injuredme...”He’sclearlyreluctant
tobedrawnfurtherintothismorose
conversationalculdesac, sowequickly
moveontoa brightersubject:thefactthat
if I wasa boxer,I wouldhavethehand
speedofEric‘Butterbean’Esch,whenI
needtobemorelikeMannyPacquiao.
Aswebarrelalonga sectionofthedunes
stage, the trail jinks constantly and the Raptor requires a
constant flurry of steering inputs to carry our speed. It turns out
that my default technique of striving for smoothness has no real
place in the frenetic world of off-road racing. “I want you to be
like lightning on that wheel!” yells Woolridge over the noise of
the engine, low scrub hitting the sills, and the audible puckering
of my sphincter. “Faster hand speed! C’mon!”
He says it as “forster”, which I really shouldn’t be
registering, given how much is going on: a crazy torrent
of twists and kinks rushing at us through the screen, the
suspension working at maximum effort to absorb the
bombardment of ruts and trenches, our skulls and torsos
shaking around like oversized Bobblehead dolls.
Perhaps subconsciously I hadn’t been fast enough with
steering inputs for fear that the rack assistance wouldn’t keep
up, but this, like many things I imagine, proves to be utterly
unfounded. I go into full “angry fighter on the speedbag”
mode, and this meets with approval from my co-pilot. He’s
right, of course – really going next level on the speed at
which you work the wheel seems to get the big Raptor almost
dancing between the kinks, and your right foot quickly falls in
line, a WOT-ease-WOT quickstep that’s hugely satisfying. Throw
in a bit of ‘berm surfing’ on the sandy, favourably cambered
corners, and I could be a convert to this off-road caper.
But before I book my entry for the 2020 Finke, there’s
another discipline I need to master.
Anyone who’s watched any off-road racing knows that in fast,
whoop-filled territory, the cars often seem to spend as much
time airborne as they do on the deck. So,
time to get my flight wings.
Helpfully, Ford has found a quiet
backroad nearby that’s perfect for the
task, and the local farm owners have
agreed for it to be closed off. It’s just a
few kilometres long, but punctuated by
six successive, super-steep ‘kickers’ that
climb at around 18 percent gradient in the space of just a
handful of metres, before dropping sharply over the other side.
Even more thoughtfully, each has been hand-signposted with
an advisory speed that is sufficient to – just – get a Raptor’s
wheels clear of the ground.
We quickly agree I’ll need to add at least 20 percent to get
anything that qualifies as air time, but I also need to focus on
my throttle technique, advises my unflappable co-pilot. There
was me thinking it was just a case of boshing the brave pills,
whipping up some speed, and not squealing like a girl when you
force a 2.3-tonne ute into airspace it really shouldn’t be in.
Turns out there’s more to it than that. “Carry plenty of throttle
right up to the lip of the crest, because that will determine our
trajectory,” Woolridge explains. “If you chop the throttle at the
last moment, it’ll make the nose drop even more than it would
because of the [forward-biased] weight distribution.”
In simple speak? “Man up and keep it pinned.”
We fly like a large box-section ski jumper, and land much
better than Eddy the Eagle used to. My brain is calibrated
to expect a landing from this speed and height to be like
something from the San Francisco street scenes in Bullitt,
but of course it’s nothing like that; more like dropping a cold
chisel onto a feather pillow. The chassis of this thing really is
exceptional, and today has proved conclusively it deserves an
engine that can fully exploit what the underpinnings offer.
Right now, Ford’s response remains a cloth-eared, “WOT?”,
but as the groundswell builds for this excellent chassis to have
a more potent powerplant, expect that to change.@wheelsaustralia 89
Model Ford Ranger Raptor
Engine 1996cc 4cyl, dohc, TTD
Max power 1 57kW @ 3750rpm
Max torque 500Nm @ 2000rpm
Transmission 10-speed automatic
Weight 2332kg
0-100km/h 10 .5sec (claimed)
Economy 8.2L/100km
Price $74,990SPECS