Honda Ridgeline Baja Race Truck Completes First Baja 1000
Just weeks after its debut at SEMA, the Honda Ridgeline Baja Race Truck has completed its first-ever Baja 1000 race. Driven by the trio of Jeff Proctor, Sage Marie, and Jason LaFortune, the off-road racing truck notched a Class 2 victory at this weekend’s 48th running of the SCORE Baja 1000.
This year’s brutal Baja event consisted of an 821-mile looped course that began and ended in Ensenada, Mexico, and consisted of the usual challenges of high-speed desert crossings, rocky mountain trails, silt beds, ditches, and jumps. Of the 239 competitors that took on the challenge, less than half of them made it across the finish line, and among their ranks was the Ridgeline Baja Race Truck, which completed the event in 25 hours, nine minutes, and 47 seconds.
“The course was extremely tough today, and it seemed like Baja threw everything it could at us, but the Ridgeline ran flawlessly all day,” said Proctor. “We couldn’t be happier with how it performed on its maiden voyage.”
The Ridgeline Baja Race Truck combines a 550-horsepower twin-turbocharged V6 produced by Honda Performance Development with a body designed by Honda R&D’s Los Angeles Design Studio.
Even pickup enthusiasts who don’t follow off-road truck racing too closely should pay attention to the Ridgeline Baja Race Truck, since Honda says that its design previews the look of the upcoming second-generation Honda Ridgeline. According to the automaker, “key design cues” taken from the 2017 Ridgeline can be seen in the Baja Race Truck’s front fascia, hood, roof, bed, and side profile.
Additionally, the racing truck’s 3.5-liter HR35TT engine uses the same block, cylinder heads, and crankshaft as the V6 engine that will eventually appear in the production model.
Expect, among other things, a more subdued paint job, though.
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