📰 Auto News Honda Ridgeline Grabs First-Ever Baja 1000 Win

[Bru]

Or at least a victory in stock mini class

From PickupTrucks.com:
http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2008/11/honda-ridgeline.html

While we've been liveblogging the inaugural run of Ford's F-150 Raptor R race truck in the 41st SCORE Baja 1000 race in Baja, Mexico, Honda race driver Gavin Skilton and his #779 Ridgeline racked up their first-ever Baja 1000 victory, in the Stock Mini Class.

This year's Baja 1000 Stock Mini Class was extremely competitive, though there were only a few entrants. Fighting the #779 Ridgeline hardest were racers Rod Hall in the #760 Hummer H3 SUV and Ryan Millen in the #762 Toyota FJ Cruiser. According to the gripping post-race account on Rod Hall Racing's blog, Skilton and Millen traded the first and second spots for most of the race until the FJ hit a boulder that ripped its front end off a few miles from the finish line. Skilton got stuck in silt up to the Ridgeline's doors just after the FJ's wipeout. This gave Hall a chance to gain lost ground, until Mopar driver Kent Kroeker and his Stock full-size #862 Dodge Ram pulled the #779 Ridgeline out of the sand. Skilton flew from there to victory. Hall snagged the overall season title in the SCORE Stock Mini Class.

The Ridgeline completed the grueling desert endurance race in 21 hours, 22 minutes, at an average speed of 29.54 mph.

The Honda Ridgeline unibody pickup has been racing in the Baja 1000 since 2005. Most of the truck remains stock except for the front and rear suspensions. Custom King springs and shocks are attached to fit the stock MacPherson strut front suspension and multilink independent rear end. The 3.5-liter V-6 and five-speed automatic transmission have been tweaked by Honda Racing. The driveline uses the Ridgeline's standard variable torque management four-wheel-drive system.

Congratulations on the Baja 1000 win, Honda and Gavin Skilton!

Click to read more...

 

[Yaj Yak]

i want one.

baja trucks are so incredibly awesome.

 

[Euro]

Baja trucks are freakin cool. Just that one isn't..... Honda's "truck" model

 

[Bru]

The Ridgeline beat a Hummer-sponsored H3 and two other trucks in its class, so that's respectable if you ask me.

 

[Euro]

Yeah with aftermarket off road parts I'd assume it would do pretty well in it's class. Just in stock form it's pretty weak from what I've read.

 

[Yaj Yak]

Yeah with aftermarket off road parts I'd assume it would do pretty well in it's class. Just in stock form it's pretty weak from what I've read.

The Honda Ridgeline unibody pickup has been racing in the Baja 1000 since 2005. Most of the truck remains stock except for the front and rear suspensions. Custom King springs and shocks are attached to fit the stock MacPherson strut front suspension and multilink independent rear end. The 3.5-liter V-6 and five-speed automatic transmission have been tweaked by Honda Racing. The driveline uses the Ridgeline's standard variable torque management four-wheel-drive system.

uhhh.

extremely respectable if you ask me.

 

[Euro]

Like I said, in stock form it's pretty weak over anything that's more than a few grassy hills. With aftermarket suspension parts....like the article says it has.....it would do pretty well in it's class.

 

[PANDA]

I hope unlike the production version this "truck" has more torque than HP.

 

[Yaj Yak]

what takes away from it being a "truck"

that its a unibody? my cherokee was a unibody, and while not a truck, it could make it over and through much more shit than my buddies diesel f250 on 38s... but his is a truck so its better right?

 

[Yaj Yak]

Like I said, in stock form it's pretty weak over anything that's more than a few grassy hills. With aftermarket suspension parts....like the article says it has.....it would do pretty well in it's class.

shit at that amount tho... how extremely off road capable is any vehicle in stock form then apart from an fj, h3, h2, h1, and a few pickups? i drove my dads 01 suburban over a snow pile and it bent the rocker panels up. but thats american awesome steel right there... so it shouldnt have happened right?

i believe you guys arent creditting this for what it should be creditted.

thats a badass accomplishment for a relatively stock truck to make it through that course, let alone win its class.

 

[ktraver97ss]

shit at that amount tho... how extremely off road capable is any vehicle in stock form then apart from an fj, h3, h2, h1, and a few pickups? i drove my dads 01 suburban over a snow pile and it bent the rocker panels up. but thats american awesome steel right there... so it shouldnt have happened right?

i believe you guys arent creditting this for what it should be creditted.

thats a badass accomplishment for a relatively stock truck to make it through that course, let alone win its class.

x2

My truck looks good, but offroad its a turd. IFS FTL

 

[Bru]

About the chassis:

Key to this remarkable balancing act is a solid frame and body structure. Honda starts with a closed-box, ladder frame, and then integrates into a reinforced unibody. The rear cabin panel is beefed for two reasons: protecting occupants from sliding cargo in the bed and adding stiffness and rigidity to the overall chassis. Honda claims the Ridgeline chassis is 20 times stiffer in torsional rigidity than the “best performing body-on-frame compact truck” and has bending rigidity that is 2.5 times stiffer.

 

[Yaj Yak]

^^^^^

cliffs.

its badass for what it is.

sure you cant pull your 50,000# boat or camper that all you guys need to pull... but it still functions quite well for what it is.

 

[ktraver97ss]

Very interesting....only the Japs would think of putting a unibody on top of a fully boxed frame. Nice work Honda. Too bad the trucks so ugly.

 

[GLIKENNY]

^^^^^

cliffs.

its badass for what it is.

sure you cant pull your 50,000# boat or camper that all you guys need to pull... but it still functions quite well for what it is.

my cousins ridgeline pulled my 18000lb camper better than my F150 did. I was actually surprized how well the ridgeline pulled and handled the weight.

 

[bluzohh6]

it was bound to happen honda eventually wins everything

 

[slowchevy]

I read this thread a few days ago but never re'd.

That's impressive. Honda's Pilot is pretty much the same chassis (I think)

 

[ktraver97ss]

I read this thread a few days ago but never re'd.

That's impressive. Honda's Pilot is pretty much the same chassis (I think)

I dont think so, the ridgeline is quite a bit bigger than the pilots.

 

[Bru]

^^^^ Yep, the Ridgeline is very different than the Pilot.