Inside Ford Racing School’s ‘Raptor Assault’ Program

U.K.’s Globe & Mail finds just how ‘over-engineered’ the popular F-150 is firsthand.

For Ford owners looking to explore just how capable their vehicles are, the manufacturer provides a few Ford Performance Racing School Programs, including one called “Raptor Assault.” Yeah, that sounds awesome. And as The Globe and Mail found out, putting the extreme Ford F-150 Raptor to the test was an experience that one won’t forget.

The Raptor Assault program, man I can’t get over how cool that name is, provides drivers with the ability to see just how good the Raptor is at off-roading. “We shuffle around a sheer rock face at 30-degree lean angle, grind jagged boulders into submission and summit those snow-capped mountains,” says The Globe and Mail.

Obviously, the last part is hyperbole, but not really. The racing school has created a dedicated off-road course where drivers can even take the Raptor over man-made jumps and large hunks of rocks. Think driving through a few inches of snow in a Raptor is fun? Try catching some air in the pickup. But that’s just the beginning.

As The Globe and Mail points out, the school then takes a sharp turn by heading into the desert to let drivers play with the truck’s “Baja Mode.” “Eventually, the program veers so far into the Utah desert, chase helicopters being to seem like a reasonable budget item.”

The desert has challenges of its own, including “tire-shredding rocks, surprisingly immovable shrub-like trees and punishing ruts created by recent damp weather,” says The Globe and Mail.

Needless to say, the program sounds like a hoot and the perfect way for owners to actually get close to taking their Raptors to the limit. Best of all, the price of admission to this insane racing school is included in the price of a new Raptor. The school, as The Globe and Mail puts it, is “entirely unforgettable.” If that doesn’t get you interested, I’m not sure anything will.