The 2023 Ford Ranger Raptor has lost its license plate for the motorsport version we’ll see in action later this month in the Baja 1000. Billed as one of the most challenging off-road races out there, the event will take place on the Baja California Peninsula where the Blue Oval is located. raced the F-150 Raptor and Bronco R in recent years. Let us not forget that in 1969, the classic Bronco driven by Rod Hall and Larry Minor took the overall victory.
The new performance truck will run on Shell fuel with more than 30 percent of its composition sustainably sourced from bio-components such as vegetable oils along with other organic wastes. The Steel-ready Ranger Raptor has been engineered to meet stock grade requirements and has been equipped with a large snorkel and additional LED lighting front and rear.
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Other modifications include two-inch wider wheel arches, Method Racing wheels with beefy BFGoodrich off-road tires, bull rods, and a three-inch suspension lift. You’ll also notice the cage rolls inside while the two spare wheels and jack sit on the bed where the tailgate has been removed.
Initial testing was conducted in the Australian outback before final evaluations were conducted in Johnson Valley, California. While the previous-generation Ranger Raptor was powered by a bi-turbodiesel four-cylinder engine, its replacement has gone to the larger 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6. This time, the high-performance medium truck is coming to North America where it is scheduled to go on sale in 2022.
Before arriving in the US, the Ranger Raptor will compete at 49th the annual edition of the grueling Baja 1000 desert race in Mexico between November 18 and 20. We’ll remind you that highway trucks even have a special Baja mode, so it should be up to the task. The motorsport version has been conceived by Ford Performance in collaboration with Australia’s Kelly Racing and US-based Lovell Racing.
