FORD SUPERVAN

The original Supervan was produced by Terry Drury Racing and made its debut at Brands Hatch on Easter Monday 1971. It was fitted with a 400 horsepower version of the high-performance 302 cubic inch V8 engine used in Ford's Le Mans-winning GT40 sports cars.

SPEED WAS FANTASTIC WITH 68 IN FIRST, 102 IN SECOND, 134 IN THIRD, 165 IN FORTH, AND 196 IN FITH. WITH A REV LIMIT OF 7000 RPM BUT WOULD GO TO 8000 RPM

0-60 TIMES WERE 7.0 SECONDS WITH 0-100 IN 21.6 SECONDS. 1/4 MILE TIMES OF 14.9 AT 87MPH

Supervan 2 debuted in 1984, at the Donington Truck Grand Prix, and was the work of Auto Racing Technology of Woolaston. Powered by a Ford-Cosworth DFL engine – the long-stroke version of Ford's famous DFV F1 engine. It was clocked at Silverstone doing 174mph. Ten years later and DRL Engineering of Suffolk undertook a complete re-build of Supervan 2 and, fittingly, it was decided to re-name the vehicle Supervan 3.

Specs

Body: Composite over aluminium honeycomb chassis
Engine: Cosworth HB 3.5L 72 degree V8
Power: 730 BHP @ 13,500 RPM
Rev Limit: 13,800
Transmission: Benetton 6 speed, Quaife LSD, AP twin plate sintered metal clutch
Suspension: Independant all round with top and bottom wishbones, coil over shocks, front and rear anti-roll bars
Brakes: Brembo 11" Carbon discs and pads, Brembo 4 spot calipers
Wheels: OZ cast magnesium 13"x10" front 13"x12" rear
Weight: 890kg

N.S.V.A. show Brighton 2000 with supervan in sponsor colours royal mail in the centre

The Essex-based Ford Heritage Vehicle Collection has been boosted with the recommissioning of Transit Supervan 3. Originally built 20 years ago when it was known as Supervan 2, this very special Transit with the heart and lungs of a racing car will spearhead a number of activities next year when the company celebrates the 40th anniversary of the launch of the Ford Transit range.

Built on a Ford C100 race car chassis and originally powered by a mid-mounted Ford-Cosworth 650bhp 'HB' F1 engine, Supervan 3 first saw the light of day in 1995 when it was displayed at the motor show in Birmingham. For the next few years, in its unique hand-crafted seven-eighths scale fibreglass body, it was used at special events up and down the country before being 'retired' in 2001 after its appearance at the National Van Show in Brighton, where it was presented in authentic Royal Mail livery.

By then the F1 engine had been replaced for reasons of practicality by a Ford-Cosworth Pro Sports 3000 (V6) engine, which it retain today. Power is transmitted via a Hewland gearbox to the rear wheels.

The top speed of Supervan 3 is estimated at around 150mph with acceleration which would not disgrace many sports supercars. Aerodynamic stability at high speed is aided by a deep front splitter and large rear wing.

The recent re-commissioning work also included returning Supervan 3 to its original 1984 highly distinctive Ford Motorsport paint livery.

"Transit Supervan 3 will play a major role in many of the events we are planning in 2005 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Ford Transit," said Gary Whittham, Ford's director of commercial vehicles.

"It looks fantastic, sounds even better and goes like no other Ford Transit van," he added.

Although Ford has lost contact with Supervan 1, which left the company many years ago, Supervan 3 join another high-performance Transit in the Ford Heritage Vehicle Collection. This is the World Rally Transit, which combines all the features of a load-carrying rally support vehicle with higher performance and rally-car-style interior and exterior. Based on the rear-wheel-drive version of the new-generation Ford Transit, the WRT features a tuned 200bhp version of the Ford Duratorq diesel engine. With its rally-style paintwork and distinctive W1WRT registration number it does rather stand out in the crowd. And rally drivers will feel totally behind the wheel as the seats, steering wheel, instrumentation are from an actual WRC Ford Focus which campaigned in 2001.

The WRT, is completely practical for road use, apart from the fact that there is only one of it (which isn't for sale) and building another would cost about £25,000 on top of the normal list price.

As the pictures show, it is just possibly the most extreme-looking Transit ever seen on a public road. It has been designed to resemble the Focuses which Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz are driving in this year's World Rally Championship (a grudging two points to anyone who can now work out what WRT stands for). The huge array of stickers, the threatening front end and the huge wheels and tyres combine with the sheer bulk of the thing to make it as noticeable among other traffic as a pop concert in the middle lane of the M6.

Ford could have stopped there and left everything else standard. But that wouldn't have been nearly as much fun.

Climbing aboard is made slightly more difficult than usual by the high-set door bars which are part of a purpose-built rollcage. Other motorsport-inspired items in the otherwise bare interior include two very fancy Sparco seats, a fire extinguisher and a tiny racing steering wheel.

The dashboard is from a Mondeo ST200, which means the revcounter is hopelessly inaccurate. That particular Mondeo has a six-cylinder engine, while the WRT has a four-cylinder unit which we'll come to in a moment, and the result is that the rev-counter under-reads by 33%. But you can still get an accurate idea of engine speed by looking at the PiResearch System 2 digital display.

Under the bonnet lies the familiar 2.5-litre Duratorq turbo diesel engine, but if that seems disappointing, don't worry. Various modifications to the electronics and to the turbocharger have brought the maximum power output up to 160bhp, which is very high indeed for a diesel and gives the WRT superb mid-range acceleration.

In fact, the performance is so good that you have to bear in mind the cornering limitations of such a high vehicle and tread warily through the bends. Not that this has stopped Ford from planning further tweaks which will eventually bring the power up to an extraordinary 200bhp.

So it sounds boring, then? Not really. When you floor the throttle, the noise rebounds off the sheet metal of the cavernous load area to produce a harsh scream. It's not pretty, but it's completely in character with the rest of this amazing van.

I loved the WRT to bits, mostly because it's just so daft. The biggest surprise, though, is how comfortable it is to drive. Every vestige of passenger luxury has been removed from the cabin, but the superbly supportive seats, and the light steering action combined with tremendous levels of grip from those big tyres

The Espace F1 is a F1 chasis with a carbon fibre van shell and 2 seats. Hence the reason for the speed, the only difference btween this and an F1 car is that it is not very areodynamic. Of the drivers that have driven this they say it is comparable to an F1 car in a straight line but when it comes to cornering it looses out big time. This machine was built for the pure reason Frank Williams wanted to know what it felt like to go in a F1 car.