Ford Ranger power doubled with racing edition
While Australia is used to V8 power in our racing utes, Thailand does things differently by winding up turbo-diesels.
We’ve seen just about every iteration of the Ford Ranger that’s possible, but nothing can match what those in its home market of Thailand do.
Ahead of this weekend’s 2026 Bangsaen Grand Prix around the coastal streets of west Thailand, Ford has detailed its entries in the locally popular but otherwise obscure Super Pickup championship.
With competition from the likes of the Isuzu D-Max and Toyota HiLux – both of which are also popular in Australia, but made and top-sellers in Thailand – Ford Thailand Racing (FTR) has taken the Ranger ute to the next level, all while using the Australian-developed and engineered T6 platform.
Based on the Ranger single-cab, the turbo-diesel 3.0-litre V6 in Australia’s best-selling vehicle gets significant modifications, such as a Motec ECU, a bigger turbocharger and upgraded cooling system to put out 373kW in Class A trim – well up on the standard 184kW output.
FTR's lineup of Ford Ranger Super Pickups
The single-cab body has also been stripped out while racing parts such as fully adjustable Öhlins dampers, Wilwood multi-piston racing brakes, and Hankook slick tyres turn it into a true competition machine.
Drive is sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed manual transmission, a powertrain combination not available in the production Ranger, but essential to its success on the track.
Three different teams run the Ford Ranger and have been developed independently, though with FTR still running the entries.
The #3 Ranger of Sandy Stuvik was developed by YK Motorsport, and features the front end from a Raptor as well as its wider guards.
Thanaphon 'Best' Chucharoenpon’s #15 entry by Aongdo Motorsport is completely different, with a much more racing-derived bodykit and panels, with a similar approach taken for the #18 of Kantadhee ‘Boom’ Kusiri, driving for Aurora Design Dynamics.
The development and design of the three Super Pickup-spec Rangers differs greatly from those in Australia’s V8 Superute Series, which are based on the dual-cab body style and feature a spec 6.2-litre LS3 V8 engine.
Ford claims that the racing data collected through the Super Pickup championship is fed back to its engineers at the Ford Thailand Manufacturing (FTM) and AutoAlliance Thailand (AAT).
Jordan Mulach
Ford wholly owns the FTM factory which solely builds the Ranger, while the AAT plant is a joint venture with Mazda, producing the Ranger, Ranger Super Duty and Everest, plus the Mazda 2, 3, CX-3 and CX-30.
The Bangsaen Street Circuit round of the Thailand Super Series – which includes the Super Pickup category, as well as GT3, GT4, Formula 4 and Carrera Cup Racing – takes place this weekend (July 4–5) and can be watched here.
