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Ford's Lightning is no flash in the pan
Guinness declares SVT F-150 "World's Fastest Pickup"
By Tom Mack
Thursday, August 28, 2003
It's official. Ford's SVT F-150 Lightning has been certified as the "World's Fastest Production Pickup Truck." Guinness World Records, Ltd. made the proclamation after the high-speed hauler hit 147 miles per hour (237 km/h) recently at Ford's Michigan Proving Grounds, northeast of Romeo. Since the truck's introduction in 1999, the supercharged SVT F-150 Lightning has been unofficially tagged the world's fastest pickup in many quarters. Now it's a matter of official record.
"We're proud to have certification from Guinness World Records," says Tom Scarpello, Ford SVT marketing and sales manager. "It's a well-deserved record for the engineering team, and overdue confirmation to all the SVT F-150 Lightning owners out there who have known for years that they drive the fastest truck on the planet!"
The record run was conducted on a five mile-long, high-speed oval - a safe, controlled environment to test the truck's ultimate performance limits.
"This may seem like fun and games, but high-speed stability is critical for a performance vehicle, even a pickup truck," says Tom Chapman, SVT chassis systems supervisor and driver for the record-setting run. "The SVT Lightning is just as stable and planted at 147 miles per hour as it is at 100 km/h; only the scenery's going by faster."
For the record, Guinness required the truck to be production level, meaning it is identical to what a customer can find on a Ford SVT dealer lot. Speeds must be measured over a kilometre and the record speed is derived from an average of speeds in both directions.
To meet the production vehicle requirements, a stock 2003 Ford SVT F-150 Lightning was used. Exterior modifications were limited to folding in the side mirrors and removing the radio antenna. To meet timing requirements, timing lights were set up seven-tenths of a mile apart (as certified by an independent surveyor). An in-car timer was used to measure elapsed time through the measured 0.7 mile. The elapsed time was then converted to miles per hour.
Clockwise, the fastest elapsed time was 17.03 seconds or 147.974 mph.
Counter-clockwise, the fastest elapsed time was 17.09 seconds or 147.454 mph. The average of those two runs is 147.714 mph.
For Tom Scarpello, the Guinness World Record solidifies his view that "No pickup truck on the market today can come close to matching those numbers. And, the SVT Lightning does all this and still can tow a 5,000 lb trailer and carry a 1,300 lb payload."
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