Ford Ranger does the locomotion
When you want to shift a 160 tonne locomotive, the all-new Ford Ranger will do the trick, as the car company showed in this audacious stuntFord Australia spruiked the robustness of its upcoming light commercial vehicle, the Ranger ute, by towing an almost 60-year-old R711 train.
The Ford Ranger Double Cab ute used for the trial was powered by a 3.2-litre turbodiesel inline five-cylinder 147kW/470Nm engine, engaging its low-range four-wheel drive mode to tow the massive 160 tonne train.
While most buyers won't have the need to tow 160,000 kilograms of mass, the Ford Ranger has an official towing capacity of "more than 3000kg" when it arrives in Australia at the end of 2011.
For the record, the Ford Ranger was driving on an unsealed surface and "was not modified in any way for the challenge" claims Ford Australia. The impressive feat was undertaken at the Newport Workshops near Werribee in Victoria, and the particular R711 unit being towed was the Spirit of Bendigo.
The next generation Ford Ranger will be offered with a number technological systems designed to take the stress and hassle out of towing and load lugging, systems such as 'Trailer Sway Mitigation' and 'Adaptive Load Control'.
Ford Australia's vehicle integration supervisor Roger Lewis, revealed that the 160 tonne R711 train is usually shunted by a T-class diesel-electric locomotive, itself a 70 tonne monster, one that develops more than 700kW of power and "heaps and heaps of torque".
"So if you don't have a T-class," said one train buff who was watching in awe, "you can always use the all-new Ranger."
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