FEATURE
/
RAPTOR
IN
SOUTH
AFRICA
UTOMOTIVEpowertrain engineers say ‘WOT’
quitefrequently,notbecause they’re all a bit
deaf,butbecauseit’stechy, acronym-speak for
‘wide-openthrottle’.You and I probably just call it
‘pinningthebastardtothe boards’. Whatever the
term,I’vebeendoingit for a couple of minutes
nowandbothrevsandroadspeedhave ceased to shift, so it’s
safetopresumethatthisis V-max.At4400rpm, the Raptor’s
2.0-litretwin-turbo-dieseldoesn’tsound uncouth, more an
insistent,gravel-edgedsnarl.It feelslike the automotive
equivalentoftheheart,lungsandlegs of a decent middle-
distancerunnercomingontothestadium’s home straight;
there’sharmonyandrobustness,mixed with a clear sense that
thisis allit hastogive.Ourspeed?A GPS-corrected 173km/h.
A kerbweightof2332kgandtheaero slipperiness of a site
officewilldothat.If westaywiththerunner analogy, it’s like
askingMoFarahtoholdthelidofa wheelie bin out in front of
himforthefinallapofthemen’s5000m. So yes, my top-speed
runis justa bitpointless,buthey,theRaptor is built for speed,
andI wascompelledintheinterestsof science to see how it
feltandsoundedattopwhack.Further, we are in the region of
SouthAfricawhereplentyofcarcompanies come to do their
high-speedtesting.It’dberudenotto,etc.
We’re40kmorsosouthofthetownof Upington, a dusty
backwateronthebanksoftheOrange River. Out here it feels
everybitasremoteanddesolateasAustralia’s interior. The
sightlinesarelong,theblue-metalsurface is good and vast
stretchesofwirefencingkeepsanimals clear of the roads. Oh,
andthesparselystaffedpoliceforce– if they do in fact exist- apparentlyknowtoleaveyoualone,provided you have the
correctnumberplatesthatindicatean approved prototype.
Whichwedon’t,buttwooutofthreeain’t bad.
Buta V-maxrunis justa partofthe transport stage to the
mainevent:off-roadracetrainingwith one of SA’s rising stars
of the sport, 24-year-old Gareth Woolridge. This bloke made his
international debut in last year’s Brazilian Rally dos Sertoes,
runs up the pointy end of the South African Cross Country
Series (SACCS), and reckons he can take me from lumbering
middle-aged nuffie to lean, mean Finke Desert Rally material
in just 10 hours.
Okay, he didn’t actually promise that, but a man needs to
have ambition, and we do have at our disposal the most highly
developed, off-road capable 4x4 ute on the market, as well as a
punishing course through dunes fringing the Norokei salt lake.
Nervous? A little, but Woolridge’s natural warmth and easy
humour immediately helps, as does the fact he has a fit, but
fairly normal-looking physique. He’s not one of those annoyingly
whippet-lean circuit racers, who manage to make you feel fat
and useless before you’ve even done up the belts.
“I train five or six days a week, but sure, I’m not scared of a
few beers and boerewors [sausages],” he says with a laugh.
Wooldridge is part of an off-road-racing dynasty here in the
land of the springbok. His dad Neil is a former gun racer and
self-made 4x4 business owner turned constructor, employing a
team of 20 to build Mustang V8-powered, tube-chassis Raptors
for customer teams; while his older brother Lance is a reigning
class champion in SACCS and in winning form again this year.
So the bloodline is strong, but job one right now for Woolridge
is to get a read on what sort of student he has to work with.
(Spoiler alert: ‘not gifted’.)
“Let’s do a sighting lap, then I want you to have a proper
crack, and we’ll see where we can find some time,” he says.
Temps on the pan can reach 45 degrees in the peak of
summer, but today is hazy and relatively mild at 26 degrees,
meaning the diesel donk in the South African-built Raptor won’t
have to deal with ingesting hot air. It’s no doubt happy about
this, as am I, because, as Editor Inwood has found with his long-
termer (p109), and as will become evident during our sessions,84 whichcar.com.au/wheels