Ford's New 1.0L 3 cyl Turbo engine goes 7m 22s @Nurburgring Nordschleife

[420Coupe]

So. Going fast around the Nürburgring is all about big engines and plenty of horsepower, right? Wrong.

Ford has just proved that size isn't everything by letting a one-off, street-legal version of its popular Formula Ford loose around the infamous ‘Ring. Powered by the diddy 1.0-litre, three-cylinder Ecoboost engine (like in the new Focus), and a bit of a tailwind, it clocked a time of 7 minutes, 22 seconds. That's faster around the 'Green Hell' than a Lamborghini Aventador, Ferrari Enzo and Pagani Zonda.

Weight is obviously important - or lack of it. This racer weighs around 500kg and is modified to use Ford's 1.0-litre three cylinder in conjunction with the turbo from the standard Formula Ford. Boffins at Ford did tinker with the engine's ECU to squeeze out 202 bhp, 22 bhp more than the 1.6 litre that normally sits in the single-seater, but there were no major engine mods.

And thanks to some indicators, wing mirrors, wheel covers and a horn, you can even drive it to the shops. Yes, it's road legal. And if you can live without your creature comforts, it's even somewhat practical.

Of course, the headline stats of 0-62mph in under four seconds and a top speed of 158.8mph sound fantastic. But where it gets very interesting is fuel consumption. Ford is claiming that in testing, the EcoBoost-powered single-seater returned 118mpg at 35mph and 57mpg at 75mph. Now that's having your cake and eating it.

"This little engine has people rubbing their eyes in disbelief," said Nick Tandy, the man who piloted the car for the lap. "It's simply astonishing that a three-cylinder, 1.0-litre engine can deliver that kind of performance."

If you want to own the fastest, street-legal three-cylinder powered car to go around James' favourite race track, you can't, unless Ford agrees to build it. So click ‘like' at the top of this article and we'll send a digital petition to Dagenham when it gets high enough...

http://www.topgear.com/uk/photos/fo...coboost-engine-2012-09-04#.UEZsFWFaH58.mailto

Holly Sh!t Ford just shat on everyone for being efficient!

 

[webby]

500kg is 1102 lbs. Aventador curb weight - 3,470 lbs.

5.5lbs per hp in the ford
5.0lbs per hp in the aventador

1 liter/202hp =202hp per liter
6.5 liters/690hp = 106hp per liter

crazy figures I'd like to see a video of the run. It's essentially like an ariel atom

 

[420Coupe]

It's also a 3 cylinder vs 12 cylinder, regardless I guess it all does come down to power to weight

 

[Dragos]

This reminds me of my first car which was a very small 4 door compact with a 800 cc 3 cylinder engine (Tico from Daewoo ) I cannot fairly compare it to the other cars I have owned and I really do not remember how fast it actually was, but I do remember it felt pretty fast up to 70km/h back then. Slapping a turbo on it actually made a huge impact on them, I have no times to certify how good they were.

The low center of gravity of the Ford racer and the slick tires also made a huge difference and I bet other engines would provide similar times. Base atom is 2.0 naturally aspirated 245 with 150 torque at a weight of 630 Kg, wonder what are the Ariel times at Nordschleife.