Maritzburg builds Ford Rangers for toughest test
SOUTH African racing fans are set to enjoy even more proud Dakar Rally moments following the announcement that Team Ford Racing will be entering two locally built Rangers in next year’s edition of the gruelling event in South America.
The V8-powered brutes will be driven by a combination of international and local talent, namely South American Lucio Alvarez and South African Chris Visser.
Alvarez and navigator Ronnie Graue will be tacking the Dakar for the fourth time, their best achievement having been a fifth place in last year. The crew were running third before mechanical problems got in the way.
Visser and navigator Japie Badenhorst will be competing in their first Dakar but the pair are seasoned offroad racers. They won the 2011 SA Cross Country Championship and are leading this year’s series.
While German-based South Racing will take care of the team’s lo- gistics, the vehicles are being built and prepared by Neil Woolridge Motorsport in Pietermaritzburg, with assistance from Ford’s global product development group.
The Dakar Ranger is powered by a 5-litre V8 Mustang engine good for 260kW and 560Nm. It’s mated to a Sadev six-speed sequential gearbox and a permanent all-wheel drive system.
Built from the ground up as a Dakar Rally machine, it has a lightweight composite body and independent suspension at both ends.
A complex cooling system and water-cooled rear brakes will help the Rangers to keep their cool in the scorching desert heat, while air conditioning will do the same for the crews.
All will be tested to the limit in January when the 35th Dakar Rally (the sixth in South America) gets under way.
The 8 500km event begins in Rosario, Argentina, on January 5 and ends in Valparaiso, Chile, on January 18.