With the Dakar over for 2014, the vehicles are slowly making their way back home. Ford’s Dakar Rally Ranger will take a brief detour from the others, and onto the stand in Switzerland for next week’s Geneva International Motor Show.
The Dakar Ranger was engineered by South Africa’s Neil Woolridge Motorsport, with technical direction from Ford’s Global Product Development Team. It’s based on the global 4x4 double-cab Ranger, but the similarities are only skin-deep. The car features a space frame chassis, fully independent front and rear long-travel suspension, permanent four-wheel drive, a six-speed sequential transmission, and a big 5.0L aluminum V8.
Motorsport has a history of being the test bed for new road-going technologies, but we seriously doubt we’ll see anything like this driving around town anytime soon. This Ranger finished 22nd overall and 7th in its class, a big achievement considering less that 45 percent of competitors actually finished.
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[via Ford]
