The Ford Transit has a legendary status at the equally legendary Nürburgring. That status can be traced back to an episode of the TV show "Top Gear" with then-presenter Jeremy Clarkson and the now sadly departed ‘Ring specialist Sabine Schmitz.

For those who have not seen it, the premise of the show was to try and get Clarkson to drive a Jaguar S-Type around the ‘Ring in under 10 minutes. Once he achieves this feat, Schmitz makes the now infamous statement – ‘I can go faster than that in a Ford Transit’ and from there, the story evolves into one of the most compelling challenges ever.

I won’t spoil the ending for those that have not seen it, but ever since that day, taking a Ford Transit to the limit around the ‘Ring has always been the dream for a few of us at Ford Performance, but it wasn’t until now that we had the right Transit, the right driver and the right conditions to see what might be possible.

But before we delve in to the result, what was the vehicle and more importantly, why were we doing it (apart from the glory of course)!

Well, the vehicle is none other than the Ford Transit SuperVan 4.2 – a bespoke 2,000-horsepower electric SuperVan designed to take on and conquer some of the greatest racetracks and events in the world. SuperVan 4.2 already holds records at Bathurst and was a winner at Pikes Peak, but there was always one track on our mind – the famous Green Hell – that we wanted to challenge ourselves at.

But why? Well, our electric vehicle demonstrator program has become an integral part of our broader Ford Performance racing portfolio, and for good reason. It is here that we can give our super-talented engineers, designers and aerodynamicists a clean sheet of paper and tell them to dream big.

This is our chance to see what is possible far beyond any rule books for any race series. Here, we can explore the boundaries of what is possible, all with the aim of bringing these learnings back in to both our race programs and our road programs. And it is already bearing fruit for us. I can’t be specific just yet for competitive reasons but suffice to say that a number of our future race programs will see the benefits from vehicles like SuperVan 4.2.

So how did we do? Well, in the hands of the remarkable Romain Dumas, SuperVan 4.2 was able to post an incredible time of 6:48.393 which makes it the 9^th fastest vehicle ever to complete a timed lap of the Nürburgring. To put that into context, it means that the Transit SuperVan 4.2 is faster than a Porsche 911 GT3RS and the Chevrolet ZR1X. Now to be fair, this is a bespoke race car with slick tyres and 2,000 horsepower but even so, that makes this one seriously quick Transit!

Of course, we are very proud of our remarkable SuperVan but we never rest. There is more to come, not least with the F-150 Lightning SuperTruck that was also at the Ring on the same day. For now, we will celebrate this achievement and also remember Sabine Schmitz and her part in this amazing story. She will never be forgotten.

Michael Norton is F1 and Demonstrators program manager at Ford.