It may look like a mere styling update, but the new Ford Ranger “Ultimate” rally-raid cars are more capable than ever, thanks to a host of technical refinements and a slew of new sponsors.
The partnership between Ford SA and Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) goes back more than two decades and reached a new apex in 2023, with Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer winning the SA Rally-Raid Championship. The NWM Ford team won’t mess about too much with their winning recipe, but nonetheless recently revealed a new car for the 2024 season.
Thanks to the rule changes which brought the SA Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC) in line with FIA regulations, the NWM engineers grabbed the opportunity to advance the abilities of their new race car by redesigning some key elements. The newly re-christened Ford Ranger “Ultimate” builds on the old car’s strengths and addresses some areas of concern, and should be even more formidable as a result.
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It’s all about keeping cool
Extensive aerodynamic analysis highlighted some problem areas with the airflow around the old Ranger T1+ racer, which caused some key systems to operate at much higher than ideal temperatures. The main bugbear was the rear shock absorbers, which used to overheat towards the end of long stages.
This affected their damping capability, and may have contributed to Lance Woolridge’s terrifying end-over-end roll in Stage 7 of the 2024 Dakar rally. To solve this problem, the new car’s body tapers inwards earlier and more sharply than before, and dedicated ducts channel cooling air onto the rear shocks and brakes.
Another aerodynamic issue was found between the rear wheels, where the old car’s shape created severe turbulence downstream of the rear-mounted radiator. This obviously affected the engine’s cooling system, but also added to the heat load on the rear differential. The new car’s reshaped rear end will eliminate this issue, and consequently boost reliability and the ability to withstand the extreme conditions to which these vehicles are subjected.
A new face allows for improved off-road angles
While the new car is styled to resemble the new-generation Ranger, there’s more at play than just cosmetic updates. The new-style grille increases the airflow into the engine compartment, which allowed the engineers to move the intercooler and oil coolers higher in the new car’s nose, keeping these vulnerable components safely out of harm’s way.
Combined with the “Ultimate” class’s requirement that the tyres only need to be hidden when viewed from above, the new front end design and relocated heat exchangers yield massive gains in the car’s approach angle. The same rule also means that the designers could remove almost all the shrouding around both the front- and rear wheels, yielding further benefits in cooling air flow over the brakes and dampers.
The same EcoBoost V6 lives in front
With the FIA regulations pertaining to its competition class still restricting the 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6’s output to only 265 kW, the headline outputs remain unchanged from last year. Some fine tuning did liberate some more mid-range torque and sharpened the engine’s throttle response, though, even if the improvements aren’t as dramatic as those wrought by the new body design.
The rest of its mechanical make-up remains likewise unchanged, and the team’s efforts elsewhere mainly resulted in further reinforcements for the underbody protection plates. These beefier plates are now also divided into separately-removable segments, to make servicing and repairs quicker and easier than before.
New sponsorships
While Ford Credit, Mastercraft, and Wurth remain with the team as secondary sponsors, 2024 sees the petro-chemical giant Shell joining the team as its new primary sponsor. This sponsorship brings redesigned exterior graphics and colours to the new cars, with the Shell logo featuring prominently in the new design.
The 2024 NWM Ford Rangers are also supported by bearing- and CV-joint manufacturer NTN Corporation, and Veldskoen becomes the team’s official footwear partner. Other technical partners include Brembo, Motorcraft, Ironman 4x4, Shatterprufe, and Tiger Wheel & Tyre.
The 2024 SARRC kicks off in Mpumalanga, with the Nkomazi 400 on 19 and 20 April. The two Woolridge-driven Rangers will be joined by another identical Ranger, driven by the privateer team of Wors Prinsloo and Andre Vermeulen. This year’s season will comprise 7 rounds, and will end on 9 November with the Gauteng 400 near Rayton.
Martin Pretorius
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