Guess who ran into that palm tree during the 2007 Baja 1000? Bud Brutsman! Guess what team Bud Brutsman was on during the 2006 Baja 1000? The one that went over the cliff and caused the Weatherman channel sucks story! Bud Brutsman is our reporter at the Born In Baja Presentation Tonight!
You're Invited! If you thought Chasing Baja was good, Bud will tell us all about how Born In Baja is his off-road symphony...The "Born In Baja" TV show debuts on the Speed channel on Sunday, July 12, at 4 p.m. Eastern. Born in Baja! Parody
LIVE ! Comments from Hollywood brought to you by:
KING OF BAJA.com
Chuck Dempsey (Winner of Class 1 Baja 1000 2008): ""It was cool!" We brought the Speed Technology across the line, just like the FORD Team. We just got done testing for the shortcourse at Glen Helen, this weekend."
Andy Grider, Co-Dog for Robby Gordon:
"Born In Baja is a great movie, very enjoyable"
Born in Baja will be talked about all night long, we'll also talk
about "Chasing Baja", the BFGoodrich flat-flop that documented the best Baja racers driving into a palm tree near the finish line during the 2007 Baja 1000. Bud Brutsman, the Baja Racing News.com reporter at the event tonight, talks about he and his film crews at the race, got the great shots of the race car, almost totalled and the palm tree. A coconut tree, that almost
stopped another cheating Baja racer, in his tracks...Bud Brutsman Reporter. Bud, in a joint production with Ford Motor Company, BCII, Buds company,documentary about the design and construction of Ford’s 2010 F-150 SVT Raptor truck and the racing of the truck in the 2008 Baja 1000 off-road race. Brutsman not only Executive Produces the
film, but participates as one of the race drivers on the Ford team.Ford's all-new 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor will be making its Hollywood debut on June 23 when a new feature film about the ultimate production off-road performance truck hits the silver screen. Well, the Raptor R, really. That's "R", for "Race", or Race model/version.
"Raptor – Born in Baja" – produced by Brentwood Communications (BCII) in conjunction with Ford Motor Company – will premiere at the Egyptianentertainment industry heavyweights, celebrity guests and members of the press.
The documentary follows Ford designers, engineers and race program
directors, along with Foutz Motorsports and other aftermarket organizations, as they construct, test and unveil the new F-150 SVT Raptor to the automotive world by entering it in the grueling 631-mile Baja 1000 race, one of the toughest point-to-point off-road races in the world."I had read in the automotive trades that Ford had told its dealers that the Raptor would be the 'first truck you could buy right off the lot and drive in
Baja,' " said Bud Brutsman, BCII CEO and the film's executive producer. "I told Ford, 'Let's prove it.'Not only did Raptor finish the race, but it sped through the finish line in 25.5 hours, placing third in its class in what was originally supposed to be only a development drive. Wow, third.
"For 32 years now, Ford trucks have led the marketplace because of our long history of capability and durability," said Doug Scott, Ford Truck Marketing Manager. "With the F-150 SVT Raptor, we are delivering a true off-road performance truck with the proven 'Built Ford Tough' capability and durability that is at the core of every F-150."The all-new Raptor was built to take on the most challenging desert adventures as well as the everyday commute. The vehicle produces true off-road performance thanks to its stock high-performance parts, standard FOX Racing Shox and standard Ford SVT-tuned BFGoodrich® all-terrain tires. It will be available in showrooms in July with a MSRP of $38,995.
Following the June 23 premiere of "Raptor – Born in Baja," a one-hour television version of the film will air on SPEED on Sunday, July 12, at 4 p.m. EST with several additional airings to be determined at a later date.
