JetDriver480
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This is a detailed description of my Raptor Assault. This could spoil a little bit of a surprise but it should answer most of your questions. I HIGHLY recommend you attend this program. It exceeded all of my expectations and I had a blast!
As most of you are aware when you purchase a 2017 Ford Raptor and you get a VIN you are eligible to sign up for Raptor Assault, a free exclusive training event provided by Ford.
https://www.raptorassault.com/en/
Ford Performance Racing School
512 S Sheep Lane
Tooele, UT 84074
435-277-7333
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/f4QJmFLvc8T2
Ford Performance Racing School is located just inside the track’s main gates on your left (south). It is clearly marked and hard to miss. Salt Lake City Airport is approx 35-40 minutes from the Ford Performance Racing School and Tooele hotels.
Tooele Hotels (pronounced Too-EL)
There are only 3 good hotels in the city and based on what I saw and heard this is the order I would chose:
Enterprise Rental Car Discount Code (my business but feel free to use) - L42500D (password SMA)
Insurance
I did not buy insurance and I honestly don’t recommend it however about 90% of our class did purchase it. There is no point during your day where you should damage the vehicle unless you are simply being reckless or make a really bad mistake. I asked the instructor about damage and he said the only damage was to a bumper and a skid plate from a driver being stupid. We did have someone get a flat tire which was quickly (less than 7 minutes by the instructor and was no big deal and they were not responsible). You are not assigned vehicles and you drive with someone else so even if you did damage something like an exhaust tip they would have no way of knowing who drove the vehicle that day unless it was so obvious they spotted it during the day. The insurance is $79 and protects you only to $5,000 if you decide to go for it... again save your money!
Welcome Reception
Check-in: 5:30pm
Dinner: 6-7pm
The welcome reception starts at 6pm the evening before your actual driving day and begins with check-in at the front desk. I recommend showing up about 5:45pm as if you are there at 5:30 you may get bored unless you are super social or really into Ford Cars. You have the option to buy insurance here if you haven’t yet and will also have to sign in and will be given a wrist band. There is a small gift shop with some Raptor Specific hats and polo shirts as well as some other Ford apparel. I purchased a hat for $24.99 and really liked the hat but wish they had T-Shirts. There are complimentary drinks (sodas/waters) and you have a chance to meet others prior to dinner while looking around the ‘museum’ which has a few cars, a couple trucks, pictures, a Ford Time-line, etc.
We were introduced to the program with a short question/answer session and dinner was served promptly at 6pm. Dinner was buffet style and ours consisted of a salad, dinner rolls, vegies, mashed potatoes, chicken and beef with some cookies and what other sweets. Dinner was good but it won’t be the highlight of your training. The reception ended slightly before 7pm
*You may bring a guest to the welcome reception but not to the driving/training day.
Driving/Training Day
Check-in: 7:30am (again show up closer to 8am)
Classroom: 8:00-9:00am
Schedule
Classroom
The classroom is located in the main museum and is designed just for Raptor Assault class. When you get to class on of the instructors will get you a helmet (you will only wear the helmet on the dirt course and baja course so not all day... stow it under the back seats to keep it from banging around on the trails). Coffee, Soda and water along with small snacks (granola bar type) are available. You will have a name-tag, pen, slide handout waiting at your ‘assigned’ seat. There are about 15 slides that they go through and nothing here is really technical and it’s more of a briefing on how the day will go. After the classroom you will have a 10 minute break. Take some of the candy bars/waters from the class and throw them with your stuff… they make for a good snack later in the day if needed.
Truck Walk-around
After your break you will meet up at the Ford Raptor located outside of the classroom in the museum. One of the Instructors will go over the basic controls of the trucks such as the drive modes, steering modes, hill descent mode, cameras and show you where the radio is located. This is a basic overview for those who might not have a truck yet (some in our class hadn't driven a Raptor yet as they only had a VIN but hadn't taken delivery).
On-site Training Sessions
After the Truck Walk-around you will go out the museum doors where your Raptors will be waiting. The trucks are clean, well maintained and there were even two cold waters in the cup holders for us. There are a variety of them with different packages and options. They do not partner up drivers so try and make friends with someone before this point and partner up with them as you will be spending most of the day stuck in a truck with them so chose wisely! All of the trucks are Super Crew and have front LED lights (Aux1) and Rear Amber (Aux 2) off-road lights along with a radio in the console. The trucks are stock minus the lighting, race racks, and radios. You will use the off-road lights during the day when you are not on the road as they help you to be seen through the dust.
