Glickenhaus Hydrogen Boot is zero-emissions Baja 1000 desert racer

American car maker Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus has released the latest images of its hydrogen fuel cell endurance race vehicle, which is set to take part in this year’s Baja 1000 off-road desert race in November.

Best known for its Nürburgring 24 Hours successes with the SCG003 supercar and the SCG007 it campaigned in the new Le Mans Hypercar class at the Le Mans 24 Hours last year, the NY-based firm already builds the SCG Boot, a road-legal Baja 1000 endurance racer, which won its class on its debut at the event in 2019. That model costs $287,500 (approximately £211,279).

If successful, the Hydrogen Boot will be the first zero-emissions vehicle to complete the Baja 1000 race, an annual enduro event held on the dirt tracks and roads of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. 

First seen as a concept last year, the vehicle uses a quad-cab pick-up shell with the back seats removed and replaced with a sizeable hydrogen system. The firm is expecting a range of more than 600 miles.

The race vehicle’s development will also spawn a road-legal variant in the US. Founder Jim Glickenhaus said:  “We will make a US road-legal version. We are using all the engineering, testing and development of this race vehicle to create the systems and knowledge around cryogenic hydrogen, fuel cells and our refueling system.”

He added: “Our truck is something you can drive to the Baja 1000, race 1000 miles, and drive home. The Baja is a brutal race, the longest continuous off-road race globally. There is not a battery-electric vehicle in the world that can successfully run the Baja 1000.” 

There are, as yet, no engineering details about the model but Glickenhaus describes the Boot as a “cryogenic supercritical hydrogen fuel cell electric Baja 1000 race vehicle”.

The firm also confirmed it is creating its own fuelling infrastructure for its fuel cell vehicle. Glickenhaus said: “When people see this vehicle race the Baja 1000 and finish, with zero emissions, it can be safely driven over the most intense landscapes and refuelled in the middle of the desert, with our own infrastructure, that will change the world.”