Ranger Raptor readies for punishing Baja 1000

FORD Australia has assisted the US-based global Ford Performance motorsport division to create an Australian-built, race-prepared Ranger Raptor for the 2022 Baja 1000 endurance event on November 18.

Its 292kW/583Nm 3.0-litre twin turbo V6 runs on a biofuel blend, with a minimum RON octane rating of 98 but otherwise uses standard Ranger Raptor mechanicals with some modifications to suit the demands of desert racing.

Although Ford Australia hinted at potential Raptor-based factory motorsport efforts during its local launch, the Baja news came out of the blue and demonstrates how the Aussie arm of Ford is capable of diversifying its motorsport efforts into off-road desert racing, at the very top of the scale.

In order to provide the race-ready vehicle for competition in a couple of weeks since the Ranger Raptor was officially launched, Ford Australia has clearly been working on the race vehicle for some time.

The SCORE (Southern California Off Road Enthusiasts) International Baja 1000 is one of the toughest off-road races in the world which demands a vehicle be properly set-up.

Ford Performance dictated that the Ranger Raptor Baja vehicle will be racing on a low-carbon biofuel, with the desire to demonstrate the potential of these fuels in the most demanding environments.

Australia’s Kelly Racing worked with Ford Performance to build the Baja-ready Ranger Raptor in conjunction with US-based Lovell Racing to develop and race the truck at Baja.

Lovell Racing, one of Ford Performance’s key off-road teams, is headed up by multiple off-road champion and Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Famer, Brad Lovell.

Ford said the Ranger was selected for race-car prep because it has long been a global icon for the company.

The vehicle in these images was built and tested in Australia before being sent over to the United States for final development and testing before the desert endurance race. 

“By entering this event, we’re building on the hundreds of thousands of kilometres of development testing and pushing the Ranger Raptor to new extremes,” said Ford Performance off-road motorsports supervisor Brian Novak.

“The Baja 1000 is a demanding event and a well-known proving ground for off-road vehicles,” he added.

“We are excited to compete in this extreme event with Ranger Raptor.”

The Baja 1000, held on the Baja California peninsula in Mexico, is considered one of the world’s most prestigious off-road races, attracting competitors from around the globe eager to take on its vast treacherous desert terrain, steep drops and tough climbs.

In the past, both the Ford F-150 Raptor and Bronco have successfully raced at Baja.

Notable achievements include a Ford Bronco becoming the first four-wheel drive production vehicle to win the Baja 1000 outright, a stock F-150 Raptor that achieved a podium finish in 2017 before driving 650km home and more recently, development of the current production Bronco through the Bronco R race prototype in 2020.

Ford Performance believes the Ranger Raptor is up for the challenge of Baja 1000 and has built its entrant to the rules of the event’s stock class that is designed to demonstrate the capability of production off-roaders..

The use of a “low carbon” biofuel blend from Shell, said to contain more than 30 per cent sustainably sourced ingredients, is intended to “help bring biofuels and other clean energy technologies to scale more quickly, and help to make them more available and affordable for everyone,” according to Ford global director of sustainability, compliance and homologation Cynthia Williams.

Alternative fuels such as the biofuel blend used in this racing Ranger Raptor can reduce greenhouse emissions compared to conventional fuel equivalents on a well-to-wheel basis, which includes emissions both producing and burning the fuel.

Ford has set a target of becoming carbon neutral across all its vehicles, operations and supply chain globally by 2050 and to reach science-based interim carbon targets by 2035.