For more information about the F-150 SVT Raptor, visit www.bajaracingnews.com/
What happened to our reporter, Bud Brutsman at the Baja 1000 2006? Baja Racing News.com Knows!
| "King of Car TV" Bud Brutsman 1,000 Miles of Glory | |
| "Television producer Bud Brutsman, self described "King", has done some of the most extreme activities in the world. He has studied Brazilian jiu-jitsu for years with Jean Jacques Machado, went on night commando operations with U.S. Special Forces, dove shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, and done mountaineering in the frigid northern wastes of Iceland; but it you ask him what's the toughest thing he's ever done, Brutsman will likely tell you it's competing in the Tecate Score Baja 1000 off-road race from Ensenada to La Paz. If you follow Brutsman around for a day, you can rest assured he's doing something that involves a cage. After helping Terry Trebilcock launch King of the Cage, Brutsman has become one of the most influential figures in the motorsports world through his television programs Rides, Overhaulin', Payback, and Showdown. He has been called the "King of Car TV" by no less than Hot Rod magazine. So leave it to Brutsman to come up with a way to combine cagefighting and off-road racing, his two big passions. He took himself out of the fighting cage, put himself into a roll cage, and entered the world's toughest test of skill, reflexes, endurance, and just plan guts. What draws me to jiu-jitsu and cagefighting is how personal it is, says Brutsman. Pushing just you against one opponent, with no excuses except how you perform. The Baja 1000 is the same thing except your opponent is Mother Nature. In jiu-jitsu and cagefighting if you make a mistake you get choked out; but in the Baja 1000 if you make a mistake you die. It's the ultimate test. There is just nothing like it. Last year Brutsman was the driver of record for the B.F. Goodrich Baja Team, heading a team filled with extreme sports legends including X Games gold medalist Kenny Cowboy Bartram, world champion rock crawler Tracy Jordan, and freestyle motocross rider Mike Metzger. When my team was announced I was a bit intimidated, Brutsman admits. These guys are some of the biggest names in extreme sports. But being a sponsored athlete means nothing in this race. The course is equally brutal to everyone. It's an equal opportunity destroyer. But Brutsman had something up his sleeve that his celebrity copilots didn't. He had been racing in Baja for years, knew the challenges he faced, and was prepared for the worst that could happen. His experience was something his co-pilots would find invaluable later in the race and which just might have saved one of their lives. Brutsman and Metzger took the first shift, driving 535 miles in just around 17 hours, staying in the race despite suffering two rear axles and a broken shifter. When they traded off to their two teammates, Kenny Bartram and Tracy Jordan, at the halfway point, Brutsman and Metzger were ready for a break. Jumping into their chase truck to parallel the race car as best they could, they drove ahead on the highway to the next checkpoint, met up with the car after another 17 hours and 237 miles, and took off for the next checkpoint 80 miles away. Eight hours later, with no sign of the racers, Brutsman heard a radio report that the car had driven off a 300 foot cliff and that Jordan's helmet was crushed and he had a severe head injury. Knowing that no help was going to come for his teammates until morning, Brutsman decided that was too long to wait. Relying on his Special Forces training he decided to mount a rescue effort on his own. Driving back up the highway to the previous course crossing, he commandeered a truck from a reluctant local and drove into the heart of the world's most hostile territory in the middle of the night. Crawling along at mere miles an hour, flashing a handheld searchlight across the pitch black terrain, Brutsman finally spotted his shellshocked drivers perched atop the cliff they had plunged over, hustled them into the truck, and drove them back to safety. After receiving medical attention at a hospital and getting several days of rest, Jordan was on the road to recovery. He credits Brutsman for getting him the prompt medical attention he needed. As for Brutsman, the experience has not soured him on the Baja 1000. If anything, it has given him even more incentive to compete. Sponsor B.F. Goodrich has already offered him the spot of lead driver of record this year and Brutsman has accepted. There is no real reward except for finishing and your biggest victory is your victory over yourself and your own fears, he says. With the Baja you're faced with extreme weather, sleep deprivation, and a constant beating. It's like being in a car wreck for 20 hours straight. I can't wait to get back on the course this year!" CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY! |
Then, in the 2007 Baja 1000 Bud Brutsman totaled his race car and Baja Racing News.com was there...
"Despite the high degree of peripheral drama, however, the race continued and as night fell for the second time the activity shifted back to it. At one point SFFD firefighter Marc Pearson marked our field around Loreto (mile marker 920) and found that all but two of the BC cars were within a 60 miles stretch…and the race was 70% over with almost a day to spare. It seemed that the combined efforts of the communication and chase crews were going to achieve our goal of finishing all 18 cars.
