Yahoo Autos What went wrong with the Ford Bronco R prototype at the Baja 1000
There were two entries in Class 2 for the 2019 Baja 1000 – which was actually 800.5 miles long – the Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus Boot and the Ford Bronco R Prototype. Only the former crossed the line, the second-to-last vehicle of the 145 finishers, doing so just 47 seconds before the 34-hour time cutoff. The Bronco endured a wild bunch of issues in a wild edition of the Baja race, as a piece on Trucks.com explains. The site had a journo embedded in a chase truck, watching firsthand as a skunkworks project built in five months tried to celebrate the Broco's 1969 win with a 50th anniversary victory.
Part of the issue was how little time was afforded the team behind the truck. Starting in June this year, engineers with Ford Performance set up shop with Trophy Truck builders Geiser Bros Design & Development and 2018 Baja 1000 overall winner Cameron Steele to create the Bronco R Prototype. Ford said the powertrain was stock, including the EcoBoost engine, the paddle-shifted automatic transmission, transfer case, and front differential. Specialist equipment included the modified Ford T6 BOF chassis, independent suspension with custom Fox shocks providing 14 inches of travel in front, 18 inches in back through a "production-based five-link" rear unit, rear differential, race exhaust, 70-gallon fuel cell, 17-inch beadlock wheels on 37-inch tires, and the limited 105-mile-per-hour top speed.
Ford Performance off-road racing supervisor Brian Novak told Trucks.com, “The Ford production parts performed flawlessly.” Those parts apparently didn't include electrical wiring, fuses, or cooling, all of which endured problems during pre-running.
