Optimised aerodynamics and improved off-road clearances should ensure even greater capability for the latest NWM Ford Ranger off-road racer. And, with fresh sponsors on board, the team is ready to defend its championship in the local series before heading off to give Dakar another go.
When the 2024 South African Rally-Raid Championship kicks off in Mpumalanga this weekend, defending champions Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer will pilot the latest racing Rangers in the “Ultimate” (formerly T1+) class. Joining them will be NWM team mates Lance Woolridge and Kenny Gilbert, with the privateers Wors Prinsloo and Andre Vermeulen in a third, identical car making up a Ranger Ultimate triumvirate.
Although the new Ranger “Ultimate” is based on last year’s successful T1+ cars, enough tweaks have been applied to qualify the latest vehicles as all-new. The changes to the latest rally-raid Ranger amount to much more than mere cosmetics, and aim to give make the lives of their drivers as well as their mechanical bits a bit easier, thanks to improved cooling and increased off-road clearances.
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New rules allow generous wheel travel and improved angles
Various rule changes set the new Ultimate class apart from its T1+ predecessor, and these rule changes are employed to great effect in the new racing Ranger. Specifically, the provision that the tyres only have to be fully covered in a plan view but not from the front, side or rear views of the car is put to good use.
To comply with this requirement, the fenders are wider than ever to cover the wheels from above, but are almost non-existent fore and aft of the tyres. This allows extra wheel travel (an impressive 350 mm) and improved cooling of the brakes and shock absorbers.
To strengthen its visual continuity with the latest production Rangers, the racing Ranger’s front end is styled to look like the new-generation model. Consequently, it features a much larger grille section than before, which allowed the engineers more leeway to relocate critical cooling system components higher-up on the truck’s front end.
This change puts these expensive and vulnerable items further out of harm’s way, and liberates extra space below the grille area for reinforced protection plates. A fortunate side-effect of this change is a greatly increased front approach angle, which should allow the drivers to tackle sharp incline changes with even greater confidence.
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Keeping cool
Another priority with the new racing Ranger was improving the consistency of the rear shock absorbers over an entire rally stage (which will be at least 240 gruelling km or even stretch past 600 km in some rallies). The NWM engineers discovered that the rear shock absorbers tended to overheat and lose efficiency towards the end of a long stage, which may have contributed to Lance Woolridge’s spectacular end-over-end roll in Stage 7 of the 2024 Dakar Rally.
To combat this, the rear end of the cabin tapers inward much more sharply than before, while the wide-open fenders and dedicated new ducts now channel cooling air over the rear shocks. Aerodynamic analysis also showed an area of intense turbulence between the rear wheels, which adversely affected the air flow over the rear-mounted radiator assembly.
The reshaped rear end addresses both of these issues, and will have the rear shocks, engine, and rear differential shedding their heat loads much more effectively than before. Less aerodynamic drag will be the happy bonus.
Ford Ranger Ultimate engine
The one thing which carries over largely unchanged is the drivetrain. Rated output from the 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 engine remains capped at 265 kW per FIA regulations, but some fine tuning is said to have given it a bit mid-range torque and more linear throttle response. Such a moderate specific power output is likely part of the reason for the racing Ranger’s reliability - 75 kW per litre is far less than this engine can durably produce in other applications.
The same over-engineering applies to the rest of the drivetrain, with the differentials on Gareth’s car deserving an honorable mention for not needing any attention at all during the 2024 Dakar - spectacular roll and all! The only improvement in this area revolves around the underbody protection plates getting even more reinforcement than they had before, and are now of segmented design to simplify servicing and repairs.
New sponsorships
Motorsport is very expensive, so it’s always handy to have sponsors with big bags of money on board. It would be just as helpful if said sponsors also have loads of experience in providing lubricants and fuel in top-level motorsport, so landing a primary sponsorship from Shell is a huge bonus to the NWM Ford Rally-Raid team. The new principal sponsor also means new livery for the race cars, and the distinctive Shell logos and colours are now splashed around on the two NWM Fords with considerable enthusiasm.
Other new sponsors have also come on board, with the new additions for 2024 being bearing- and CV joint manufacturer NTN, and Veldskoen as the team’s official footwear sponsor. They join an established group of sponsors which already include Ford Credit, Mastercraft, Wurth, Brembo, Motorcraft, Ironman 4x4, Shatterprufe, and Tiger Wheel & Tyre.
The 2024 South African Rally-Raid Championship kicks off this weekend, with the Nkomazi 400 race due to be held in Malelane, Mpumalanga on 19 and 20 April 2024. Five more events (giving six more races) will make up the rest of this formula’s racing season, ending with the Gauteng 400 on 8 and 9 November. After that last event, the cars will be prepared, packed and shipped to the Middle East, to be in time for the next Dakar Rally.
Martin Pretorius
- Proudly CHANGECARS