We were barely done patting ourselves on the back when Oceanside FD Captain Terry Collis received a call from one of our chase vehicles. They were near mile marker 980 with BC2, actor/racer Patrick Dempsey’s sponsored car, and the co-driver (name unknown) was exhausted. His relief from the last pit had failed to show…he had already been in the car for 24 hours. He was over it. He wanted to drive the car to the nearest airport…park it…and fly home. Game over. This incident would become one of the most dramatic and personal as the driver (Tanner Foust, Drift/Rally champion; X-Games Gold Medalist) and I all weighed in on the situation. The incident took about eight hours to resolve and became just another example of how the Baja 1000 pushes people beyond their limits.
No sooner had we resolved the BC2 car issue did we get a report from another team that the BFGoodrich car, BC13, was involved in a serious accident. The car was being driven by Bud Brutsman, creator of the TV shows Overhaulin’ and Rides. For at least 15 minutes we couldn’t get any information. We didn’t know if they had been mowed down by a trophy truck or had center-punched a palm tree. We dispatched Air 2 to see if they could get within VHF range to get a response. BC13 was also being filmed for a feature-length documentary called “Chasing Baja”, so we knew there had to be a film crew in the vicinity. #2 got in range they discovered there were no injuries, but the entire left side of the car was destroyed. Once again our hope of finishing all cars dissipated. Every single component on that side needed to be replaced. It took an hour to locate what would amount to five chase vehicles that had all the parts. They all converged on the accident site, most with a two-hour ETA. It was almost midnight and they were less than 100 miles from the finish line."...CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY
What really happened during the Baja 1000 2008, caught in my Born In Baja movie?
My FORD Motorsports Raptor R Baja 1000 2007 Story By: Bud Brutsman
As a replacement for the race track durability test we put all SVT products through, we came up with a 62 mile loop in Borrego Springs, CA and ran that loop for about 1300 miles. We ran the Raptor 6.2L M1 prototype through that test, and we will be running our 5.4L "VP" prototype through that test in December. As we reviewed the data and parts during tear down, the Raptor did pretty well through that test. So we thought let's raise the bar a bit and basically run the same test in the Baja 1000. As the decision to go race the Baja 1000 (as part of the engineering development program) was made relatively late - Foutz Motorsports (who was chosen to build the truck because of his success in BITD Full Stock) had about 3 months to build, test, develop and prep this truck. Not to mention develop a logistics plan around 3 different racing teams coming together (Olliges - Team Ford; Randy Merritt - Mongo Racing; Greg Foutz - Foutz Motorsports). And we didn't have alot of production Raptor parts for them to build the truck. And they had to support the media reveal of the production Raptor in
So why a Class 8 truck vs. a Full Stock or a Trophy Truck? Given where we were (not in production yet) - we likely were not legal for the Full Stock Class. In fact, due to a shortage of parts, we likely couldn't have even have built a Stock Full truck (keep in mind that this truck is not even through the engineering validation phase let alone in production). Production level suspension arms, bumpers, shocks, bushings, springs and exhaust parts were key items that we had just enough of to support our pre production prove out. Plus - we didn't want to ruffle the feathers of anyone in Stock Full by showing up with a pre production truck. So that meant no Full Stock. I wanted to build a Raptor Trophy Truck. Bad. Real bad. Real real real bad!!! But at the end of the day, campaigning a Trophy Truck is mostly a racing exercise - not a production vehicle validation exercise. You can even turn a grocery getter into a competitive Trophy Truck - and that's not really what we were trying to do. So that left Class 8 where we could fabricate the parts we didn't have available, or substitute off the shelf ones.
It was decided that the truck was to remain mostly stock - much more so than a modern Class 8 truck. Most modern Class 8 trucks don't share suspension pickup points or really anything with the production truck they are based on. They are tube frame Trophy Trucks with remnants of a production frame embedded in them. Which means they have Trophy Truck levels of suspension travel and horsepower - and the Raptor R doesn't even approach that. We kept mostly stock driveline, trans, engine, and body. The rear suspension is leaf sprung (vs. Class 8 4 link coil over rear). The front and rear use production pickup points (vs. Class 8 inboard cage
After contingency on Thursday, we went out to
Back at the hotel, Dave, Jim Stevens (engine engineering) and the crew continued debugging the truck through the night. No pit meeting. No dinner. At about 7:00 AM (day of the race!!! - we were set to start around 12:30 pm) Dave decided to swap out the engine harness. At 7:30 - the truck fired and ran fine. We gathered everyone together for an impromptu pit logistics meeting, loaded up the trailer and headed for the start line. Talk about making it at the last minute. The entire crew, drivers, everyone ended up getting 1-2 hours of sleep - some guys pulled an all nighter. Not the way you want to go into a Baja 1000, especially since you know you will be pulling an all nighter the following night racing.
