Racing

The 2017 Honda Ridgeline Scores A Win At The Baja 1000

by Frédérick Boucher-Gaulin
Honda Ridgeline Baja 1000
Photo: Honda

Earlier this year at SEMA, Honda showed us what its new Ridgeline would look like by unveiling a trophy truck. Under a skin that was inspired by the production-ready Ridgeline, the race vehicle that was shown has little to do with the vehicle you will be able to buy in a dealership. It's built on a tubular chassis, features fiberglass panels and its 3.5-litre V6 shares only its block, crankshaft and heads with the stock unit. For more power, the engine has been fitted with a pair of turbochargers, and now produces 550 horsepower.

Honda announced that it would enter the trophy truck in the legendary Baja 1000. In a recent press release, we learned not only that the truck completed the race, but that it actually won in Class 2, a class that included... no one else.

To complete the Baja 1000, the Ridgeline took 25 hours, 9 minutes and 47 seconds, about 10 hours more than the overall winner.

While the ''class win'' announcement may sound like an empty brag, it is still worth something: the Baja 1000 is one of the hardest automotive races on the planet, and the simple fact that the Ridgeline made it to the finish line is a testament to the quality of its components. 

Share on Facebook
GalleryNews, reviews, videosHonda dealersUsed vehiclesHonda

More on the subject

SEMAA Honda Pickup For SEMA
Honda recently mentioned that they were working on a new Ridgeline; in case you don’t remember it, this vehicle was essentially a Pilot that had its rear cargo area replaced with a pickup bed. For the 2015 SEMA Show, Honda decided to hit two birds with one stone: not only …
NewsHonda Will Race The Baja 1000 With An All-New V6
For a manufacturer, one of the best ways to try out new technologies (or prove that the current ones are good enough!) is to enter a vehicle in a race. Whether it’s Formula 1, endurance racing or rallying, there are various ways of testing out your tech. One of the …
First Drives2016 Honda Pilot: No Chip On Its Shoulder
After several years on the market, the Honda Pilot was starting to lose its competitive edge. Very few technical or esthetic modifications were made to the hefty SUV in six years. Its boxy shape had become outdated and it had fallen way behind on the technological front. In fact, many …
First Drives2017 Honda Ridgeline: The Most SUV-ish of Pickups
The Ridgeline can be seen as a niche product. The automaker never sold many of them, but this weird-looking pickup truck succeeded in creating a circle of tightly knit enthusiasts, which is asking for more. That’s the main reason behind Honda’s decision to go ahead and develop a second-generation model.