FORD BRONCO R PROTOTYPE FINALLY FINISHES THE BAJA 1000

STORY BY: SHAUN OCHSNER PHOTOS: COURTESY OF FORD

It is the second attempt for the Ford Bronco R Prototype. The vehicle debuted in 2019 with just a month to prepare for the Baja 1000. The team led a valiant effort. A ton of issues plagued the team in 2019 including a busted control arm, broken skid plate and cooling issues more than halfway into the race. The team reluctantly called it quits vowing to return in 2020. Ford vowed to test the vehicle and improve upon what they learned.

The same driver line-up of Cameron Steele, Shelby Hall and co-drivers Johnny Campbell, Curt LeDuc and Jason Scherer were back to conquer one of the toughest courses in Baja.

“When Bronco returned, we said it would follow the legacy of the first-generation Broncos that forever changed the off-road landscape.” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance motorsports.

BRONCO MANIA The Bronco R Prototype is powered by Ford’s fully stock 2.7-liter Eco boost engine and Ford 10-speed SelectShift automatic transmission. This same package will be available on the recently announced 2021 Ford Bronco available to the public next summer. The Bronco R race prototype serves as a testbed for the Bronco Build Wild Extreme Testing durability regimen. Engineers are fine tuning the final Baja Mode calibrations for the Terrain Management System on the production versions. The first-generation Broncos claimed 5 Baja class wins in the 60’s and 70’s. Late model Broncos then continued the winning legacy with nine wins. The Bronco R Race Prototype finished this year’s SCORE Baja 1000 in just over 32 hours. Ford also had a preproduction two-door Outer Banks series Bronco with the Sasquatch off-road package to test in the Baja

Mexico desert.