My pit assignment was to chase the truck at Ojos Negros - at about race mile 40 and then go to PFG Pit 5. Which meant we got to see the Trophy Trucks (and their helicopter armada) come through a small portion of cement road in Ojos. Which meant they were pinned at Vmax. Standing 5-10 feet away from a 800+ hp Trophy Truck doing 130+ mph is an unbelievable experience. As an engineer on the Enduro/Ashley/Smith team, I chased Trophy Trucks for almost 10 years, and seeing a Trophy Truck running NEVER got old. Both in sound and in just feeling the sheer force of the air they are moving at that speed. Trophy trucks aren't exactly known for their coefficient of drag. It was interesting to FEEL how the different trucks moved more or less air - and you could gain an insight into their aero efficiency. But I digress...we saw Steve Olliges move through in 4th place (we had requested a rear start in Class 8 since we were there to collect data and finish, not race the other Class 8 vehicles and we started 9th) - so he had already passed some vehicles. As you know, in Baja, "what happened to whom" isn't always available, and you spend the down time while you wait for your race vehicle to show up in the pit theorizing and speculating about who broke what part, who nerfed who off the course, and who blocked the course so no one could get around. And this race was no different. We waited for the Raptor to clear race mile 65, and then headed down to BFG Pit 5 which was on the Pacific Side.
We were getting sporadic updates via sat phone about how the truck was doing. One of the most treacherous parts of the course this year was the Rumarosa Grade - which hadn't been part of the course since 1995 - where you descend 4000 ft in a handful of miles, there are extremely sharp hairpins, and 100-200 foot sheer drop offs on a trail that is barely wide enough to hold a production vehicle - let alone a Trophy Truck - or even the widened Raptor. And if someone breaks, they will shut the entire race down because there is no room to get around them. So everyone breathed a sigh of relief when we got word that Steve had made it through just fine. The next reports we got were that Bud Brutsman was in the vehicle and they made a precautionary change to the driveshaft because there was some vibration. Then we got a report that a skidplate bracket had broken and we needed to repair that. Then we got a report that the truck was running hot but that turned out to be that the fans had gotten shut off inadvertently. Gene Martindale was now in the driver's seat. Gene is the SVT lead vehicle dynamics engineer on the Raptor - but this was his first off-road race. Lemans in a Viper ACR (check). Developing the Ford GT (check). Mustang Challenge and ALMS racing (check). Now he was adding the Baja 1000 to that list (check!). And he made SVT proud. Keep in mind that all the drivers were told to take it easy to insure a finish. Gene was the question mark for me as he is a racer through and through and he can pretty much scare anyone in anything as long as it has 4 wheels on it - maybe even 3. But he stuck to the plan, and handed the truck off to the next driver, Greg Foutz unharmed. We think we may have been up to 1st or 2nd in Class 8 during the Gulf side of the race.
The truck was scheduled to arrive in Pit 5 (around race mile 500) around 3:30 AM. We got there around 5 pm and set up pit with the BFG guys. And waited. And told stories. And laughed. And ripped on everyone else on the team that wasn't in our chase crew. Even those that where present. All in good fun. Just generally had a really fun time watching all the motos, quads, and trucks go through. We were hearing reports about leaf spring issues but not much more detail than that. Then we heard they were pretty serious. We had broken 1 leaf spring eyelet and fractured the other. The Raptor was down for hours while they repaired what they could with what they had. We had one more leaf spring that we would need to repair as well. The truck finally came in at around 6 or 7 AM and we started replacing the driver side rear leaf. As we were wrenching, the second place Class 8 came through the PFG Pit and left about 30 minutes ahead of us.
