Many automakers want customers to know that the innovations and technologies they hone on the race track trickle down into their road cars. For years, Ford Performance produced high-output vehicles, such as the EcoBoost-powered GT supercar, the dune-bashing F-150 Raptor, and the Nürburgring-scorching Mustang GTD, which shared mechanical DNA with their racing counterparts. To make it absolutely, undeniably clear that its street vehicles are developed alongside its racing machines, The Blue Oval has renamed the division to Ford Racing.
As Bill Ford, Ford Racing’s general manager, puts it in a press release, “This is not a marketing exercise. This is a promise. It signals a new, more focused mission to tear down the wall between our race teams and the engineering of the vehicles you drive every day on and off road.”
According to its website, Ford motorsports teams “compete across 20+ series in 143 cities and 28 countries spanning six continents, for 47 weekends every year.” Those competitions include drag racing, drifting, stock car and off-road racing, and more. The Mustang even has its own one-make racing series. In the future, Ford will duke it out in F1, the Dakar Rally, the Rolex 24 at Daytona, Bathurst, and Le Mans.
What kind of consumer cars, trucks, and SUVs will this renewed focus lead to? We don’t have to wait long to find out as the first production vehicle of the Ford Racing era will debut in January 2026.
