Pickuptrucks.com's Mark Williams checks out the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor at the Mint 400 in Nevada.
Transcript
(energetic music) We're here at the Best in the Desert race series at the Mint 400, where we've had a chance to take a look at the 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor.
And this is the vehicle that they've entered in this race series to learn as much as they possibly can before it's sold to regular consumers like you and me. Let's take a closer look and see what changes have been made to this race truck compared to the factory trucks that we're going to see. Ford has partnered with Foutz Motorsports, and they've created an entry for the factory stock class. So there's some very particular restrictions they have to follow. It has to be a factory offered powertrain vehicle. So the dash has to be exactly like a vehicle that's for sale, and also the powertrain. So the engine and transmission have to be stock, have to be available to be bought by a regular consumer. Now they have had to make some changes to the suspension, but all they've really done is given a stronger, heavier duty front shock. It's not even the shock. It's just the spring. They've used the same shocks that they use on regular Raptors, but in the back, they've used a different kind of leaf pack. In fact, it's much stronger and heavier duty. So it has a slightly taller arch. So the look of this almost reminds people of something that has maybe a one or a one inch lift, which works perfectly well when beating these things out on these race courses. The most dramatic changes to this truck you can see right from the bed, because it needs a full roll cage, comes right through the cab and into the bed to support the whole frame of the truck. Also, you have to take out that gas tank and put in a fuel cell. At first glance, this looks like a pure race truck. It's got the big bucket seats, five point harnesses, full interior roll cage on the inside. But if you look closer: factory dash. In fact, we had air conditioning. So anytime it got dusty, turn on recirc, turn it on high. And we were able to cool ourselves down. Now the interior of this truck is very unique in the sense that it has two front seats, one for the navigator, one for the driver, but also a third seat sitting in back, able to look down the middle. That's where I got to sit and I can tell you, it was pretty amazing. To check out the full story on this Raptor race truck, and see more videos about our experience with the Mint 400 go to pickuptrucks.com (engine roaring)