A funny side story at this point. About 15-20 minutes after the race truck showed up at Pit 5, Buck (part of the Gulf side chase crew showed up) - following the race truck on the race course in his prerunner. Curt and Aion from JWT (they were there to film the making of the Raptor documentary) rode along so they could follow the truck and keep filming it. Buck is a hard core desert chase crew guy. When you tell him to follow the race vehicle to the next pit in case it needs assistance - that's what he does. Curt got out of the prerunner and labeled Buck as officially crazy. "He is wired differently than any of us! I could make a film about him alone!". Buck had dropped the throttle in the prerunner to keep up with the race truck. The final tally was 1 race truck passed the prerunner, and he passed 2 motorcycles and 2 trucks. But those were racing vehicles!
Randy Merritt hopped in the truck and he was going to drive it to the finish. We made sure we reminded Randy that the goal was to FINISH - but there was the second place truck only 30 minutes ahead of us, and we had about 130 miles to close the gap. I think Cliff Irey said it best, "we came down to Baja to test the Raptor, and a race broke out...". That pretty much sums it up...
Randy was able to close the gap to second place - on some accounts down to about 5-10 minutes. And then a vehicle rolled about 50 miles from the finish, and stopped the field. SCORE shut everyone down until the vehicle was taken care of. The second place truck (not sure if it was the actual vehicle that rolled - some were saying it was...) wasn't stopped with us - they were clear and running to the finish. So that pretty much decided the finishing order. We pulled into the finish line with a time of around 25.5 hours - 30 minutes behind 2nd place. So there it was. Everyone on Team Raptor was ecstatic - it's very rare for an off-road racing truck to finish its first race. It's ever rarer for an off-road racing truck to finish it's first race which happens to be a Baja 1000. And we finished. And we finished 3rd in class. In an essentially stock full Raptor racing in Class 8. Which had a rear start. Which wasn't running 5 hours before the start time. Not too shabby - and everyone on the team knew it. We were all so proud of the drivers, the co drivers, the chase crew, and most importantly, the Raptor R race truck. Greg Foutz and Cliff Irey pulled a rabbit out of their hats by getting this race done. If ever there was a demonstration that this is a team sport - this project and race demonstrated it. We think this is the first time a factory OEM truck has ever competed in the Baja 1000 during its development phase and prior to production. I asked Sal if he knew another instance where that had happened and he couldn't remember one. Which I think is pretty cool.
As mentioned earlier, we had a full production Raptor at the event. We took it to the Horsepower Ranch on Wednesday night, to contingency on Thursday, and used it for chasing the race. It's interesting to see the reaction from people when they see the truck. Some think it’s a concept vehicle. Some think its one-off aftermarket F150. But after you take them through all the content in the suspension, powertrain, driveline, body, and all the electronic systems we've changed to allow it to excel in the desert, just about everyone wants one! And they think its really cool that the sport and lifestyle of desert racing has spawned a production vehicle - with real content - not just in name. What I'm really excited about is how this truck is going to expose the rest of the country to what everyone in the Southwest already knows: prerunners are some of the coolest trucks around. It was surreal to bring the production Raptor back to Baja where the idea for the truck was born.
Details Details Details: Courtesy of Baja Racing News.com
2010 F-150 SVT Raptor Overview
- Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT) taps into growing off-road enthusiast market and builds on the solid foundation of the new Ford F-150 to deliver the ultimate off-road performance truck – the 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor
- Industry-first internal bypass shocks by Fox Racing Shox help provide smooth ride; lower, wider design key to desert racing and off-road performance
- The F-150 SVT Raptor launches with the proven 5.4-liter Triton V-8 with 310 horsepower and 365 lb.-ft of torque; a 6.2-liter V-8 engine will be available after launch
Ford, the definitive leader in tough trucks, is further building on its solid foundation of the new F-150 to deliver the all-new 2010 F-150 SVT Raptor, a purpose-built, high-performance off-road truck versatile enough to take on the most challenging desert adventures as well as the everyday commute.
“Ford trucks have been a mainstay on the off-road racing scene for more that 20 years because of our long history of capability and durability,” said Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president for Global Product Development. “With the F-150 SVT Raptor, we are delivering a true off-road performance truck with the proven ‘Built Ford Tough’ capability and durability that is at the core of every F-150 and the best in performance thanks to the team at SVT.”