For your onsite training they will divide the group into two groups of Raptors, about 5-6 raptors per group (class is about 20 with a no show or two). One group will go to an onsite dirt race track and the other will go to the man-made agility course.
Each group will do the two following events and then switch and do the other:
Dirt Track
This is a short course that you will drive with your instructor as a group to see the layout of the track. It’s about ¼ of a mile total and includes some small turns and a braking box. Your instructor will be talking you through things on the Radio during this introduction. You will do 5 laps each, switching drivers in after each driver has completed the 5 laps. The first lap you will do in Normal Drive Mode… The next mode you will go into Dirt/Sand Mode, followed by two runs in the Baja Mode. This demo is to show you how well the truck assists you in these drive modes and how it modulates braking. During this demo they encourage you to drive it hard and to slam on the brakes in the braking box to see the difference. It is VERY noticeable in the different modes! Prior to each lap the instructor will give you a quick brief on each mode. It’s Fun… Try not to take out too many cones…our class took about about 4 on the first turn as drivers get faster and faster with each lap.
On-site Agility Course
This includes a 30-degree drive which is one of the most fun things during the day. You will be guided slowly with an instructor and you will be shocked how well the truck handles. We got our truck to 32 degrees and it felt like it should be tipping over but our instructor got on our running boards and rocked the truck and it remained drivable and secure. Impressive! You will use the Rock Crawl Mode for this and unlock the rear differential. After this demo you will do a hill climb with the rear differential locked which is a breeze in the Raptor as well as see how the Hill Descent mode works on a short descent. Once each drive completes this you will switch drives. Your instructors will always give you the drive mode to be in and will tell you when to lock/unlock the rear differential (by pushing the button on the 4x4 controller). Once you have completed both on-site courses you will drive over to the restrooms for a quick break. If you think you might have to go #2 this is your last time to do so until about 2-3pm where you will have access to an actual toilet facility. Lots of bushes on the trail and plenty of driver changes…
All of the Raptors leave together and stay together throughout the day however your instructor will change the radio so that two raptors (called a ‘Pod’) will follow one instructor. This is nice because he will explain things to your small pod on a separate radio so feel free to ask questions as your frequency is only the 3 trucks even though you will be in a group of about 15 raptors total during the day.
Off-Sight Training
After the quick break you will load up and head off to the mountains. The drive is about 25 minutes on the highway and is pretty cool in itself to see. Other drivers will stare and take pictures of the convoy! During the next 2 hours you will be on a nice trail that is easy for the Raptor. You will be impressed by how smooth the Raptor is during this time. Your instructor will do a great job of telling you what drive mode to be in and help you with upcoming obstacles, etc. During tricker sections they will spot you and walk you through problem areas. If you have never driven off-road you will have no problems with this course as it’s fairly easy but enjoyable none the less. You will switch drivers about every 30 minutes and have time to find a bush if needed during these driver changes. Your photographer will be everywhere so keep an eye out for him to take advantage of the photo opportunities.
Lunch
Lunch for our group was approx. 12-noon. We had lunch at the top of a mountain with cool views and a look down some cool deep mines… one with a jeep buried deep inside. Lunch is provided by Ford Performance free of charge and ours were box lunches with a variety of sandwich boxes which included chips or potato salad, cookie and a pickle. They also provided a good assortment of cold sodas and waters. Our lunch was about 30-45 minutes and at the top of a mountain so a little chilly depending not the season.
Baja/Desert Course
When lunch is over you will have another hour or two of heading down the mountain to the Baja course. Before the Baja Course you will have an actual bathroom at the trailhead. This will be your last real facility before returning to the Ford Racing building about 4pm. When you arrive to the course they will drive you through it in your small pod and explain the speed limits for each section. The speed limit tops out at 50mph with some slower sections but we might have gone about 65mph on some straight a ways. Once all Pods have gone through the course you will all stage at the ‘starting line’. They will change all of your radios to the same frequency and brief you on the radio terms/calls. Basically they want you to report your truck number (a new one they give you based on the order you make the run…not your actual truck number) and which checkpoint you are approaching so they can make sure trucks are remaining spaced out. The course is about 4-5 miles long with an instructor in a Raptor at each turn (3 checkpoints).
