Ford Performance

FORD PERFORMANCE VEHICLES

Henry Ford famously quoted that “Auto racing began 5 minutes after the second car was built.”

There is a simple truism that exists; a ubiquitously shared understanding that guides us to a truly forgone conclusion – people like to go fast. With speed comes performance, the most valuable tool used to enable this unexplainable lust that drives humankind to new frontiers.

Today, Ford Motor Company remains committed to performance - to proving our products and technologies against the very best in the world.

FORD PERFORMANCE

When it comes to motorsport, Ford was not only there for its inception, but was the mechanism for its creation. It all started in 1896, when Henry Ford reached 32km/h in his first car – a quadricycle. From there, he advanced to defeating legends in 10-lap races, and setting all-time records at famous tracks. Henry Ford led from the front, and we continue to pay homage to his legacy in South Africa. This is Ford Performance.

OUR YEAR SO FAR – 2022 IN REVIEW

The NWM Ford Castrol Team is once again proudly flying the Ford flag in the South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC), previously known as the SA Cross Country Series. The team is leading the charge with the newly developed Class FIA T1+ EcoBoost-powered Ford Ranger – designed and manufactured by Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) in Pietermaritzburg.

FORD & NEIL WOOLRIDGE MOTORSPORT

Ford and Neil Woolridge Motorsport have a long association spanning 25 years, which includes multiple championship victories locally and abroad. However, 2021 was a defining year for the team as it spearheaded the launch of the new turbo petrol era which saw Ford’s powerful turbocharged EcoBoost V6 engine making its debut in the FIA T1 Ranger. For the 2022 season, the team introduced its latest machine – the new FIA T1+ Ranger, which elevated its performance to new heights with an eye on the South African championship, and ultimately to compete in the legendary Dakar Rally in partnership with M-Sport in the UK.

CASTROL CO-TITLE SPONSOR

Castrol has been the co-title sponsor of the team since 2019, and supplies all of the oils and lubricants used in the NWM-designed and built Ranger. The brand stated that they will be enthusiastically supporting the NWM team with its new T1+ Ranger this year, and are looking forward to the exciting racing anticipated for this season.

THE NEIL WOOLRIDGE MOTORSPORT TEAM

Neil Woolridge

• Team Principal
  Neil Woolridge is a multiple-time motorsport champion and the only person in South Africa to receive national colours on two and four wheels for cross country racing. Among his many exceptional achievements, Neil competed in the 1998 and 1999 editions of the Dakar Rally – finishing the latter third-in-class and becoming the first South African to complete this gruelling event in the car category.
  Neil started in motorcycle enduro racing at the age of 17, going on to compete locally and internationally. He moved into cars in the late 1980s and has become synonymous with cross country racing in South Africa and around the world through Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM) - which is run by Neil and his two sons, Lance and Gareth.
  His association with Ford spans 25 years, including winning the 2006 Super Production title in the SA championship in a Ford Ranger. To date, NWM has built more than 45 Rangers for domestic and international competition and remains one of the leading contenders in the South African Rally-Raid Championship.

Lance Woolridge

• Racing Driver and NWM Operations Manager
  Racing is in the blood of the Woolridge family, and Lance had his first competitive outing in 2008 at the age of 16. He moved up to a Class E Ford Ranger the following year. As Operations Manager for Neil Woolridge Motorsport (NWM), Lance is responsible for managing the building of new race cars, customer relations, and the maintenance of the team’s South African championship vehicles.
  He also competes in the premier class of the SA Rally-Raid Championship, alongside his younger brother Gareth in the pair of mighty NWM Ford Castrol Class FIA T1+ Rangers. Lance won back-to-back Class T titles in the V8-powered NWM Ford Ranger (2018 and 2019), and finished a close second in the 2021 championship in the pioneering new T1 EcoBoost-powered NWM Ranger.
  Internationally, Lance competed in the tough seven-day 3200km 2016 Rally dos Sertões in Brazil, finishing an impressive second overall in the proudly SA-built NWM Ranger. More recently, he has been signed by UK-based team Veloce Racing to compete against the best rally-raid drivers in the world in the innovative all-electric Extreme E series.

Gareth Woolridge

• Racing Driver, NWM Lead Technician – Vehicle Assembly
  Gareth’s racing career kicked off when he was 16, following in Lance’s footsteps. Success soon followed, as he won the KwaZulu-Natal championship in his first year and claimed his second regional title the following season – for which he was awarded KwaZulu-Natal colours for motorsport at the age of 18. After matriculating in 2012 Gareth went straight to work at the Neil Woolridge Motors 4x4 Centre, and then later moved over to the motorsport division as a technician building and preparing race cars.
  In 2014 Gareth was sponsored by Polaris to compete in the regional side-by-side championship, then moving up to the national series in 2014, achieving second place in the championship. The NWM team elected to put Gareth in a powerful Class T Ford Ranger V8 for the 2015 season, where he regularly finished as the highest-placed privateer team. Gareth made his international motorsport debut in 2018 by competing in Brazil’s arduous seven-day 3600km Rally dos Sertões, finishing 10th overall and winning his class.
  Gareth was an integral part of the team, leading the design and development of the all-new EcoBoost V6-powered FIA-class Ford Ranger, including undergoing specialised training at BOS Suspension in France. He filled in as a support driver in the 2019 and 2020 season and continued to show exceptional pace. Competing in the premier FIA-class for 2021 with the new EcoBoost T1 Ranger, Gareth ended fourth in the championship.

DOREEN MASHININI

“The NWM team did us proud last year, and 2022 is sure to be even more exciting with the new Class FIA T1+ Ranger,” says Doreen Mashinini, General Manager for Marketing, Ford South Africa. “The team’s new Ranger looks amazing and takes our “Built Ford Tough” heritage to new heights. This is an exceptionally important year for Ford with the upcoming launch of our next-generation models of the Ranger, Everest and the industry-defining Ranger Raptor”.