Last week’s tease video courtesy of Ford where a stripped-down Mustang Mach-E is frying the hides meant something. It meant an electric speed demon was about to be unleashed and this is it. This is the Mustang Mach-E 1400, a seven motor, 1400 hp speed freak prototype. A prototype of what? According to Ford any sort of race track, drag strip, or gymkhana. Sort of a sister to the Mustang Cobra Jet which also just happens to strut 1400 hp. 

The Mach-E 1400 was developed in conjunction with tuners RTR. That’s pro-drifter Vaughn Gittin Jr’s shop that is one of Ford’s go-to sources for the good stuff. 

Sporting seven motors and the ability to adjust the 1400’s dynamics for a wide range of racing formats

Sporting seven motors and the ability to adjust the car’s dynamics for a wide range of racing formats including drifting leaves a bit to the imagination which Ford graciously breaks down. There are three motors attached to the front Winters quick-change differential. and four in the rear to another Winters unit. 

The quick-change units allow for easy gear swaps in a wide range of ratios. The motors they’re attached to are stacked pancake-style. This way only one driveshaft is needed to connect this unholy mess. The motors are neatly tucked into the center hump running through the car. 

Each motor is a Yasa P400 unit which, by the way, is round and flat like a pancake

The setup has “a huge range of adjustability to set the car up for everything from drifting to high-speed track racing.” Each motor is a Yasa P400 unit which, by the way, is round and flat like a pancake. They crank out 214 hp and 273 lb-ft of torque. You might remember them from the Koenigsegg Regera supercar. 

The motors are powered by a 56.8 kWh nickel manganese cobalt pouch-cells battery pack, with a non-conductive di-electric coolant system. Keeping things cool means shorter charging times between rounds, and that’s a key factor. Putting out this much power under track conditions will result in a quick drain for the battery. The team’s goal was to have power for at least one hour, then charge for no more than one hour, and then back onto the track.

Ford can explain the adjustable aspects of the Mach-E 1400 drive system:

“The chassis and powertrain are set up to allow the team to investigate different layouts and their effects on energy consumption and performance, including rear-wheel drive, all-wheel drive, and front-wheel drive. Drift and track setups have completely different front end configurations like control arms and steering changes to allow for extreme steering angles in drifting. Power delivery can be split evenly between front and rear, or completely to one or the other. Downforce is targeted at more than 1,000 kg at 257 km/h (160 mph).” Basically, the length of the control arms adjusts with a cam to change the steering angle.

Large radiators are located both in the front and rear with multiple fans to catch the air. Also catching air are the splitter and dive planes in front and spoiler in the back. Ford claims downforce is 2,300 lbs at 160 mph. Folks, that’s a lot of downforce. 

The basic 1400 body shell is also from the production Mustang Mach-E

The production Mach-E provides its center screen for the cause, a recognizable feature in the 1400. The basic body shell is also from the production car. Beyond that, it’s all custom and unique. 

Right now Ford says this is only for testing and there are no plans for providing customer versions. But with the success of the Mustang Cobra-Jet program Ford already knows how to do it. We’d love to see this kick off a racing series that other manufacturers join in on. We can only hope.