In the 2011 F-150, the 3.5 V-6 is rated a strong 365 horsepower (at 5,000 rpm) and 420 pounds-feet of torque (at 2,500 rpm) with a flat, diesel-like torque curve. Ninety-percent of peak power is available from 1,700 rpm to 5,000 rpm.
The racers are McCarthy and Randy Merritt, they will be the first teams to introduce a turbo six-cylinder gasoline engine pickup truck to the Baja 1000. They will also technically race each other in the newly created Stock Engine Truck Class instead of Stock Full.
McCarthy’s EcoBoost same engine first endured the equivalent of 150,000 harsh-user miles on the dynamometer, then was installed into a new 2011 F-150 to work as a log skidder in Oregon, towed a maximum trailer load at a high-speed NASCAR track and beat the competition in a towing exercise at Davis Dam.
Mongo Racing’s off-the-shelf EcoBoost V-6 has Ford’s stock 6R80E transmission bolted to it. It took months of extensive preparation and transformation of a stock 2011 Ford F-150 XL.