Mopar® V-10 Competition Off-Road Race Engine Wins in Debut at Baja 1000 in Class 8

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Nov. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Just two-and-a-half weeks after Mopar® introduced the new 800 horsepower V-10 Competition Race Engine for drag racing at the 2011 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas, the off-road racing derivative of the crate engine made its debut in the 44th Tecate SCORE Baja 1000, Nov. 18–19, powering Kent Kroeker and Alan Roach to the Class 8 win in the famed event.

Escondido, Calif. Mexico Baja California Peninsula San Felipe

"What an amazing debut for the Mopar V-10 Competition Off-Road Race Engine to win at Baja," said Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, Chrysler Group LLC's service, parts and customer-care brand. "Our off-road engineers have been working very hard on this engine and it certainly passed its first test with flying colors."

"Winning the Baja 1000 means laser-focused excellence that can't be demonstrated any other way," said Kroeker. "The performance of the new Mopar V-10 was superb. We were the only vehicle in the Baja 1000 using Mopar power. Mopar engineers sculpted its characteristics around my description of what is needed to win in long-distance desert racing."

Baja

Kroeker and KORE were instrumental in the development and creation of the Mopar Ram Runner, which was introduced at the 2010 Moab Jeep® Safari. The Mopar Ram Runner served as the Official Pace Truck of the Traxxas TORC (The Off-Road Championship) Series this season, where Mopar-powered Ram Truck drivers dominated, winning 27 total races and claiming the championship in all three PRO classes. With the debut of the Mopar V-10 Competition Off-Road Race Engine, the evolution of the Mopar off-road racing program continues.

Mopar-First Features

Mopar has introduced numerous industry-first features including:

• Camper trailers: first to introduce off-road camper trailers
• Vehicle-information apps: first to introduce smartphone vehicle-information applications, a new channel of communication with consumers
• Electronic owner manuals: first to introduce traditional owner manuals in a DVD and brief user-guide format
• Electronic Vehicle Tracking System (EVTS): first to market with a new interactive vehicle tracking device that sends owner a text when vehicle is driven too fast or too far based on pre-set parameters
• 2011 Mopar Challenger Drag Pak: first to introduce a 500-plus cubic-inch V-10 drag-race package car
• Wi-Fi: first to offer customers the ability to make their vehicle a wireless hot spot
• WiTECH: first to support vehicle diagnosis and software updates leveraging off-the-shelf personal computers and a dedicated wireless tool network

About the Mopar Brand

Mopar is Chrysler Group LLC's service, parts and customer-care brand.

http://www.mopar.com

More than 70 Years of Mopar

When Chrysler bought Dodge in 1928, the need for a dedicated parts manufacturer, supplier and distribution system to support the growing enterprise led to the formation of the Chrysler Motor Parts Corporation (CMPC) in 1929.

Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) was trademarked for a line of antifreeze products in 1937. It also was widely used as a moniker for the CMPC. The Mopar brand made its mark in the 1960s — the muscle-car era. The Chrysler Corporation built race-ready Dodge and Plymouth "package cars" equipped with special high-performance parts. Mopar carried a line of "special parts" for super-stock drag racers and developed its racing parts division called Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use.

ON THE INTERNET

Visit Chrysler's Media Services Web site at http://www.media.chrysler.com for additional Chrysler and Mopar news. For additional information about Mopar, log on to http://www.mopar.com or http://www.moparspeed.com.

SOURCE Chrysler Group LLC