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Holden faithful, avert your eyes. Walkinshaw Performance has hotted up the most popular model from its old rival, Ford.
Of course, anyone who follows the Supercars racing series won’t be as surprised as some - Walkinshaw’s racing arm Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) switched from Holden and GM to the Blue Oval in 2023.
So this, the WAU Ford Ranger ute revealed by WAU and Walkinshaw Performance, is a limited-edition version of the Toyota HiLux rival with extra kit and pumped-up off-road credentials.
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Limited to just 25 units, the rugged Ranger can be distinguished from stock models via its ‘Baja’ integrated roof-mounted spotlights, WAU decals plus specific 17-inch wheels wrapped in 285/70R17 tyres under flared fenders.
But it’s underneath where the major changes to the Ranger are found, with the ute copping some Walkinshaw-tuned Bilstein dampers with a 2.0-inch lift, as well as fresh front coils with a readjusted spring rate, new upper control arms which Walkinshaw says “correct front suspension geometry” and new front drop links (which connect the anti-roll bar to the dampers).
At the rear, the WAU Ranger has new 2.0-inch lifted 0-150kg-rated leaf springs, new leaf bushings and shackle kit and a tailshaft realignment.
The badging and decals are also joined by a build plate, numbered 1-25, but Walkinshaw also throws in a gift pack of merch, plus a Supercars guest experience.
The latter consists of two tickets to a “local Supercars event”, which is assumed to mean the soonest easy-to-attend race from wherever you live, with a WAU garage tour and two signed hats.
In addition, Walkinshaw offers a warranty of three years or the balance of the new-car warranty, up to 12 months outside the Ranger’s existing new-car warranty.
Pricing hasn’t been announced, with customers directed to sign up for updates at the Walkinshaw Performance website.
Walkinshaw’s work on utes has mostly been confined to converting big American pick-ups like the Chevrolet Silverado, Ram 1500 and more recently the Toyota Tundra from left to right-hand drive.
Walkinshaw also recently started working on a hotted-up version of the Isuzu D-Max, set to be called the Blade.
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