2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor First Drive - Ford Raptor desert drive and photos
"I mean, this is amazing, right?" shouts SVT Vehicle Dynamics engineer, Ford Tier 3-certified test driver, and possible asylum candidate Gene Martindale over the din of 35-inch tires pulverizing desert gravel.
Amazing? No, this is utterly ridiculous. It's 106 degrees, and we're streaking across the rock- and sand-strewn frying pan that is Borrego Springs, California, in August. It's absolutely miserable out here, so hot and dry the scorpions have taken refuge under the sidewinders. Word is, Blackwater mercenaries train in this unforgiving desert because it makes Kandahar look like Club Med.
You'd never know it from inside our truck. The A/C is blowing ice cold, and Gene keeps his right foot flat as we literally glide over whoop after whoop (an off-road-racing term for the thousands of beige speed bumps scattered before us). Whoops vary in size and composition, from small ones made of storm-piled sand to taller berms packed down by dirtbike and buggy tires, but all can seriously cripple a vehicle if taken at speed.
We're doing 100 mph. At half this rate, any regular truck would explosively dismantle as fast, hard, and repeated hits induce massive and comprehensive suspension or tire failure. Our truck simply strides over them, with some turbulence for us in the cabin, but without any gut wrenching, bolt stripping, metal-on-metal indications of imminent disaster.
2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor First Drive - Ford Raptor desert drive and photos - Motor Trend
Amazing? No, this is utterly ridiculous. It's 106 degrees, and we're streaking across the rock- and sand-strewn frying pan that is Borrego Springs, California, in August. It's absolutely miserable out here, so hot and dry the scorpions have taken refuge under the sidewinders. Word is, Blackwater mercenaries train in this unforgiving desert because it makes Kandahar look like Club Med.
You'd never know it from inside our truck. The A/C is blowing ice cold, and Gene keeps his right foot flat as we literally glide over whoop after whoop (an off-road-racing term for the thousands of beige speed bumps scattered before us). Whoops vary in size and composition, from small ones made of storm-piled sand to taller berms packed down by dirtbike and buggy tires, but all can seriously cripple a vehicle if taken at speed.
We're doing 100 mph. At half this rate, any regular truck would explosively dismantle as fast, hard, and repeated hits induce massive and comprehensive suspension or tire failure. Our truck simply strides over them, with some turbulence for us in the cabin, but without any gut wrenching, bolt stripping, metal-on-metal indications of imminent disaster.
2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor First Drive - Ford Raptor desert drive and photos - Motor Trend
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