We Drove a 1,000-HP Bronco Beast & a King of Hammers Champion!

Auto Moto

Buckle up as we take you on a wild ride with two of the most extreme Ford Broncos ever built! First, we get behind the wheel of the Bronco 4600, the King of the Hammers–winning off-road monster driven by racing legend Loren Healy. Then, things get even crazier with El Bandito — a 1,000-horsepower, Baja-inspired Bronco powered by a supercharged V8 straight from the Mustang GT500!  Shot at the rugged Ford Off-Roadeo in Las Vegas, this video showcases insane rock crawling, desert racing, and jaw-dropping jumps. Whether you're a Bronco fan, off-road enthusiast, or horsepower junkie, you don’t want to miss this!  🔥 Featuring:  2023 King of the Hammers Champion: Bronco 4600  1,000 HP Supercharged V8: El Bandito Bronco  Expert driving from Loren Healy  Real desert terrain + Baja-style course action  📍 Location: Ford Off-Roadeo, Nevada 🏁 Engine Sounds, Drifting, Jumps & Full-Throttle Madness!  👍 Like, Comment, and Subscribe for more extreme off-road action.  #FordBronco #ElBandito #Bronco4600 #OffRoadAdventure #KingOfTheHammers #BajaBronco #1000HP #LorenHealy #DesertRacing #BroncoRaptor #FordPerformance #OffRoadeo

Transcript

00:00It's amazing how capable a Ford Bronco is. Capable of billy-goating up rutted hills,

00:06boarding streams, rock crawling, and mudding, there are few obstacles of base Bronco can't

00:12tackle. But that pesky human desire for more, coupled with the need to be the masters of our

00:17domains, exists. For consumers, Ford hopes the Bronco Black Diamond or Bronco Raptor can scratch

00:24that itch. But for adrenaline junkies like racer Loren Healy, built Broncos like the king of the

00:30hammers, winning Bronco 4,600 and the one-off 1,000-horsepower Bronco El Bandito might suffice.

00:38Ford brought us out to its Las Vegas off-rodeo location to get a taste of what, exactly,

00:43that more from a Bronco feels like. Located about 25 miles from the Las Vegas Strip,

00:49Ford's Nevada Bronco off-rodeo, one of five. Ford also has locations in New Hampshire,

00:56Tennessee, Texas, and Utah. It's nestled up into Potosi mountain slopes, the site of a famous World

01:03War II, aeroplane wreck, and various lead mining concerns dating back to New Spain.

01:09Surrounded by centuries-old desert two-tracks, Joshua trees, slot canyons, and rocks, it's the

01:16perfect place to get acquainted with two seriously impressive, but very different, breeds of Broncos.

01:22The Bronco 4,600 has much in common with the two-door Bronco Black Diamond Sasquatch you can buy from

01:28your local Ford dealers. Named for the king of the hammers stock, 4,600 class, the Bronco 4,600 retains

01:37the frame, body, engine, in this case the optional 330 horsepower, 415 LB. FT 2.7-liter twin-turbo V6,

01:4910-speed automatic, four-wheel drive transfer case, and 35-inch tires of civilian Bronco Sasquatches.

01:57Its main modifications include a roll cage, upgraded brakes, a front portal axle, rear airlocking

02:04differential, and Fox coilover shocks with remote reservoirs and pneumatic bump stops at all four

02:09corners for both rock crawling and high-speed desert running, though there are far more changes,

02:15which you can read about here. This Bronco 4,600 was driven by king of the hammers legend Healy,

02:22who piloted it to a first-place finish in 2023. Strapped in with Healy riding shotgun, we were let

02:29loose in the off-rodeos, high-speed Raptor, and technical Baja courses. Our route was a great

02:35reminder of what helps make king of the hammers such a challenging race. Varying from tight, technical

02:41washes, and off-camber climbs up boulders, tabletop jumps, and moguls. Vehicle traits that make an

02:47off-roader good at more technical elements, such as a short wheelbase and high-riding body, make it a

02:53more challenging drive on faster, more dynamic terrain, and vice versa. The fact that racers such

03:00as Healy can process that duality at race pace is wildly impressive, especially considering how

03:06unforgiving deserts can be. Those compromises certainly arise during our spin in the Bronco 4,600,

03:12chiefly in high-speed bowls or hairpins, when the quick hydraulic steering, short wheelbase,

03:18and high center of gravity conspire. Against unexpecting drivers, or on the tabletop jumps

03:25where we tended to land nose first. Yet that same duality makes the 4,600 such a thrilling drive,

03:32like a two-door Bronco Raptor. Set up with a prominently placed brake pedal for left foot

03:37braking and with the twin-turbo V6 locked into the Bronco's Baja mode, the Ford feels surprisingly

03:44responsive once you're aware of its quirks with near-instantaneous throttle response. Easy-to-modulate

03:50brakes with plenty of stopping power and reactive steering. It's a thrill to rotate it on throttle

03:57through hairpins, weasel through narrow crevices, and pick our way among boulder-strewn fields.

