In the very recent past, Chrysler and Mopar announced that their knuckle-dragging gem, the big-bore V10, would be offered as a crate engine. The plan was to have two versions: one for drag racing and another for off road use. On November 18, the off road version made its debut under the hood of a Class 8 Baja 1000 Ram 1500. Covering almost 700 miles in just over 20 hours, off road builders and racers Kent Kroeker and Alan Roach made sure to break in the new engine the proper way by winning their class at the 44th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. Given the amount of abuse associated with Baja and the desert of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula, the Mopar engine has easily proved its worth especially considering the entire truck was put together in just six weeks.
“What an amazing debut for the Mopar V-10 Competition Off-Road Race Engine to win at Baja,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar. “Our off-road engineers have been working very hard on this engine and it certainly passed its first test with flying colors.” Hand assembled using aluminum components, the 8.4 liter V10 is a truly remarkable thing. Pumping out a startling 800 horsepower and 695 lb-ft of torque, the Mopar block uses a forged crankshaft, forged rods and high-compression aluminum pistons. With a redline of 7,000 rpms and a compression ratio of 12.5:1, this racing mill is all brought together by a Mopar tuned ECU.
“The performance of the new Mopar V-10 was superb. We were the only vehicle in the Baja 1000 using Mopar power. Mopar engineers sculpted its characteristics around my description of what is needed to win in long-distance desert racing,” said Kroeker. “Winning the Baja 1000 means laser-focused excellence that can’t be demonstrated any other way.”
Source: Dodge
