Inside Ford's Intensive Mustang Mach-E Rally Testing & Development

[averyintucson]

Most rally races are fairly smooth dirt roads so lots of clearance and travel are not necessary...

On a trail difficulty rating scale of 1 to 10 at this web page, a rally dirt road would be a 1 or 2, maybe a 3, which is "very easy" to "mostly easy". Driving slow, the MME Rally should be able to handle a 4, "Moderate to Easy". I would want additional lift and larger all-terrain tires for trails more difficult than this. For example, the Subaru Forester Wilderness Edition has 9.5 inches of ground clearance which should be good up to a 6, "Moderate", trail, maybe a 7, "Moderately difficult", in a group with recovery equipment. I will stipulate that a rally is more about speed than trail difficulty, but my personal interest is more about trail difficulty than speed.

https://azoffroad.net/trail-ratings

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[User100723]

Not pictured... The Rally running off the road in to the bushes...

And several pictures show the front grill shutters misaligned with each other. I've seen what mud can do Raptor's with grill shutters and the mud always wins!

Waaait a second, those aren’t the rally wheels, are they? Looks more like the Select or GT wheels.

 

[ChasingCoral]

Stock Mach-E has about 5.7" of ground clearance before the 1" lift with the Rally. This factory WRC car from Subaru has 5.5" of ground clearance...

Most rally races are fairly smooth dirt roads so lots of clearance and travel are not necessary...

Yes but they added an inch to the GT height, not the base model. GT is 5.1, GTPE 5.2. Since it has Magnaride, it sounds like the Rally is 6.2"

 

[4sallypat]

.... sounds like the Rally is 6.2"

Mine currently has about 7.5" ground clearance after getting the Eibach lift springs..

Wonder if I can get the set of Rally shocks to complement my lifted Mach E ?

 

[HuntingPudel]

Mine currently has about 7.5" ground clearance after getting the Eibach lift springs..

Wonder if I can get the set of Rally shocks to complement my lifted Mach E ?

Not without converting to Magneride, since the Rally has a modified Magneride system. ??

 

[Trick.Mach-E]

On a trail difficulty rating scale of 1 to 10 at this web page, a rally dirt road would be a 1 or 2, maybe a 3, which is "very easy" to "mostly easy". Driving slow, the MME Rally should be able to handle a 4, "Moderate to Easy". I would want additional lift and larger all-terrain tires for trails more difficult than this. For example, the Subaru Forester Wilderness Edition has 9.5 inches of ground clearance which should be good up to a 6, "Moderate", trail, maybe a 7, "Moderately difficult", in a group with recovery equipment. I will stipulate that a rally is more about speed than trail difficulty, but my personal interest is more about trail difficulty than speed.

https://azoffroad.net/trail-ratings

I like rally racing. Especially the old school Group B racing. And as great as the Group B cars were they could never do what a modern Trophy Truck can do off-road...

 

[Mach1E]

“
To answer that question, they took a hand-me-down Mach-E GT, added some wheels and off-road tires, and headed up to Ford’s Michigan Proving Grounds to see if it could handle some laps in the dirt.

Their verdict? A resounding yes.
“

When they lie to us, we don’t trust them.

This is as bad as the original GT video “so fast it made me sick.”

We know you can’t take a 2022 Mach E GT, change the wheels and tires, and “handle some laps.”

The power reduction means after the first lap you would slow to a crawl. Or you could be “slow all the time” with unbridle extend.

No chance any driver would take that car around a track and give a “resounding yes.”

We do know they fixed the 1/4 mile problem for 2024. Will be interesting to see how a 2024 GT and Rally “handle some laps.”

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

Drive testing, informed by the rallycross experience of the Ford team, included a brand new 500-combined mile torture test at Ford’s Michigan Proving Grounds – designed to put Mustang Mach-E Rally SUV through the equivalent of 10 years of monthly rallycross racing. Rallycross driving entails tight turns through dirt tracks, a great environment for Mustang Mach-E Rally.

500 miles / 10 years of 12 monthly runs = 500/120 = 4.17 miles/month. Dang those rallies are short!

Will be interesting to see how a 2024 GT and Rally “handle some laps.”

It looks like I coincidently answered your (implied) question...

 

[ack154]

500 miles / 10 years of 12 monthly runs = 500/120 = 4.17 miles/month. Dang those rallies are short!


It looks like I coincidently answered your (implied) question...

They're talking about rallycross - which is not the same thing as a stage rally. Rallycross is a bit more like an autocross but on dirt. Though in Europe, rallycross is actually wheel to wheel (and amazing).

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

They're talking about rallycross - which is not the same thing as a stage rally. Rallycross is a bit more like an autocross but on dirt. Though in Europe, rallycross is actually wheel to wheel (and amazing).

And the races are only four miles long?

 

[ack154]

And the races are only four miles long?

Usually a bit less than that. A course might be half a mile or so (sometimes more some times less) but you get a number of runs (laps) at it throughout the day to get your best time (to probably add up to that ~4 miles). It's kind of a short time attack on dirt.

 

[ack154]

If anyone's curious, Top Gear did some budget euro rallycross a while back. It looks amazing.

Part 1:
Part 2:

 

[Snakebitten]

Awesome videos.
That was fun to watch

 

[mkhuffman]

And several pictures show the front grill shutters misaligned with each other. I've seen what mud can do Raptor's with grill shutters and the mud always wins!

I noticed the same thing.

 

[Wallie]

Waaait a second, those aren’t the rally wheels, are they? Looks more like the Select or GT wheels.

GT wheels ?

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