Sample Radio Call: “Truck 3 approaching checkpoint 1” (do not call at or after the checkpoint)
Each driver will get to make one run on this course and you will have a STERN briefing before hand warning you of the dangers of the course and reminding you to obey the speed limits and to not be that guy who wrecks the truck. Anything over about 60mph seems too fast on this course and the straight a ways aren’t long enough to get any faster really anyways. Once each group completes the course you will have a driver change and the group will run the course again.
After each group is done you will make the 30-minute drive back to Ford Performance Racing School (Highway/City driving)
Graduation
When you get back to the facility you will unload your truck leaving the keys in the vehicles. Head back into the classroom where you will have a short break before a nice debriefing. You will be advised to complete a survey from your phone which was emailed to you that afternoon. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. Once that’s done they will have a mini graduation and call each of you up to pickup a cool little trophy, completion certificate, t-shirt, koozie, chap stick and a Ford Catalogue. You will also get a flash drive which has hundreds of pictures from a professional photographer. This was the nicest touch as you will have pictures of you driving the Raptor throughout the day. Such a cool idea so don’t worry about having your phone out all day trying to take pictures… enjoy driving! Our class had over 900 pictures on the flash driver, about 30 of just me driving. Roll your window down as much as possible for pictures during the day!
Our class finished at approx. 5pm. You can easily make a 7pm flight, maybe even a 6pm flight. This is how our class went but your experience could vary!
***YOU DO NOT GET TO JUMP THE RAPTOR***
This is an exceptional course and if you don’t take advantage of it you are really missing out. It was very organized and well thought out but still laid back and fun. Ford really impressed me with every aspect of this program to having clean trucks with waters in them to the professional photographer and the graduation trophy. This course felt like something that should have cost $2k! Be sure to attend and enjoy it! It will make you love your new Raptor even more!
As most of you are aware when you purchase a 2017 Ford Raptor and you get a VIN you are eligible to sign up for Raptor Assault, a free exclusive training event provided by Ford.
https://www.raptorassault.com/en/
Ford Performance Racing School
512 S Sheep Lane
Tooele, UT 84074
435-277-7333
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/f4QJmFLvc8T2
Ford Performance Racing School is located just inside the track’s main gates on your left (south). It is clearly marked and hard to miss. Salt Lake City Airport is approx 35-40 minutes from the Ford Performance Racing School and Tooele hotels.
Tooele Hotels (pronounced Too-EL)
There are only 3 good hotels in the city and based on what I saw and heard this is the order I would chose:
- Holiday Inn Express – This is a newer hotel and has a brewery open until 11pm next door
- Hampton Inn – I stayed here and it was a nice clean hotel but maybe an extra 5-7 minutes form the Ford Racing School. Not much walking distance but downtown is about a 5 minute drive.
- Comfort Inn – This is the hotel most seem to stay at and is the ‘host hotel’ to FPRS. The rooms are pretty basic but its clean, safe, etc.
Enterprise Rental Car Discount Code (my business but feel free to use) - L42500D (password SMA)
Insurance
I did not buy insurance and I honestly don’t recommend it however about 90% of our class did purchase it. There is no point during your day where you should damage the vehicle unless you are simply being reckless or make a really bad mistake. I asked the instructor about damage and he said the only damage was to a bumper and a skid plate from a driver being stupid. We did have someone get a flat tire which was quickly (less than 7 minutes by the instructor and was no big deal and they were not responsible). You are not assigned vehicles and you drive with someone else so even if you did damage something like an exhaust tip they would have no way of knowing who drove the vehicle that day unless it was so obvious they spotted it during the day. The insurance is $79 and protects you only to $5,000 if you decide to go for it... again save your money!
Welcome Reception
Check-in: 5:30pm
Dinner: 6-7pm
The welcome reception starts at 6pm the evening before your actual driving day and begins with check-in at the front desk. I recommend showing up about 5:45pm as if you are there at 5:30 you may get bored unless you are super social or really into Ford Cars. You have the option to buy insurance here if you haven’t yet and will also have to sign in and will be given a wrist band. There is a small gift shop with some Raptor Specific hats and polo shirts as well as some other Ford apparel. I purchased a hat for $24.99 and really liked the hat but wish they had T-Shirts. There are complimentary drinks (sodas/waters) and you have a chance to meet others prior to dinner while looking around the ‘museum’ which has a few cars, a couple trucks, pictures, a Ford Time-line, etc.
