Developed by M-Sport and Neil Woolridge Motorsport, the Ford Ranger T1+ set to tackle next year’s Dakar Rally has completed its main development phase.
M-Sport, in partnership with NWM, last year announced plans for one of the world’s toughest rallies, which resulted in an extensive development program to prepare a Ford Ranger originally conceived by South African company NWM.
The plan is to create a Ranger T1+ that can be purchased by customers. Orders are slated to open next month. M-Sport and NWM will then work with Ford Performance to develop an all-new Ranger for Ford’s full factory Dakar commitment from 2025.
The 2024 Ranger was tested in Europe, Africa and the Middle East to understand the direction of development. A total of more than 10,000 kilometers of development tests were completed – that’s the equivalent of more than two Dakar Rally distances.
The program has resulted in the Ranger’s chassis being redesigned to increase its strength and rigidity. Tailor-made dampers developed by Reiger were installed in the Ranger. The package passed the homologation test and is now being installed in the car.
“We carefully examined the chassis to find opportunities for structural improvements in terms of stiffness and durability. These changes have been made and validated through a rigorous testing program,” said Chris Williams, M-Sport Technical Director.
“To speed up our development, we wanted to turn to Reiger for the Dakar experience. Together we have developed a new damper and wishbone setup that results in an improved movement ratio and takes full advantage of Reiger’s latest damper technology, which has been specially developed for rally raids.”
“We tested the new setup in Fontjoncouse and twice in Morocco and saw significant performance improvements.
Ford Ranger Raptor for the 2024 Dakar Rally
Photo by: Ford
“One of the biggest challenges was optimizing the cooling packages on the vehicle. We have focused on simplifying and improving the efficiency of the coolers.
“Using CFD, we studied aerodynamics to understand the vehicle’s airflow and learn how best to dissipate heat at different speeds. To validate our changes, we tested them in Dubai, South Africa and Morocco, where ambient temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius.
“The next phase for the Ranger T1+ is to see how it stacks up against the competition. The main development phase is now complete, we have to prove it in the competition. From here we will compete in more relevant competitions to ensure we are fit for the 2024 Dakar Rally.”
NWM Founder Neil Woolridge added: “We appreciate the partnership with M-Sport and Ford Performance and the opportunity it creates to accelerate development of our T1+ Ranger in preparation for the 2024 Dakar Rally. This will allow us to showcase the performance’ capabilities of our car on the international stage.
“The original T1+ Ranger package was very good and our own testing and development in South Africa and our participation in the South African Rally Raid Championship have already brought significant improvements and competitiveness.”
“We look forward to seeing how the updated T1+ Ranger fares on the international rally-raid scene.”
M-Sport has not yet announced its driver roster for next year’s Dakar Rally, but an announcement is expected to be made in the coming weeks.
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