Guess What? The Ford F-150 Raptor Also Set A Nürburgring Record
Ford is America’s King of the ‘Ring.
The Ford Mustang GTD recently became the first production car from an American brand to lap the 12.9-mile benchmark circuit in less than seven minutes.
There are only a handful of road legal cars ahead of the Mustang GTD on the all-time list and Ford is planning to try again later this year, because it thinks it can go even faster. But it’s not the only Ford that holds a ‘Ring record.
A decade ago, “Top Gear” star Tanner Foust was in Europe racing for Ford in the Global RallyCross Championship and found himself in Germany with couple of days to spare between events.
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He got the bright idea to borrow one of the Ford F-150 Raptor pickups that the automaker had in the country, where it wasn’t yet on sale, and see what it could do on the Nürburgring. The 2013 F-150 Raptor was powered by a 411 hp 6.2-liter V8 and had an electronically restricted top speed of 100 mph, thanks in large part to its off-road focused suspension setup.
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Unlike the Mustang GTD’s record attempt, which was held on a closed track, Foust took part in one of the tourist drive days when it is open to anyone and there is a lot of traffic. The entry and exit are also spaced out, which shortens the lap by about 200 yards to what is known as the “Bridge to Gantry” distance.
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Foust’s team shot a video that shows the full-size off-road performance truck getting a little sideways and running over curbs like they’re not even there. Foust said the spectacle was popular with the onlookers who were accustomed to an endless parade of German sports cars.
Foust recently recounted to American Cars And Racing that officials were less enthusiastic and scolded him at one point for aggressive driving in the half-ton truck. “I told them I had traveled 6000 miles to drive on the track, and it wasn’t my car, so I was driving as aggressively as I could!”
By the end of his outing, he had passed a few Porsches and came away with a time that converted to roughly 9:48 over the full length of the track, getting him under the 10 minute mark that was pretty much unheard of for trucks.
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In fact, while far from official, his time still likely still stands as the best for a full-size pickup, let alone an off-road model. The Nürburgring’s record website has a category for “SUVs, off-road vehicles, vans and pick-ups” but it only shows the four street performance SUVs that broke the eight-minute barrier. We contacted the track it said it didn’t have a longer list available.
Vaughn Gittin Jr. did take a second generation Raptor to the track a few years later, but he only shot a drifting video and didn’t attempt a lap time.
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The only potentially direct competition we could dig up was a fun lap completed by Dale Lomas of the Bridge to Gantry YouTube channel in a 702 hp Ram 1500 TRX. Unfortunately, the stock brake pads on the 6,500-pound truck weren’t up to the task and Lomas said they were pretty much toast after just about 4.3 miles, forcing him to back off on the straights in an effort too cool them down. He didn’t post a time, but told us that it was probably between 11 and 12 minutes. There is one pickup that has a faster lap than Foust’s Raptor, but it is far from a monster truck.
Not long after Foust’s visit, a team from General Motors’ now-defunct Holden division in Australia brought a Holden VF SS V Redline Ute to the track. The model was essentially a modern version of the Chevrolet El Camino, but built on the same chassis as the fifth generation Camaro. The pickup car was powered by a 349-hp 6.0-liter V8 and equipped with a sport suspension and wide high performance tires. At the hands of Holden dynamics engineer Rob Trubiani it was able to lap the track in a blistering 8:19:47.
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No one makes anything quite like the Holden Ute anymore, but Ford does have two pickups that would be interesting to see go for ‘Ring times. The latest F-150 Raptor R with its 720 hp supercharged V8 and the upcoming Maverick Lobo. The compact Maverick only has 238 hp and 277 lb-ft of torque, but also an all-wheel drive system with a seven-speed automatic transmission, a torque-vectoring twin-clutch rear drive unit and a Lobo drive mode that’s tuned for street performance. Running one on the ‘Ring could be pretty loco.
Do you know of a faster full size off-road pickup time at the Nürburgring? Follow us on Facebook and let us know
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