We were introduced to the program with a short question/answer session and dinner was served promptly at 6pm. Dinner was buffet style and ours consisted of a salad, dinner rolls, vegies, mashed potatoes, chicken and beef with some cookies and what other sweets. Dinner was good but it won’t be the highlight of your training. The reception ended slightly before 7pm
*You may bring a guest to the welcome reception but not to the driving/training day.
Driving/Training Day
Check-in: 7:30am (again show up closer to 8am)
Classroom: 8:00-9:00am
Schedule
- Classroom Discussion
- Truck Walk-around
- Onsite Training Sessions (Dirt Track & Agility Course)
- Drive to Jacob City Trailhead
- Rattle Snake Canyon Trail
- Lunch
- Desert (Baja) Trail
- Return to Facility
- Graduation
Classroom
The classroom is located in the main museum and is designed just for Raptor Assault class. When you get to class on of the instructors will get you a helmet (you will only wear the helmet on the dirt course and baja course so not all day... stow it under the back seats to keep it from banging around on the trails). Coffee, Soda and water along with small snacks (granola bar type) are available. You will have a name-tag, pen, slide handout waiting at your ‘assigned’ seat. There are about 15 slides that they go through and nothing here is really technical and it’s more of a briefing on how the day will go. After the classroom you will have a 10 minute break. Take some of the candy bars/waters from the class and throw them with your stuff… they make for a good snack later in the day if needed.
Truck Walk-around
After your break you will meet up at the Ford Raptor located outside of the classroom in the museum. One of the Instructors will go over the basic controls of the trucks such as the drive modes, steering modes, hill descent mode, cameras and show you where the radio is located. This is a basic overview for those who might not have a truck yet (some in our class hadn't driven a Raptor yet as they only had a VIN but hadn't taken delivery).
On-site Training Sessions
After the Truck Walk-around you will go out the museum doors where your Raptors will be waiting. The trucks are clean, well maintained and there were even two cold waters in the cup holders for us. There are a variety of them with different packages and options. They do not partner up drivers so try and make friends with someone before this point and partner up with them as you will be spending most of the day stuck in a truck with them so chose wisely! All of the trucks are Super Crew and have front LED lights (Aux1) and Rear Amber (Aux 2) off-road lights along with a radio in the console. The trucks are stock minus the lighting, race racks, and radios. You will use the off-road lights during the day when you are not on the road as they help you to be seen through the dust.
For your onsite training they will divide the group into two groups of Raptors, about 5-6 raptors per group (class is about 20 with a no show or two). One group will go to an onsite dirt race track and the other will go to the man-made agility course.
Each group will do the two following events and then switch and do the other:
Dirt Track
This is a short course that you will drive with your instructor as a group to see the layout of the track. It’s about ¼ of a mile total and includes some small turns and a braking box. Your instructor will be talking you through things on the Radio during this introduction. You will do 5 laps each, switching drivers in after each driver has completed the 5 laps. The first lap you will do in Normal Drive Mode… The next mode you will go into Dirt/Sand Mode, followed by two runs in the Baja Mode. This demo is to show you how well the truck assists you in these drive modes and how it modulates braking. During this demo they encourage you to drive it hard and to slam on the brakes in the braking box to see the difference. It is VERY noticeable in the different modes! Prior to each lap the instructor will give you a quick brief on each mode. It’s Fun… Try not to take out too many cones…our class took about about 4 on the first turn as drivers get faster and faster with each lap.
On-site Agility Course
This includes a 30-degree drive which is one of the most fun things during the day. You will be guided slowly with an instructor and you will be shocked how well the truck handles. We got our truck to 32 degrees and it felt like it should be tipping over but our instructor got on our running boards and rocked the truck and it remained drivable and secure. Impressive! You will use the Rock Crawl Mode for this and unlock the rear differential. After this demo you will do a hill climb with the rear differential locked which is a breeze in the Raptor as well as see how the Hill Descent mode works on a short descent. Once each drive completes this you will switch drives. Your instructors will always give you the drive mode to be in and will tell you when to lock/unlock the rear differential (by pushing the button on the 4x4 controller). Once you have completed both on-site courses you will drive over to the restrooms for a quick break. If you think you might have to go #2 this is your last time to do so until about 2-3pm where you will have access to an actual toilet facility. Lots of bushes on the trail and plenty of driver changes…
All of the Raptors leave together and stay together throughout the day however your instructor will change the radio so that two raptors (called a ‘Pod’) will follow one instructor. This is nice because he will explain things to your small pod on a separate radio so feel free to ask questions as your frequency is only the 3 trucks even though you will be in a group of about 15 raptors total during the day.
