As Ford Authority reported last July, the historic Huayra Pronello-Ford racer designed by Heriberto Pronello back in 1969 for the Ford Sports-Prototype team in Argentina was treated to some wind tunnel testing ahead of its arrival at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This ground-breaking machine was driven by Formula 1 pilot Carlos Reutemann at one point, and found some success in that country’s Sports-Prototype series, as it wound up either qualifying for and racing in almost all of the Turismo Carretera events. The Huayra Pronello-Ford was later discovered and purchased by the current owner, Ricardo Zeziola, in 2005, after which he treated it to a full-blown restoration with help from Pronello himself. Now, Ford has rightfully paid tribute to its creator, too.
Still turning heads today and famous for its aerodynamic prowess, the Huayra Pronello-Ford racer is still a ground-breaking machine to this day, and as such, Ford Argentina decided to invite its creator to the Pacheco Assembly plant for a special ceremony honoring both Pronello and the race car itself.
Aside from its aerodynamic body, the Huayra Pronello-Ford racer is also known for its many other interesting features including a tube chassis, fiberglass body, and a 292 cubic-inch V8 taken from a Ford F-100 pickup. That powerplant – otherwise known as “292 Phase 1” – was fitted with four Weber carburetors and a flat crankshaft, which helped it produce an impressive-for-the-time 430 horsepower, propelling it to 320 kilometers-per-hour (199 miles-per-hour).
Much of that performance stemmed from the prototype’s low drag coefficient of 0.22, however, which is still an impressive figure to this day. It also inspired the car’s nickname – “Huayra” – which means “Wind” in Quechua and was adopted by Pronello after verifying those figures in wind tunnel testing. Now, decades later, this special machine is back in the news, and it’s doing so after earning the title of “new favorite car” at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it quickly became a fan favorite.
We’ll have on the Huayra Pronello-Ford racer soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for 24/7 Ford news coverage.
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