April 28, 2012

Ford unveils historic, all-new Focus ELECTRIC pace car for Richmond (NASCAR)

Source: Ford press release via Jayski.com

•Ford Unveils Historic All-New Focus Electric Pace Car for Richmond: After being unveiled in a public ceremony at the Virginia State Capitol, the 2012 Focus Electric pace cars are ready for their historic race weekend when they become the first all-electric vehicles to pace a NASCAR Sprint Cup event. The two Focus Electric vehicles will perform all pace car duties for the Capital City 400 presented by Virginia is for Lovers Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. The two cars were unveiled by Eric Kuehn, chief nameplate engineer, Ford Global Electrified Programs; Mike Lynch, NASCAR's managing director of Green Innovation; and Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling. Production of the Focus Electric began in December at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich.(Ford), see image of the pace car on my 2012 Pace Car page.(4-27-2012)



Read more: http://www.jayski.com/cupnews.htm

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A bold move by Ford - the Focus will be under a microscope of critical, knowledgable race fans, and must be capable of performing at speeds above most highway limits, along with agility and braking sufficent to stay out of a 30,000 + horsepower stampede. NASCAR prefers pace car drivers with significant racing experience - like Brett Bodine of their Tech Center. You better beleive that ol' DW will be asking the Focus pace car driver's opinion of it's performance - and how much it cost to "fill it up"!