“Like its fighter jet and dinosaur namesakes, the F-150 SVT Raptor is tough, fast, aggressive, and built with the off-road enthusiast in mind,” he added.
Ford and off-road racing
Desert off-road racing is something Ford knows and does well, with eight championships in nine divisions in the 2007 “Best In The Desert” series and four more titles in CORR (Championship Off Road Racing). Ford has also shown its dominance at the Baja 1000 race – 12 Ford-powered vehicles have won the overall title for four-wheel vehicles, the most of any engine manufacturer.
With interest in off-road performance growing at a steady rate, the F-150 SVT Raptor was built to fulfill the desires of that highly demanding market. The high-performance off-road truck market is one that’s largely untapped, allowing the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor to set the bar for this type of vehicle.
“Most of the major manufacturers have focused on-road performance, so when we looked at what was available in off-road truck performance, it was somewhat limited,” said Mark Grueber, Ford product marketing manager for pickups and large SUVs. “This was the perfect opportunity for Ford to further differentiate the F-150 from other trucks on the market.”
Looks tough and fast
The tough, chiseled look of the new Ford F-150 has been taken to a new level with F-150 SVT Raptor. The agile, performance truck was designed to give the impression it is always on the move.
Noticeable differences between the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor and conventional F-150 include a distinctive grille that has the Ford name carved into it; front bumper, vented hood, front fascia and fenders, functional hood extractors, fender extractors with ‘SVT’ bored out, as well as visible FOX Racing Shox, the only internal bypass shocks available on a street truck.
Another key difference between the F-150 SVT Raptor and the base F-150 is it is more than seven inches wider. Ford designers took advantage of this difference and highlighted it with distinctive marker lamps. When turned off, the marker lamps are well-integrated into the F-150 SVT Raptor’s front end, as opposed to on top of the cab. When lit up, Raptor’s imposing stance is immediately recognizable.
While the exterior design of the F-150 SVT Raptor is about creating an image, the interior design is about creating the feel of the truck, and both must complement each other.
Design elements from the unique grille and front fascia have been carried through to the interior on the console and dashboard. The steering wheel is wrapped in black leather and features a molten-orange leather strip that serves as a centering sight line – which is especially useful in extreme driving maneuvers that can often cause the driver to lose perspective of the steering wheel’s center point.
Revved up and ready
The Ford F-150 SVT Raptor is powered by the F-150’s proven 5.4-liter Triton V-8 three-valve engine, which delivers 320 horsepower and 390 lb.-ft. of torque. A new open-valve fuel injection strategy improves the air/fuel charge conditions in the combustion chamber, allowing greater spark advance at higher loads and engine speeds. This delivers increased horsepower during towing and higher rpm operations, lower emissions and more efficient use of fuel.
A new 6.2-liter V-8 engine will be available after launch. The 6.2-liter engine features all-new architecture specifically designed for robustness in a truck application.
Given reliability and longevity under harsh conditions are key to truck customers, the Ford team performed extensive testing to ensure the 6.2-liter V-8 engine would live up to the ‘Built Ford Tough’ promise. Fifty 6.2-liter V-8 engines successfully endured more than a dozen of the toughest engine tests at Ford’s dynamometer lab during development.
SVT used a specially designed, 62-mile durability loop in the desert of Borrego Springs, Calif., to replicate the conditions of the Baja 1000 race, to further test the engines’ performance.
Take off and landing
Building a high-performance off-road truck is not about the horsepower – it’s about the suspension. The F-150 SVT Raptor doesn’t disappoint, with 13.4 inches of usable travel in the rear suspension and 11.2 in the front.
“With the F-150 SVT Raptor, we changed the axle, the whole front suspension is different – new upper A arm, new lower A arm, new tie rod, new half-shaft joints,” said Jamal Hameedi, Ford SVT chief engineer. “It’s well beyond what SVT has ever done with one of our vehicles.”
Raptor’s wider track and softer suspension mean it will comparatively glide over obstacles. And when it has to be “launched,” be prepared for a soft landing. “The suspension does all the work to keep the truck’s attitude stable,” Hameedi said.
In addition to a beefed up suspension, the F-150 SVT Raptor also boasts unique internal bypass Fox Racing Shox, the only internal bypass shocks on a street truck. The position sensitive dampening internal bypass feature allows the shock to become significantly stiffer as it travels, preventing the truck from bottoming out.
