The 2023 Ford Ranger Raptor has lost its license plate for a motorsport version we'll see in action later this month at the Baja 1000. Touted as being one of the most challenging off-road races out there, the event will take place on the Baja California Peninsula where the Blue Oval raced the F-150 Raptor and Bronco R in recent years. Lest we forget that back in 1969, the classic Bronco driven by Rod Hall and Larry Minor took the overall win.
The new performance truck will run on Shell fuel with more than 30 percent of its composition being sustainably sourced from bio components such as vegetable oils along with other organic waste. The Baja-ready Ranger Raptor has been engineered to meet the requirements of the stock class and has been fitted with a large snorkel and extra LED lighting front and rear.
Other mods include two-inch wider wheel arches, Method Racing wheels with meaty BFGoodrich off-road tires, a bull bar, and a three-inch suspension lift. You'll also notice the roll cage inside while the two spare wheels and jack are located in the bed where the tailgate has been removed.
Initial testing took place in the Australian outback before the final evaluations were conducted in Johnson Valley, California. While the previous-generation Ranger Raptor was powered by a bi-turbodiesel four-cylinder engine, its replacement has made the switch to a larger 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6. This time around, the high-performance midsize truck will be coming to North America where it's scheduled to go on sale later in 2022.
Before arriving in the US, the Ranger Raptor will compete at the 49th annual edition of the grueling Baja 1000 desert race in Mexico between November 18 and 20. We'll remind you the road-going truck even has a dedicated Baja mode, so it should be up to the task. The motorsport version has been conceived by Ford Performance in collaboration with Australia's Kelly Racing and US-based Lovell Racing.
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