Ford's Raptor is about as off-road ready as trucks come, but not even the toughest pickups can necessarily cut it when it comes time to race. Luckily for any buyers with Baja-based aspirations, there's a new Race Truck version of America's favourite pickup.
  • Ford's Raptor has never been subtle, but the off road racer takes this presence to the ...
  • The car will be competing in desert races, backing up its tough looks with proper racing ...
  • Tougher Fox Shox suspension has been fitted to the race truck to make sure it can ...
  • The LED bar on the front of the car is new to the Raptor Racing Truck
Thankfully for the engineers tasked with putting the Race Truck together, the road-going Raptor's chassis provides a solid base. Changes to the car's structure are limited – in fact, there's not a heap of difference between the stock Raptor and the race version.
Drivers are treated external-bypass Fox shock absorbers to soak up bigger hits, and there's new front and rear springs to provide extra ground clearance.
To meet off-road racing regulations, as well as providing extra peace of mind for drivers as they fly through the desert, the Raptor Racing Truck is fitted out with a custom-made roll cage and MasterCraft racing seats with five point harnesses.
Beyond that, the fundamentals of Ford's Raptor haven't been changed. That means the car is still powered by a 411 hp (307 kW), 3.5-liter EcoBoost motor paired with a ten-speed automatic gearbox.
The car will be in action at the Best of the Desert off-road racing series' factory stock class, which kicks off on February 4th in Arizona.

Source: Ford