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Watch the drifting power of Ford's 1,400 horsepower Mustang Mach-E

The one-off EV prototype has no less than seven motors.

Ford/Larry Chen

Confirming an earlier “leak,” Ford has unveiled a one-off Mustang racing prototype that shows what unlimited power and torque can do. The Mach-E 1400 uses a 56.8-kilowatt battery and seven motors to make, you guessed it, 1,400 horsepower. It marries that with a racing body and huge wing that produces 2,300 pounds of downforce. As it showed in a video, the overall result is raw speed, drifting and plumes of tire smoke.

Three motors power the front axles, while four are connected to the rear. It might sound silly to have more motors than wheels, but those allow the car to be tuned for track racing, drifting or drag-racing. The Mach-E’s nickel-manganese-cobalt battery lasts for about 20 to 30 minutes of aggressive driving and can be fully recharged in 45 minutes.

Ford put the Mach-E 1400 up against gas-powered models like a ‘65 Mustang Hoonicorn RTR V2, a 2020 Mustang Shelby GT350R and 2019 NASCAR Mustang. Driver and “professional fun-haver” Vaughn Gittin Jr. took it against those cars in a variety of modes, including drifting, aero testing and gymkhana. In the video, Ford showed the prototype running literal smoking circles around the other Fords. “Getting behind the wheel of this car has completely changed my perspective on what power and torque can be,” Gittin Jr. said.

The Mach-E is actually not the only 1,400 horsepower Mustang EV, as Ford’s Cobra Jet 1400 can match it. However, that EV is designed for drag racing, not drifting.

The Mach-E 1400 will serve “as a test bed for new materials,” Ford said. That means it’s not likely to sell the car unless hard-core performance fans can persuade it to do otherwise. It plans to debut the prototype at a NASCAR race soon, while the production Mustang Mach-E will arrive in the US at the end of 2020.