Alright so I'm following the 2011 model F-150's pretty closely. And just the other day a web site posted a story about the Ecoboost F-150 doing the Baja.
I'll post a link to the story for those who wish to read it. But long story short the driver of the truck claimed it did not have enough power to compete and he pulled off to the side of the road and canceled his run. Now anyone that has followed my recent threads on this site knows that I'm a skeptic of the Ecoboost and V8 man. But of course I want the Ecoboost to be successful for Ford. To me the Ecoboost is Fords way of giving some of their customers a Diesel like engine without the price of a Diesel. But I think the driver quitting this race simply because he felt the truck was not powerful enough to compete is ridiculous. Ford was not paying him to take the Ecoboost to Baja and show it could beat 800hp Trophy trucks. But more so just compete and actually FINISH. Which is something the driver did not do.

But anyway what is you opinion on it?

(Update 1: Ford's EcoBoost V-6 Race Trucks Find it Tough Going in Desert Racing Shake Down
Posted by Mike Levine | October 19, 2010)

http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2010/10...shakedown.html

 

That is probably irrelevant. How many Baja races did the 4.2L V6 win? Yet it was installed in 1996-2008 F150's and E-series vans all the same. Many on this site are perfectly happy with it.

How about my very own 4.6L V8 2v that's in my 2010? Probably never won any Baja or Nascar Truck Series races in stock form either yet it was installed in all kinds of trucks, cars and vans for 20 years and did just as good of a job.

I didn't buy my truck for use in Baja races, so that news is inconsequential. The 4.6L does just fine at all tasks, within reasonable limits of course, and the 3.5L most likely will too.

 

At first I was a little peeved, but after reading the drivers comments and thinking about it for a few minutes, I can see the drivers point. Safety first. I think with the 1000 coming up I think it might have been a wise choice. Does it suck that he quit after the first lap? Sure it does. Was it the smart thing to do? I believe it was. We'll have to wait for the 1000 results I guess. Just my .02

 

Races are harsh environments for vehicles and I doubt 98% of the owners of that engine will ever have it at those extremes. Races push limits, limits that the majority of people won't even come close to seeing. Hell my 6.0 has done some limit pushing, but I doubt it would also survive Baja.

 

One has to take into consideration that a stock truck on the street shouldn't have 39" tires and to push around in the soft sugar sand of the dessert. So, will the ecoboost do what Ford says it will do in stock form? You bet.

I do however think that Ford ecoboosted the wrong engine. I would have gone for the 5.0L and used it in the Raptor, SD, Harley and upscale F-150's.

 

I agree 100%. Probably none of us on this site have bought/will buy our trucks for desert racing. (Hold for Raptor owners). But I have to admit I do find it odd that the 6.2L was tested in the same race about a year ago and it performed admirably, however the Ecoboost struggles with power here. Now I'm not trying to throw my doubts on to the Ecoboost. I honestly do find it weird though, The Ecoboost is making only slightly less horsepower than the 6.2L and pretty much the same amount of torque but at a much lower RPM. It seems as though the Ecoboost should have done at least as good as the 6.2L did.

And perhaps the driver did do the right thing, After reading over it again I beleive if he honestly felt that there was a safety issue at hand then perhaps pulling over and dropping out was indeed the right thing to do.

 

I also agree with you 100% on everything. I have no doubt the Ecoboost will do just fine for personal use needs, Towing, Hauling...etc, The main reason I posted this article though was not to blast the Ecoboost but more so to get opinion's on if what happened here was the right thing to do or not, on the drivers behalf.

I also agree that the wrong engine has been Ecoboosted. I think the 5.0L and 6.2L would have been great candidates for Ecoboost technology. And none of this is to say they won't see it at some point down the road. I do know that both Engines were designed to be built upon and added to later on in their life cycle, So I wouldn't rule them out of being Ecoboosted a few years or so down the road.

 

I don't know if the 5.0 or 6.2 would make any sense Ecoboosted in the F150. The whole point is to be able to have a small displacement engine for fuel economy at low load and a large displacement engine at high load. If you start out with mid to high displacement, you've got nowhere to go. Now it would be very, very fast, but would miss the point IMO.

Also if the 5.0 or 6.2 were to be Ecoboosted it would probably be way too much power for an F150. The 3.5EB makes 365/420 now. The 5.0 is 42% larger in displacement. Let's throw out the law of diminishing returns for a moment and just say that you get 42% more power. That's 521HP and 600ft/lbs. 6.2 is 77% larger. 646HP/744ft/lbs. Even in the Super Duty that's a lot of HP and TQ. It might take sales from the PSD.

Mike

 

Perhaps. But I'm still 90% sure we can expect to see things like Direct Injection and maybe even a bore&stroke job on the 6.2L for even more displacement in the next few years. I do know that these engines were in fact made to be built upon. And I know 646hp Might sound crazy now. But give it 5 to 10 years. And It might become a reality. Think about how a 411hp factory 1/2ton would have sounded 15 years ago when the top engine offered in the F-150's of the day the 351CI made only about 210hp. I personally wouldn't be surprised if we saw a 500-600hp engine offering in the next 10 or so years.

And PSD will always adapt I'm sure to be substantially more powerful than its Gas powered counterparts.

 

There is already a 7.0 version (stroked I believe). That oddly enough pans out to roughly 429ish cid. So that might make its way into ford trucks.

 

I'm sorry sir, I wasn't trying to down play your link. i actually hit the submit button too early as I was being called for supper. A man has to eat in order to play on FTE ya know!

If I were the people at Ford that asked him to test this truck, I would have expected him to test it before any competitions and the report back to me.

I would have expected him to complete the course and then report back to me. I agree safety is a hot button issue and should be but he's and experienced driver. He should have been able to make the adjustment.

 

I have over 500HP on my 06 right now. As much as I love it, it really isn't needed. There is a point to where it is going to be too much for our general use. Plus, the higher up your peak HP is, the higher up in the RPM band you have to go, depending on the vehicle, you may never see peak HP the road and if you don't go to the strip, you may never see it, so what is the point?

There is a very definite law of diminishing returns and I actually think we crossed it some time ago.

 

You make a valid point also Tim. I can see both sides of it, but I'm sure Ford has their opinion also, and thats the one that really matters. Will he get the chance to drive it in the next race? If I were Ford I might find another candidate. That might just have been one tough pill to swallow for Ford.

 

I'm perfectly happy with 310 HP Tex! Now a little more could be nice, but I don't need it.

 

Well there is no real point. But whats the point in the engines we have now? The Current 6.7L PSD makes 400hp and 800lb/ft of torque. 10 years ago the 7.3L barley made 230hp and 500lb/ft of torque. And it pulled weight just fine back in its day. And the same can be said about current gas engines. Lots of people complain the 5.4L felt underpowered, when in reality the 5.4L was anything but underpowered. Its just that with every passing year people want more power and more torque, And I figure as long as the auto company's are capable of increasing power and torque and still meeting CAFE regulations they won't stop increasing. Because in today's day and age it could be costly to sales to fall to far behind the competition in power.