Ever take a look at the Ford Raptor and assume, “This simply isn’t a adequate off-roader”? Ford Efficiency did.
So it scooped up two of one of the best rally drivers on the earth and constructed the Ford Raptor T1+. Now it’s headed to the Dakar Rally, by the use of a bit of hill in England, and stops in Morocco and Hungary.
Failed Ranger Births Extremely-Raptor
In January 2024, Ford introduced its Ranger pickup to Dakar’s grueling off-road occasion. It completed forty fourth and forty sixth within the Automobiles class, and, nicely, that’s simply not adequate.
Ford Efficiency and its rally companions discovered from that try, and now they’ve a brand new truck: the Raptor T1+.
The Ford Raptor T1+ is a Raptor, in principle, greater than it’s in observe. However this new apex predator is critically spectacular.
Rally Automotive From the Floor Up
The truck sits on a brand new double wishbone suspension entrance and rear that delivers 14 inches of suspension journey. The shocks come from Fox and are three- and four-way adjustable. Exterior bypasses and distant reservoirs make sure the dampers are as much as the problem of hundreds of miles of scorching desert racing.
Enormous 14.5-inch brake rotors from Alcon have six-piston calipers. They reside inside 17-inch wheels with 37-inch tires that don’t even begin to fill this Raptor’s carbon wheel arches.
A metal area body holds up the carbon panels. The Raptor T1+ has virtually 16 inches of floor clearance beneath to clear virtually something in its path. It’s additionally 90.5 inches extensive for additional stability, 5 inches wider than an F-150 Raptor pickup truck.
The engine is a 5.0L V8 primarily based on Ford’s manufacturing facility Coyote engine. It’s not turbo or supercharged, and Ford isn’t saying how a lot energy it makes. The engine has a dry sump oil system to deal with the desert warmth and sand, and has an exhaust Ford Efficiency says is designed for Dakar.
Taking over such a demanding race like Dakar is a frightening activity for all of us at Ford Efficiency, however we’ve by no means shirked a problem. To embrace this problem, we’ve partnered with one of the best on the earth with M-Sport and Crimson Bull and I feel it reveals how critically we’re taking this undertaking. The Ford Raptor T1+ is a stake within the floor for our world off-road imaginative and prescient — we wish to tackle one of the best and show ourselves within the hardest locations on earth. The teachings we’re studying from Raptor T1+, together with competing with inventory vehicles in Baja 1000 and Finke Desert Race, will assist make Raptor autos even higher for our clients.
— Mark Rushbrook, World Director of Ford Efficiency Motorsports.
A number of Previous Dakar Winners Will Drive Raptor T1+
Ford Efficiency and M-Sport could have 4 groups of drivers and navigators in Raptor T1+ autos. A kind of will likely be pushed by Carlos Sainz Sr., a 26-time World Rally Championship occasion winner and four-time Dakar winner (and the daddy of F1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr.). One other truck will likely be pushed by motorbike racer Nani Roma, who has gained Dakar each on two wheels and 4.
Earlier than heading to the Dakar Rally, Ford Efficiency and M-Sport will debut the Raptor T1+ on the Goodwood Competition of Velocity hill climb on August 12.
A truck will run the Baja Hungary in August and the Rallye du Maroc in October. Then it’s preparing for January 4, when the 2025 Dakar Rally takes place in Saudi Arabia.
That occasion would be the first the place all 4 groups will compete on the similar time.
