With funding from the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade and the European Regional Development Fund, Offroadsport has started an R&D project for off-road vehicle chassis. The team hopes to use the data, which will be compiled into a technical report, to develop its T1 and T1+ cars such as its flagship Ford F-150 EVO.

The project is officially described by the ministry as being for “research and devleopment of a methodology describing the impact of chassis adjustment elements on the subjective evaluation of vehicle driving characteristics and comfort”. The team will write a report “quantifying the relationship” between modifying the chassis with a driver’s behavior on both objective and subjective fronts, the latter including characteristics like how comfortable they are in the cockpit.

With the data, the team hopes to develop an optimal chassis setup for its race cars.

The Czech Industry and Trade Ministry is co-funding the project through its Operational Programme Technologies and Applications for Competitiveness. Known as OP TAC for short, it is a program designed to support Czech businesses between 2021 and 2027 by allocating funding and credits to the country’s entrepreneurs.

This is not the first time Offroadsport approached the Czech government for financial aid. In 2023, Offroadsport was approved for 27,152,965.80 Kč by OP TAC, which would be used to look into building an electric 4×4 off-road racing vehicle platform with a range extender.

The European Regional Development Fund, the other party financing the chassis project, is a European Union investment fund to support underdeveloped regions on the continent.

Offroadsport fields the Ford F-150 EVO for Miroslav Zapletal in cross-country rallies. After finishing fourth in class at the Saudi Baja in early February, he is signed up for the upcoming Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

Featured image credit: Horacio Cabilla / ASO