MOTORSPORT: Ford Ranger Raptor wins production class at Finke

Ford has taken out the Production 4WD category of the gruelling 2023 Finke Desert Race in a near-standard Ford Ranger Raptor.

The number 773 Ranger Raptor, driven by American father and son duo Brad and Byam Lovell, finished first in its class and 73rd outright in a field of more than 100 cars, dozens of which didn’t finish Australia’s toughest and best-known off-road race.

The Northern Territory’s two-day, 446km off-road enduro was again won by Aussie Dakar Rally star Toby Price in his V8-powered US trophy truck – one of many cars designed specifically for off-road racing – making it his ninth win at Finke, including six on a motorcycle and three on four wheels.

Price’s time of three hours, 21 minutes and 46.6 seconds – set between Alice Springs and Finke, then back again on Monday – was just 0.4sec slower than the record time he set in 2022, but six minutes clear of his nearest for outright honours.

As usual, this year’s Finke Desert Race was dominated by purpose-built off-road racers – including trophy trucks, side-by-sides and buggies – each of which has long-travel race suspension designed to deal with the Finke challenges.

The Raptor fell tantalisingly short of setting a course record for the Production 4WD class. Its combined time across the two days was five hours, 56 minutes and 30.168 seconds versus the 5:51:37.48 record set in 2009 by Geoff Pickering in a Mitsubishi Pajero.

However, the Raptor managed to set a class record time for the 226km return leg from the tiny outback community of Finke to Alice Springs, with a time of 2:51:18.711 beating the 2009 Production 4WD time by more than five minutes.

However, the day one time set by the Raptor was slower – at 3:05:11.457 – due to three unscheduled stops totalling almost 12 minutes to tighten and check a bolt on the Watts linkage suspension.

The Raptor’s only two rivals – a Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series and Mitsubishi Triton – both failed to finish day one.

Ford driver Brad Lovell was surprised by the punishing Finke course, which is renowned for its unrelenting and severe ‘whoops’.

“Coming into this I thought it was a fast rally race with some little whoops,” he said after the race. “Seeing it torn up now this is like San Felipe, Baja woops. Great time, a lot of variation there. It took it, super-tough truck, we charged hard at the end there.”

He added that the suspension copped a punishing across the outback event.

“I don’t know how many suspension cycles there are per mile, but it’s got to be a record!”

The Raptor was mostly standard other than some minor changes.

Safety systems, of course, had to comply with regulations, including the fitment of a roll cage, race seats and required communication systems.

The race Raptor also had a louder exhaust, 150-litre long-range fuel tank, lightweight plastic rear side windows, a larger aluminium undertray for added protection, wider and taller-profile BFGoodrich tyres fitted on lightweight alloy wheels, and revised valving for the dampers.

But the suspension system was the same unit that comes on the high-performance ute that sells from $86,790 plus on-road costs.

Engineers tweaked the valving to account for the additional weight of the prepped race vehicle. But it used the same Fox Live Valve shock absorbers and electronic controls that are fitted standard to showroom Raptors.

The car that won its category in Finke has had a tough life, starting with being thrashed around an off-road course by media, before being prepared for the Baja 1000 in Mexico last November, when it took out its class.

As we’ve also reported, the Ford Ranger Raptor is now expected to take on the Dakar Rally and could even be offered to customers as a turnkey rally racer.

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