Ford has released images of the Bronco R race prototype that has debuted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Rod Hall’s historic Baja 1000 overall 4×4 victory in 1969. No other 4×4 truck has duplicated that feat. To celebrate, the Bronco R prototype is wearing a livery inspired by Hall’s 1969 race truck. The best news is that Ford says the Ford Bronco R race prototype hints at the production Bronco we can expect to debut next spring.
The Bronco R will race the Baja 1,000 later this month to tackle the grueling and legendary off-road race. Bronco R was developed by Ford Performance in collaboration with Geiser Bros Design and Development, and Baja 1000 Trophy Truck champ Cameron Steel. The race truck has both heritage-inspired design and proportion hints of what the Bronco will show next spring, according to Ford.
While the Bronco R hints at the production Bronco to come, the race truck is a one-off build. The build team focused on creating a race-ready look with heritage cues. The truck has a compressed body height and long-travel suspension. The body is made of composite and has a clamshell hood and roof and body panels meant to remind of the 1966 to 1977 Bronco models of the first-gen of the iconic off-roader.
Inside the race truck are lightweight off-road racing shells from Recaro for all three seating positions. The surfaces of the instrument panel are meant to be a nod to the first-gen Bronco. The truck has a MoTeC data acquisition system for real-time monitoring.
The race prototype is built on a modified Ford T6 architecture that will provide the base for the production model. It has 14 inches of suspension travel, 17-inch beadlock-capable wheels, and 37-inch BFGoodrich tires. The best part is that the Bronco R has the retro design cues that fans were praying the production Bronco would offer.
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Comments
Smoking!!!
The all new Bronco just in time to dust the Chevy Blazer and the BADEST, the Shelby GT 500 ready to take on the mid engine Corvette, or even The BMW M5. Remarkable, well done Ford!!!
Scared me…I saw the 2069 on the side and thought it was delayed again!
awesome! where can we watch the event (online/tv)? STPR off road rally racing happens up in my neck of the woods, the only way to see it is to get out there to the state forests, and walk a few miles to the spectator areas. I would love to see race trucks like that tear it up
Big question I have is will they put the Coyote in it????
in the baja version? maybe. In street production model, i doubt it. Definitely coming in a 4 cyclinder. Good chance might have a v6 option. Im hoping for a turbo v6 diesel but it probably wont happen. if you want a v8, you’re probably going to have to buy a crate engine and put it in yourself. a supercharged 5.0L small block coyote v8 costs $30k on CJ pony parts if you are interested.