By working with Fox internal bypass technology and applying the Ford engineering methodology, there haven’t been trade-offs to assure extreme off-road handling over on-road ride comfort.
“This truck is also going to be a daily driver. We brought together a lot of experts to ensure the on-road steering precision and comfort was there, too,” said Hameedi. “That’s where Ford expertise really came to the table and complemented Fox’s off-road expertise.”
A tough truck needs tough tires, and a BF Goodrich All-Terrain TA/KO 315/70-17 tire does the job.
To help improve the tire in a variety of conditions, the compound of the tread was altered. Engineers made the rubber softer for better performance on and off-road and for precise and predictable steering in a variety of conditions while the interior of the tire was modified to improve lateral firmness.
The tall sidewall on the 35-inch tire can handle rocks and irregular surfaces commonly experienced in an off-road environment. A 17-inch cast aluminum wheel is designed to absorb the impact of objects the truck could encounter in some of the most extreme environments.
Specialized Technologies
The F-150 SVT Raptor provides the complete package for off-roaders, including state-of-the-art technologies to keep it at the top of capability.
“For many years, enthusiasts have been struggling with the performance of electronic technologies in the extreme off-road environment since that was not the environment they were designed for,” Hameedi said. “What SVT has done is tailor technology to function in both an on-road and an extreme off-road environment.”
Technologies include:
- AdvanceTrac® with RSC® (Roll Stability Control™) predicts the vehicle’s path using a sensor to detect and measure oversteer and yaw by monitoring the vehicle’s speed, throttle position and steering wheel angle. When the system senses wheel slip or the loss of traction, it applies braking where needed to keep the truck tracking safely on its intended path. If a significant roll rate is detected, the system applies additional countermeasures to enhance vehicle roll resistance.
The off-road enthusiast has the option to switch to two available settings – sport mode and full off-road mode depending on their driving situation. The sport mode shuts off traction control enabling the vehicle to have more yaw movement.
Full off-road mode shuts off all electronic stability programs and the ABS system switches to a special off-road setting. Widening the threshold of sport mode, the wheels will lock more which is helpful in off-road terrain. Also in full off-road mode, the locking rear differential is allowed to stay locked at elevated speeds to mimic a spool differential found on racing trucks.
- Trailer Sway Control works in conjunction with AdvanceTrac with RSC and can determine from the yaw motion of the truck if the trailer is swaying and take measures – such as applying precise braking or reduced engine torque – to bring both vehicle and trailer under control.
- Integrated Trailer Brake Controller is factory-installed and allows direct operation of the trailer’s electronic brakes by squeezing the control module on the instrument panel with more confidence than the typical aftermarket system.
- Electronic Locking Differential uses a true mechanical connection to lock the left and right axle shafts together so both turn at the same speed with the same amount of torque. This switch-controlled feature maximizes traction capability at the wheel with grip, without having to stop the truck.
- Hill Descent Control on the F-150 SVT Raptor is Ford’s first application of the technology. Utilizing ABS, the driver can control hill descent without applying the brakes. The speed is set for the truck to descend the hill by pushing a button and allows for the driver to concentrate on driving, rather than on how to modulate the brakes on a steep decline.
- Off-Road Mode engages a third throttle map and a third shift schedule for improved off-road performance. Third throttle map alters the throttle by changing the driver demand table so it is better suited to high and low-speed off-road driving conditions. A third shift schedule is a unique strategy for the off-road environment that holds the transmission in each gear for a longer period of time, allowing better engine throttle modulation to control the vehicle.
- Auxiliary Switch Board on the center console makes aftermarket customization easier, with four prewired switches attached to the power distribution box for electrical accessories. Also located on the auxiliary switch board are two switches for improved off-road performance – Hill Descent Control and Off-Road Mode.
The F-150 SVT Raptor will be built along side the new F-150 at Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant at the historic Rouge Center in Dearborn, Mich.
