Colin Braun set three speed records at Daytona International Speedway while driving a Riley Technologies Daytona Prototype racecar powered by the new 3.5-liter V6 Ford EcoBoost race engine.
In a special record run attempt on Wednesday, Braun hit 223 mph in a single lap on the Daytona tri-oval, breaking a 26-year-old record of 210 mph held by Bill Elliott and his Ford Thunderbird. Braun also set new standing-start 10-mile, and standing-start 10-kilometer records, at 210 mph and 202 mph averages, respectively.
“It’s a very proud day for all of us at Ford,” Jamie Allison, director of Ford Racing, said in a statement. “To take a Ford EcoBoost race engine that is basically production technology, and to beat speed records that have been on the books for decades, really says something for our new engine and the program we launched last week.”
For the record run, Ford Racing engine partner Roush Yates Engines in Livonia prepared the engine, and Continental Tire in Auburn Hills designed a special tire, which was lighter and offered less rolling resistance than a standard race tire.
Team owner Michael Shank said he’s been preparing for the event for the past nine or 10 months. “We did a first shakedown of the car and engine last January, and saw the potential even then of what it may do,” he said. “It’s relevant, production technology from Ford coming into a race program, and we need more of that in racing.”
Both the new car and new twin-turbo engine will compete in the 2014 United SportsCar Championship that kicks off with the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.
