.

And in the final push, Dumas delivered.


Dumas posted a lap 15 seconds faster than Merli’s to win the race by more than 11 seconds.

“I was calculating (how to win),” Dumas said. “I needed to really push to be in front of him. I made the run.”

Dumas is a staple in the PPIHC. He holds the course record, 7:57.148, which he set in 2018 while racing in the Unlimited class.

But that was his last win before Sunday.

Dumas had raced just twice since 2018 at the PPIHC. He won his classes (Time Attack and Pikes Peak Open) both times but finished second overall to Robin Shute.

“To win again, it’s been very nice,” Dumas said.

Shute didn’t compete in the 2024 race for unspecified reasons. While Shute had gotten the best of Dumas in their previous two duels at Pikes Peak, Dumas was bummed not to see his rival.

“We respect each other a lot,” Dumas said. “It’s always very good (racing against Shute).”

Just saw this, has the Lightning come up yet?

Edit: just saw they are at the top of the leader board ……..Nice job Ford..

After 25+ cars so far, the Lightning is still at the top of the board. And this was after some kind of event early in the climb that cost the Lightning time.

17 cars in the same division "pikes peak open." Currently 47 seconds ahead of the next car in the same division!

11 seconds ahead of the next best car across all divisions.

lightspeed said:

After 25+ cars so far, the Lightning is still at the top of the board.

17 cars in the same division "pikes peak open."

Currently 47 seconds ahead of the next car in the same division!

11 seconds ahead of the next best car which is in the "unlimited" division.

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It would be nice if some of this tech finds its way down to T3 or Ford Perfomance upgrades to our Lightnings

Pretty incredible especially if you consider that he lost 18 seconds due to some kind of power-glitch just after starting.

What's interesting too is that a 2017 Ford Mustang was the fastest "regular production" ICE car beating a 911 Turbo R. Certainly modified, but don't know the details.

F150ROD said:

It would be nice if some of this tech finds its way down to T3 or Ford Perfomance upgrades to our Lightnings

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In my opinion the last thing the T3 Lightning needs is more power. It's already crazy fast for a super heavy not so nimble truck. My wife's Ioniq 5 is slow by comparison.

I love all racing, but don't get the significance of time staggered runs up an entirely paved road now to be honest. The old surface transitions was what I thought was great.

Hammick said:

In my opinion the last thing the T3 Lightning needs is more power. It's already crazy fast for a super heavy not so nimble truck. My wife's Ioniq 5 is slow by comparison.

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I disagree........ but I know what you mean. There is always space for a Shelby or SVT type Lightning where range isn't important.

There are still other improvements in this race truck that can make it down the line, specifically cooling, maybe some suspension bits, battery management. I'm sure the software team can get some good information out of this.

Mighty impressive considering the weight and time for section 1. It looks like everything else electric, a restart is the solution to most problems.

Does anyone know how much this Lightning weighs and if the battery pack has the standard 6 or 9 module or a specialized lightweight setup?

Some of the relevant time stamps for your convenience:

2:46:08

2:51:29

It's awesome to see. EVs have such a huge advantage at high altitude events.

Maxx said:

Mighty impressive considering the weight and time for section 1. It looks like everything else electric, a restart is the solution to most problems.

Does anyone know how much this Lightning weighs and if the battery pack has the standard 6 or 9 module or a specialized lightweight setup?

Some of the relevant time stamps for your convenience:

2:46:08

2:51:29

Click to expand...

Out of Spec Reviews released a deep dive video into the super truck a few days ago. Very interesting tech. Also some clues on a few styling cues that may end up in T3.

Dom630 said:

Out of Spec Reviews released a deep dive video into the super truck a few days ago. Very interesting tech. Also some clues on a few styling cues that may end up in T3.

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Thanks. It looks like 3527 lb and 50 Kwh battery. Far from an actual electic truck.

I think we all need a Lightning super truck that can reach 150 mph and generate up to 6000 pounds of aerodynamic downforce to get to the lumberyard quicker.
More details from Ford Authority

A. Curious what the time would’ve been without the issue?- Also love on the back of the truck it said “CAUTION lightning on the mountain”
B. I wonder why they did not run the Mustang dark horse??