Hitting 300km/h at Mount Panorama: can you believe a van can do that?

Ford is pushing the boundaries, though, having designed a van that's capable of reaching great speed, all while being able to navigate a race circuit.

And, if all that isn't enough, the van is also powered by electricity.

The all-electric Ford SuperVan 4.2 is stationed up at Mount Panorama for the SuperFest, with it to make appearances on track over the course of the Bathurst 12 Hour and Bathurst 500 race weekends.

Sriram Pakkam, the senior manager of Formula 1 and EV Demonstrators for Ford Performance, has joined the SuperVan 4.2 in Bathurst.

He said this particular vehicle follows on from the SuperVan 4.0, which was developed in 2022, and showcases the latest advances in technology.

"As part of what we do with this demonstrator set of vehicles is push our technology to the limits, without any racing rules to kind of hold you back," he said.

"With this, we then decided that SuperVan needs to take on the mountain, Pikes Peak - iconic race track, very challenging race track, because of how variable the conditions are, how big and long the lap is.

"That's when we developed what you see here, which is SuperVan 4.2 - lots more aerodynamics, different power string solution to last that long lap -and so we went there last year and set the class record.

"We smashed the record by a huge margin, so it was great, and now we're taking this around other iconic tracks."

While the SuperVan has conquered Pikes Peak, Mount Panorama is a different beast.

"Bathurst is one of the most iconic tracks you can go to, very different challenge from Pikes Peak and the other stuff we've raced at, and for us it's a way to push ourselves in a different way," Mr Pakkam said.

"We like challenging all of our vehicles in different ways, because that's when you learn the most, when you push it to the limits in these different places."

The vehicle has been adapted to suit the challenge of Mount Panorama, which includes long straights, tight corners, and changes in elevation.

"We've had to redesign the aerodynamics again, we've added another motor to get more power to this; it's a big vehicle, and we need a lot of power to go very fast," Mr Pakkam said.

"And a few more bespoke changes for Bathurst because of its unique nature."

With the vehicle set up to suit Mount Panorama, it is anticipated it will be able to reach speeds of around 300km/h, although top speed is just one small aspect of performance.

Mr Pakkam said racing these kinds of vehicles in future is something the developers are interested in, but it's a work in progress.

"That's a little bit harder to do, just because the battery technology is such that you can't have very long races," he said.

"We're trying to do that. We are trying to actually do this with other series in the US as well. We are trying to figure out what the best solution would be for long races, but we're not there yet.

"Right now, we're going for outright performance and trying to figure out what we can do to stress out these systems."

The SuperVan 4.2 will be doing on-track demonstrations twice daily at the Bathurst 12 Hour and Bathurst 500.

Outside of those times, the vehicle is located in Harris Park.

After it finishes up in Bathurst, the SuperVan will head to the Adelaide Motorsport Festival and the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, both to be held in March.