‘Built Ford Tough’ more than just a sticker on the Ranger

Long-term test vehicles come under varied forms of scrutiny in The Citizen Motoring’s care.

Editor Jaco van der Merwe, is a family man, with his wife and two daughters expertly advising him on stuff like interior comfort and luggage space.

Mark Jones is a real race car driver and he does high speed stuff with the vehicle at the Gerotek testing facility. Charl Bosch is a computer guru and he puts the vehicle’s electronic doo-dahs under a magnifying glass.

Which means that, by the time I get the test unit, everything about it has been written. So, I find a reason to take it to a motorsport event. Which, in the case of our Ford Ranger Stormtrak, turned out to be a pretty reasonable idea.

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The event I took it to was the final round of this year’s South African Cross Country Series around Parys in the Free State. And there, fighting for the year’s overall title, was another Ford Ranger – the FIA Class contender of Lance Woolridge and Elvéne Vonk.

We parked our test vehicle next to the racer, and took stock. Both have four wheels, automatic transmissions and twin turbochargers, but that is where the similarities end.

Our test vehicle’s four-cylinder, 1 996 cc bi-turbodiesel engine develops 157 kW of power at 3 750 rpm and 500 Nm of torque between 1 500 rpm and 2 000 rpm. This goes to the rear wheels via a ten-speed automatic gearbox, with the aluminium-spoked wheels dressed in 265/60 R18 rubberware.

Our Ford Ranger will seat four adults in comfort, with a huge luggage compartment, complete with electronic roller shutter door, in the back. Similar to the Ford Ranger’s biggest rival, the Toyota Hilux, the racing version is a real mean machine.

The Castrol Ford Ranger FIA racer comes with a 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbocharged EcoBoost petrol engine, that is down-tuned to 300 kW of power and 600 Nm of torque, according to strict FIA regulations. The powerplant is fitted as far to the middle of the vehicle as possible for optimum weight distribution.

The racing Ford Ranger has a compact Sadev six-speed sequential gearbox, while the entire drivetrain has been developed to be light and easy to work on.

It has symmetrical driveshafts on both axles to reduce complexity, facilitate faster replacement and reduce the number of spare parts needed on an event.

Carbon-fibre bodywork, the widest yet Ford Ranger off-road chassis, enhanced wheel placement, dual BOS dampers on all four corners and fully independent suspension rounds out the package.

All of which made the comparison between our test bakkie and the racer a bit unfair. But, driving the Ranger Stormtrak home from Parys, we reflected that the race bakkie exists to help market the roadgoing one, and racing enthusiasts should be grateful that certain manufacturers still use motorsport to sell road vehicles.

In short, the racing bakkie sends a strong message that all Rangers are Built Ford Tough.

The Ford Ranger Stormtrak 4×4 costs R831 400, which includes a six services/90 000 km service plan and four year/120 000 km warranty.

For more information on the Ford Ranger Stormtrak, click here.