04:03So much so that we'd have been content to keep finding faster and more technical terrain to drive

04:09through if we didn't have El Bandito waiting. Unlike the Bronco 4,600, El Bandito, named for

04:16the outlaws of yesteryear that would roam Mexico and the American Southwest, wasn't built to meet

04:22any racing body's rulebook. Instead, it was meant to live up to the name of Healy's and partner Von

04:29Gittin Jr., S. Funhaver off-road brand. This Baja-inspired Bronco started life as a pre-production

04:36two-door Bronco-destined for the crusher, but was stripped down to its cab, mated to a tube frame,

04:42fitted with a Baja Bronco's front and rear end, and then stuffed with the same axles,

04:48diffs, transfer case, 42-inch wheel and tire package, and suspension package, Fox-chokes coilovers,

04:56bypasses, and bump stops with 20-inch front and 25-inch rear travel, as the pair's Yutra 440-400

05:04unlimited race trucks. Unlike the race trucks, however, the Bronco El Bandito is powered by an

05:11engine you won't find in your neighbor's Bronco, a 5.2-liter supercharged V-8, courtesy of the Mustang

05:18GT500 paired with a four-speed manually shifted automatic. Not content with the factory's 760-horsepower

05:26tune, the Funhaver team swapped out the factory's supercharger in favor of a 3.8-liter Whipple unit,

05:33boosting power to about 1,000 tire-roasting horsepower. The results are intoxicating,

05:40overwhelming, psychotic, and fantastic all at once. El Bandito's sheer size, lack of visibility,

05:47and outright power make it intimidating to drive at first. It's quicker than you think it'd be,

05:53more responsive to braking and steering inputs than the Bronco 4600, and has so much suspension

06:00travel and tire that it floats over obstacles that look impassable. After a few laps around our

06:06makeshift Baja course, we found ourselves getting more comfortable with El Bandito. Pretty soon,

06:12we could string together a few clean laps as we got into the rhythm of things, pinning the throttle on

06:17the straights, dabbing the brakes to load the nose before turning in, powering out, and ensuring the

06:24suspension is unloaded by throttle or brake input before hitting an obstacle or jump. It was amazing

06:30how softly El Bandito landed after repeated launches from the tabletop. Having jumped just

06:36about every factory high-speed off-roader in existence, it was jarring. Or, should we say,

06:43the opposite the way this custom Bronco Re. Luckily, Healy was on hand to give us a taste of what El Bandito

06:50could really do. And in that two laps, it was abundantly clear that we were nowhere near even

06:55scratching the surface of what this Baja-bred Bronco is really capable of with a racer behind

07:01the wheel. And, rather than working up to race pace, Healy just went for it. We pulled out of the

07:07paddock on the quarry's rim, and Healy firewalled the throttle as we dropped down into the bowl.

07:13Waiting at the bottom was a berm we'd previously gingerly crawled over before lining up with the

07:18tabletop. Healy simply plowed through it like it didn't exist, relying on the Bronco's child-sized

07:24tires and suspension to sort it out. He then yanked the handbrake, oh, did we not mention the

07:30hydraulic driftbrake, pointed El Bandito's nose toward the tabletop as we spat sand out of our mouth,

07:37and sent El Bandito skyward over the jump. The sounds of rock and gravel clanging off its

07:43underside replaced by wind and a supercharged V-8 exiting via a single exhaust pipe behind our head.

07:51The landing was surprisingly gentle. As suspected, Healy brought the Bronco down square on all fours

07:57and raced off through the rest of the course. It was impressive watching him work from up close.

08:03Despite El Bandito's size, he knew how to make it feel like it like a smaller car, relying on the

08:09suspension to eat up washes and banks, brakes to load the nose, and the throttle to get it spun around

08:15corners. We got lulled into a false sense of comfort as he tore through the track in likely a third of

08:20the time it took us to tackle it. The second time through, Healy drifted El Bandito sideways along

08:27sweeping left-hand bend carved into a dune, pointed to the next straight, and then instead of proceeding

08:33as expected, grabbed the handbrake for a quick 180-degree turn, and went full throttle up the 65-degree

08:42or so embankment. We have no idea how fast we hit that incline. El Bandito doesn't have a speedo,

08:49but once we launched off that ridge, it didn't feel like we'd ever come down. We just floated there,

08:55weightless, this supercharged monster spinning freely in front of us, as loose objects in the cab

09:01floated up and away from us waiting for that inevitable reunion with the ground. We landed

09:06hard, rear wheels first, the massive hydraulic jounce bumpers turning what would be a totaling

09:12event in a stock Bronco Raptor into one that felt like we were rear-ended in a parking lot.

09:18It was terrifying and thrilling, all at once. As we set off again, all we could do was laugh,

09:24which at the heart of that is the entire point of El Bandito. The Bronco, in general, too. There are

09:32more sensible and efficient, space and otherwise, SUVs on the road, like Ford's own Bronco Sport,

09:38but the regular Bronco is one of the few SUVs on the road that provide its drivers with a tangible

09:44sense of fun, whether it be getting dusty in the desert or just driving over parking curbs for fun.

09:50While El Bandito is likely a bit much for your commute, you and I can scratch that same itch in any Bronco

09:57Sasquatch or Raptor.

Category

Transcript

Recommended