2010 F-150 SVT Raptor Technical Specifications
| POWERTRAIN/CHASSIS* indicates E85 performance | |
| POWERTRAIN | 5.4L 3V Triton V-8 |
| Engine Type | V-8 iron block, aluminum heads |
| Bore/Stroke | 3.55 x 4.16 in |
| Displacement | 330 cu in, 5400 cc |
| Compression Ratio | 9.8:1 |
| Fuel Injection | Sequential multi-port electronic |
| Valvetrain | SOHC, 3 valves per cylinder, Variable Camshaft Timing |
| Power | 320 hp @ 5,200 rpm* /310 hp@ 5,000 rpm |
| Torque | 390 lb.-ft @ 3,500 rpm* /365 lb.-ft @3,500 rpm |
| Oil Capacity | 7 qt |
| Coolant Capacity | 20.7 qt |
| Transmission Type | 6-speed automatic overdrive w/Tow/Haul Mode (6R80E) |
| Gear Ratios | 6-speed automatic O/D |
| 1st | 4.17:1 |
| 2nd | 2.34:1 |
| 3rd | 1.52:1 |
| 4th | 1.14:1 |
| 5th | 0.86:1 |
| 6th | 0.69:1 |
| Reverse | 3.40:1 |
| Available Axle Ratios | 4.10 |
| SUSPENSION | |
| Front |
|
| 4x4 | Coil-on-shock, long-spindle double wishbone independent, Aluminum Lower Control Arm, Forged Steel Upper Arm |
| Rear |
|
| 4x4 | Hotchkiss-type non-independent live, leaf springs and outboard shock absorbers |
| STEERING | |
| Type | power rack-and-pinion |
| Overall Ratio | 20.0:1 |
| Turning Circle, | see Dimensions and Capacities |
| BRAKES | |
| Front | 13.8-in vented disc |
| Rear | 13.7-in vented disc |
| Assist Type | Vacuum, RSC |
| WHEELS AND TIRES | |
| Base Wheel and Tires | 17-in cast-aluminum, LT315/70R17 A/T BSW |
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| DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES | |||
|
| Super Cab |
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|
| 5.5ft |
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| 4x4 |
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| EXTERIOR | |||
| Wheelbase | 133 |
|
|
| Overall Length | 220.9 |
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|
| Overall Height | 78.4 |
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| Overall Width (excluding mirrors) | 86.3 |
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| Track Width, Front | 73.6 |
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| Track Width, Rear | 73.6 |
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| Cargo Box Length | 67.0 |
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| Width (max) Between Wheels | 50.0 |
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| Inside Box Height | 22.4 |
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| INTERIOR | |||
| Seating Capacity | 5 |
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| Headroom |
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| Front | 41.0 |
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| Rear | 39.7 |
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| Legroom |
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| Front | 41.4 |
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| Rear | 33.4 |
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| Hip room |
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| Front | 60.5 |
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| Rear | 65.4 |
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| Shoulder room |
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| Front | 65.9 |
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| Rear | 65.7 |
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| Fuel Capacity (gal) | 26.0 gal Std | | |
| Turning Circle, Curb-To-Curb (ft) | 44.6 |
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All Dimensions are in inches unless otherwise noted. | |||
| WEIGHT AND TOWING (Pounds) | |||
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| Super Cab |
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| 4x4 |
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| WEIGHT (lbs.) | |||
| Base Curb Weight |
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|
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| 5.4L | 5863 |
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| Payload Capacity |
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| 5.4L | 1020 |
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| GVWR |
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| 5.4L | 6950 |
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| CONVENTIONAL TOWING– Maximum Loaded Weight Ratings (lbs.) | |||
| Super Cab | |||
| ENGINE | AXLE | MAX. | 133" |
| RATIO | GCWR | WB | |
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| (LBS.) |
| |
| 5.4L 3-Valve |
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| Triton V-8 | 4.1 | 12300 | 6000 |
| Automatic |
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Note: Maximum loaded trailer weights shown. The combined weight of the towing vehicle (including hitch, passenger, cargo) and the loaded trailer must not exceed the Gross Combination Weight Rating (GCWR).
Note: See RV and Trailer Towing Guide for requirements, restrictions and 5th-wheel towing.
Specifications subject to change. All stats from Ford Motorsports.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE RAPTOR SPECS
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL EFFECT
GREG BIFFLE AND THE RAPTOR PROMO
BAJA RAPTOR EXPERIENCE AT SHOWS
FORD SAYS "WILL SHOVE IT TO TOYOTA"