Ford recently sent one of its Formula Ford vehicles around Germany's Nurburgring faster than a Ferrari Enzo, regardless of the puny thing having only 202 horsepower and a three-cylinder motor. It also gets almost 60 miles per gallon, very easily proving weight is among the biggest hurdles to fuel efficiency. Have you been looking to buy or sell a used or new truck? If this sounds like you, find out more on our websites at Gus Johnson Ford!

Tiny Ford car

Lotus has always been really successful, but Lotus Founder Colin Chapman wants to keep up that success with quicker cars. The truth is, making a lightweight car may be a better choice than an automobile with too much power and a heavy engine.

At the Nurburgring's Nordschleife, the Formula Ford got around the loop in 7 minutes and 22 seconds. The Nissan GT-R, Maserati MC12, Pagani Zonda, and many more automobiles have had slower times than that. What is Ford’s secret? A tiny car that is not much bigger than a refrigerator, according to Car and Driver.

The Formula Ford engine is not that spectacular either with a 1.0-liter three-cylinder motor that is turbocharged.

More light vehicles than not

F1 vehicles are less than 1,500 pounds generally, which is why they are pretty well-known as light-weight vehicles. Drivers race in Indy or Formula One style automobiles for the open-wheel “spec racing” series that Formula Ford is in.

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Another interesting thing about the Formula Ford that was just timed on “the Ring,” is that it has a conventional six-speed manual transmission, according to AutoGuide, and since it has headlights, turn signals, license plate and was tested on regular passenger tires, it's technically street legal. Granted, don't expect it to show up at any Miami, Portland, Des Moines or Spokane dealers of Ford, as it's a race car. It has a top speed of 159 miles per hour and gets from 0 to 60 mph in less than four seconds.

It gets 57 mpg on the highway too.

Looking at weight

The Formula Ford is quite impressive, as a car that's quicker than a Ferrari and gets better mileage than a Prius is quite an achievement. The same motor is going into the next model year Fiesta.

Lighter vehicles end up being more fuel efficient because a car cannot move as fast when it has more weight. It makes sense that weight has to do with gas mileage. It also has to do with the engine since more fuel is burned with more cylinders.

It takes 32 seconds to get from 0 to 50 miles per hour in the brand new Volkswagen XL1. It weighs less than 1,800 pounds and gets 235 mpg with its electric motor and battery pack combined with the 1.0-liter two-cylinder diesel motor, according to AutoBlog. It will cost a huge auto finance loan to get the car though.

Sources

AutoGuide

Car and Driver

AutoBlog