In the tough and unforgiving world of the South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC) the Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) Ford Rally-Raid Team based in Pietermaritzburg, KZN, is constantly looking to improve their performance and reliability.
Gareth Woolridge and navigator Boyd Dreyer are Overall Production Vehicle and Class SARRC champions in their Ford Ranger Ultimate (formerly T1+) and fighting to retain their status in this year’s championship, in what is considered one of the most competitive domestic rally-raid series in the world.
The partnership between Neil Woolridge Motorsport and Ford spans almost three decades with a number of local and international victories along the way.
Key to the success of the team is NWM founder and owner Neil Woolridge.
He started his career on two wheels having competed in enduro motorcycle racing for many years, including winning the South African championship in 1983 and 1984 and finishing fourth overall at the Baja 500 in Mexico in 1984 and 1985.
Having decided he wanted to try his hand at racing off-road cars he won the Natal Regional championship in a self-built car.
In 1997 he secured a deal with Mitsubishi, which was distributed locally by SAMCOR (the predecessor to Ford South Africa) at the time. This resulted in him driving a diesel-powered Pajero along with co-driver Paul Vermaak in the national championship, and then fulfilling a lifelong dream of competing in the Dakar Rally in the 1998 Paris-Granada-Dakar, with Buks Carolin as co-driver.
It’s a long and storied history that includes an upgrade to the Pajero Evo for the national series, and the Granada-Dakar Rally in 1999 with Kenny Skjoldhammer in the navigator’s seat finishing on the Class T1 podium (the second-tier category) in third, and becoming the first South Africans to complete the event in the car category.
From there they won the South African Production Vehicle championship in 2000 – for which the pair were awarded Protea Colours, making him the only person in SA to receive national colours on two and four wheels for cross country/rally-raid. In 2023 his sons Lance and Gareth were also awarded Protea Colours.
A string of successes followed after SAMCOR made way for Ford Motor Company of Southern Africa in 2000 including victories in a highly-modified Ranger with its 3.2-litre five-cylinder Duratorq TDCi engine with a customised twin-turbocharged configuration.
He retired from the sport in 2010 to focus on building and designing race bakkies.
In its first race in 2013, the all-new 5.0-litre V8-powered Ranger finished first and second overall – with 21-year-old Lance Woolridge and navigator Ward Huxtable claiming victory ahead of team-mates Chris Visser and Japie Badenhorst. At the age of 21, this made Lance the youngest driver in SA history to win a national championship rally-raid event.
NWM then set their sights on the 2014 Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile with a two-car team with assistance From Ford South Africa and its dealer network.
The Argentinian crew of Lucio Alvarez and Ronnie Graue posted a string of top 10 stage times, eventually finishing the punishing 9 300km event in 22nd place overall after damaging the car’s suspension early on in the race.
Locally, Lance and Ward powered the V8 Ranger to consecutive Class T titles in 2018 and 2019, while internationally the vehicle racked up race victories and national titles in Brazil, Poland, Portugal, Australia, Hungary, Spain and Czech Republic, along with the South American and Central Europe regional championships.
In 2021 they became one of the first teams in the world to race a modern turbo-petrol rally-raid vehicle – with Lance and co-driver Elvéne Vonk scoring a debut victory with the new T1 car, powered by Ford’s 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 EcoBoost engine.
In 2022 T1+ regulations were introduced that signalled the switch to 300mm wider cars with longer-travel suspension and hefty 37-inch tyres.
New Rally Raider for 2024
For this season the NWM Ford Ranger Ultimate (renamed from T1+) was completely redesigned to mirror the standard production Ranger and also allowed them to redevelop and optimise the aerodynamics, cooling, especially on the rear dampers, and off-road capabilities of the vehicle based on its experience in the local rally-raid series, and at international events including the 2024 Dakar Rally.
There’s a new livery as well and Shell has come on board as a primary partner.
Taking advantage of the new FIA rules for 2024, the approach and departure angles for the vehicle were also improved, making it more capable in challenging terrain. The bonnet height was lowered too, resulting in better visibility for the drivers and co-drivers.
Performance from the twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 EcoBoost engine is largely unchanged, delivering peak power of 264kW and 600Nm based on FIA regulations. They fine-tuned the engine control software for minor improvements all round, along with better control of the permitted 170km/h maximum speed and the intermediate speed restrictions that may be used within a competitive stage or on the liaison between racing sections.
On a visit to the workshop, it’s amazing to think that the SARRC Rangers are designed,built and rounded off in what is a humble workshop set-up.
There’s a small passionate and dedicated group of 20 fabricators, welders and engineers that get on with the job of building the Rangers within microns to ensure the best possible result.
There’s a number of interesting facts and specs associated with the vehicle.
The spaceframe chassis, passenger cell and integrated roll cage is manufactured in-house on a specialised chassis jig. It’s produced with aircraft-grade chromoly tubing and NWM also produces the suspension arms and all of the mounting points for the various components and bodywork.A total of 150 metres of chromoly tubing is used, 15kg of welding rods and 10kg of chassis paint.
There’s 1.8km of wiring and 110m3 of carbon fibre that’s made in South Africa used on the Ranger. The wiring harness is manufactured by MJR Technologies in Gauteng, which also supplies the high-tech Motec vehicle management system.
The body panels, doors and passenger compartment are all made of light carbon-fibre/aramid weave by Glassfibre Products & Services in Pietermaritzburg. A complete set takes 200 hours to produce, and uses 110m2 of the specialised carbon-fibre/aramid weave but only weighs 65kg.
The 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 engine is supplied by Ford Performance in the US, the 76mm diameter single dampers providing up to 350mm of wheel travel on each corner were specially designed by BOS Suspension. The compact and highly advanced six-speed sequential gearbox, as well as the steering rack, are supplied by Sadev in France. Braking is handled by Brembo brakes from Italy, using 355mm air-cooled discs all round.
Another Italian brand, Sparco, and its local distributor, MS Technic, equip the team with all of its essential safety gear including form-hugging carbon fibre seats, six-point harnesses, steering wheel, gloves, fireproof race suits and underwear.
Because of the long distances associated with offroad racing the vehicle is equipped with a 480-litre fuel cell produced by Aero Tec Laboratories in the UK – the same company that has supplied all Formula 1 teams for nearly three decades.
The big 37-inch rims fitted with specially designed BF Goodrich all-terrain rubber each weigh a hefty 48kg with two spares stored under the cabin.
Things break in racing and it takes less than two minutes to remove a damaged wheel, fit the spare and get mobile again and an entire driveshaft can be replaced by the technicians in less than eight minutes during the mandatory 30-minute service interval between race loops.
Heat is not your friend in racing and to this end 10 coolers are built into the vehicle to manage the cooling of the engine, gearbox and differentials.
The clever people at NWM Motorsport have designed the air conditioner to run off a shaft rather than a conventional system which uses the engine and as a result dilutes some of the power. It keeps the drivers cool but more importantly the heat-sensitive electronic control systems located in the cabin.
To see the proudly South African bult NWM Ford Rangers belting around off-road races around the world makes what they do incredibly special.
And to think it all comes out of a small workshop in Pietermaritzburg.