Michael Accardi 
After Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus utterly trounced the Ford Bronco R for two years running with its street-legal buggy, the Baja Boot, the company has earned the right to poke fun… which the boutique automaker promptly did following Ford’s unveiling of the V8 powered Bronco DR.
In a post on Instagram, SCG posted a screenshot of a story by user @businessbryan which included the wry text: “Now you too can buy a not street-legal version of the truck that didn’t win the Baja 1000!”
Oof.
The timing couldn’t have been better either as SCG was in the middle of heading down to the 2021 edition of the Baja 1000. As part of promotional efforts for the 2021 race, the crew from SCG actually drove the Boot from the automaker’s factory in Danbury, Connecticut, all the way across the country and then down to Ensenada, Mexico. Alongside the promotional efforts, the support Boot was also tasked with bringing mechanics and parts out to the stricken Baja Boot race truck when it snapped its axles twice during the 2021 running of the Baja 1000. Indeed, it didn’t go as smoothly as the previous two years for SCG.
During the 2019 edition of the legendary off-road race through the Baja desert in Mexico, the SCG Boot took Class 2 victory while the Ford Bronco R was found on the road dead. In 2020 the Boot once again took class honors, while the factory-backed Bronco crossed the finish line some 5 hours behind.
For the 2021 edition of the race, SCG decided to step up into the much tougher Class 1 category, while Ford didn’t bother to show up at all. Despite the aforementioned axle troubles, the SCG Boot still managed to finish seventh in class, an impressive feat for a truck that can be driven to and from the event considering the unlimited technical regulations for Class 1. Despite the faster pace and hardship, the SCG Boot was the fastest road legal vehicle to cross the finish line at the 2021 Baja 1000, which is a victory in and of itself.
For comparison’s sake, the SCG Boot uses a 650 horsepower GM 6.2L LT4 V8 as seen in the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, paired with a beefcake 4L80E automatic transmission. It rides on 37-inch tires and has 18 inches of suspension travel. And if you want one, too, that capability comes can be yours for $258,000. Did we mention that it’s street legal?
By comparison, the Ford Bronco DR is equipped with a 400 hp race-prepped version of Ford’s Coyote V8 engine paired with a 10R80 transmission. The truck will use stock Bronco brakes and ride on an off-road race-specific version of impressively large Multimatic DSSV dampers. The starting price for the Bronco DR is said to be in the mid-$200,000 range, similar to the SCG Boot. But, as the slide above notes, it’s not expected to be street legal in the eyes of the Department of Transportation.
We’ll see which application is really superior this time next year when the 2023 Bronco DR heads down to Mexico to take part in its first Baja 1000.