Off-Sight Training
After the quick break you will load up and head off to the mountains. The drive is about 25 minutes on the highway and is pretty cool in itself to see. Other drivers will stare and take pictures of the convoy! During the next 2 hours you will be on a nice trail that is easy for the Raptor. You will be impressed by how smooth the Raptor is during this time. Your instructor will do a great job of telling you what drive mode to be in and help you with upcoming obstacles, etc. During tricker sections they will spot you and walk you through problem areas. If you have never driven off-road you will have no problems with this course as it’s fairly easy but enjoyable none the less. You will switch drivers about every 30 minutes and have time to find a bush if needed during these driver changes. Your photographer will be everywhere so keep an eye out for him to take advantage of the photo opportunities.
Lunch
Lunch for our group was approx. 12-noon. We had lunch at the top of a mountain with cool views and a look down some cool deep mines… one with a jeep buried deep inside. Lunch is provided by Ford Performance free of charge and ours were box lunches with a variety of sandwich boxes which included chips or potato salad, cookie and a pickle. They also provided a good assortment of cold sodas and waters. Our lunch was about 30-45 minutes and at the top of a mountain so a little chilly depending not the season.
Baja/Desert Course
When lunch is over you will have another hour or two of heading down the mountain to the Baja course. Before the Baja Course you will have an actual bathroom at the trailhead. This will be your last real facility before returning to the Ford Racing building about 4pm. When you arrive to the course they will drive you through it in your small pod and explain the speed limits for each section. The speed limit tops out at 50mph with some slower sections but we might have gone about 65mph on some straight a ways. Once all Pods have gone through the course you will all stage at the ‘starting line’. They will change all of your radios to the same frequency and brief you on the radio terms/calls. Basically they want you to report your truck number (a new one they give you based on the order you make the run…not your actual truck number) and which checkpoint you are approaching so they can make sure trucks are remaining spaced out. The course is about 4-5 miles long with an instructor in a Raptor at each turn (3 checkpoints).
Sample Radio Call: “Truck 3 approaching checkpoint 1” (do not call at or after the checkpoint)
Each driver will get to make one run on this course and you will have a STERN briefing before hand warning you of the dangers of the course and reminding you to obey the speed limits and to not be that guy who wrecks the truck. Anything over about 60mph seems too fast on this course and the straight a ways aren’t long enough to get any faster really anyways. Once each group completes the course you will have a driver change and the group will run the course again.
After each group is done you will make the 30-minute drive back to Ford Performance Racing School (Highway/City driving)
Graduation
When you get back to the facility you will unload your truck leaving the keys in the vehicles. Head back into the classroom where you will have a short break before a nice debriefing. You will be advised to complete a survey from your phone which was emailed to you that afternoon. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. Once that’s done they will have a mini graduation and call each of you up to pickup a cool little trophy, completion certificate, t-shirt, koozie, chap stick and a Ford Catalogue. You will also get a flash drive which has hundreds of pictures from a professional photographer. This was the nicest touch as you will have pictures of you driving the Raptor throughout the day. Such a cool idea so don’t worry about having your phone out all day trying to take pictures… enjoy driving! Our class had over 900 pictures on the flash driver, about 30 of just me driving. Roll your window down as much as possible for pictures during the day!
Our class finished at approx. 5pm. You can easily make a 7pm flight, maybe even a 6pm flight. This is how our class went but your experience could vary!
***YOU DO NOT GET TO JUMP THE RAPTOR***
This is an exceptional course and if you don’t take advantage of it you are really missing out. It was very organized and well thought out but still laid back and fun. Ford really impressed me with every aspect of this program to having clean trucks with waters in them to the professional photographer and the graduation trophy. This course felt like something that should have cost $2k! Be sure to attend and enjoy it! It will make you love your new Raptor even more!
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