Yee-haw! Listen to Ford’s Le Mans Hypercar V8 fire up for the first time

Oorah! Sounds like Cadillac and Aston Martin might have some competition in the ‘best sounding Hypercar’ stakes at Le Mans next year, because we’ve just heard Ford’s new naturally aspirated V8 fire up in situ for the first time.

Go on, have a little listen by playing that video below (although we’d advise skipping to 25 seconds in to miss the cringey NASA-style preamble).

Much like it did with its Raptor T1+ Dakar car, Ford is using the Coyote V8 as the base for its new Hypercar, but here it’s a 5.4-litre unit and connected to the spec hybrid system. Total system power is capped at 671bhp, remember, and as Ford is building to the LMDh regs it has partnered with French firm Oreca to supply its chassis.

“As I reflect on the journey to this point, I am proud of the groundwork that was laid long before the engine ever turned over in France,” said Dan Sayers, Ford Racing’s WEC Hypercar boss.

“The engine's development phase is already showing great promise on the dynos in Dearborn, where we've been pushing the limits of its performance and durability — and learning a lot at the same time.

“That dyno work, combined with parallel progress on the chassis side with Oreca, has now converged into a complete package ready for its next phase. The firing of the engine at Oreca is more than a symbolic moment. It's a critical validation step.”

Next up for Ford will be a “comprehensive track testing schedule” which begins in August on circuits throughout Europe. That’s when its six factory drivers – Logan Sargeant, Mike Rockenfeller, Sebastian Priaulx, Matt Campbell, Nick Yelloly and Tom Blomqvist – will experience the car for the very first time.

And yeah, if this noise is anything to go by, it should be quite some experience…