2019 Raptor Assault

[mezger]

Looks like we get to run 2019s. It'll be cool to see how different the shocks are. I'm going to hit Moab for a couple days after the assault.

 

[ddpt]

Looks like we get to run 2019s. It'll be cool to see how different the shocks are. I'm going to hit Moab for a couple days after the assault.

Yes they are all 2019 models. It would be interesting to get your feedback on them.

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[WH7]

Just booked for September 29th/30th. Also booked the optional performance track option for my Wife and Myself on October 1st.
We will be taking a couple of weeks vacation to drive up from North Texas. Thinking 4 days up and then we can take our time coming
back and see some sights.

 

[MacK88DO]

Just got back and had a blast! Rained the night before and the day of made the off-road portion super muddy and slick. Really show cases what these trucks are capable of. I have a late build 2018 and driving the 2019 was a great way to compare. First, I can’t say I felt a huge difference in the shocks. Maybe a little better control with rebound and definitely a little firmer on the road. Second, trail control makes off-roading easy, a little too easy. It was cool to use the tech but took some of the fun out of left foot braking and really driving the truck yourself. That being said it makes even a novice driver look like a pro going up the steep rocky inclines. Third, I am jealous of the increased gauge ability of the 19’ central dash, but my Cobb Access Port foxes that. And lastly, the transmission in the 19’ definitely felt smoother especially in sport mode. I think they finally got the trans tuning dialed in on the 19’s. In any case the program overall far exceeded my expectations and you’d be nuts not to take advantage of it! I’ve done some mild off-roading in my own truck and the program proved that I was barely tapping into what these bad boys are truly capable of.


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[italianhound303]

Attending April 18-19, anyone going to be there with me?

 

[mezger]

2018 owner here. Thoughts on the truck and course...

IMO, the driving is pretty tame. Those who've never offroaded will likely have a blast, and it's definitely worth the flight out there for them. Those who run their trucks fast in the desert or have rock crawled or track their cars... you're not going to get an adrenaline rush from what we did. That said, this shouldn't be surprising given the running costs, replacement costs, and liability incurred if they went balls out every week with a group of 20 drivers of unknown experience and skill levels.

It snowed on us, and that aspect made the trip really enjoyable for me as I haven't run mine offroad in the mud and snow. Pretty cool how much capability it retains, and there's just something fun about offroading in mud and snow.

Overview of what we did:

Meet and greet dinner: food was surprisingly tasty. Bunch of car guys and race car guys hanging out talking cars made for a good time. Got to check out the baja 1000 truck up close and personal, see an actual ford GT, sit in their boss race car, shot the shit with some race car drivers.

Drive day:

Classroom time where parameters were spelled out.

There was a very short offroad AutoX course which I thought was a lot of fun. I think we should have spent at least 3x as much time here as we did and that we should have been allowed to run full laps.

The slickrock-like crawling course was pretty cool, but again... very short.

There was a lot of low speed offroad driving on BLM land. ~10-20 mph-ish. This was cool especially because of the mud and snow and large puddles. Also cool for the awesome scenery.

Then there was a lot of low speed climbing on primitive roads. This was also pretty fun.

Then there was the 'desert run' course. The primitive road chosen was pretty representative of what I like to run on, except speeds were limited to 40mph and we only ran for maybe a mile.

The scenery in Utah is incredible.

The instructors were a cool bunch of guys, and it was cool to hang out with a bunch of hard core car guys from all over the US for the day.

Miller motorsports complex is no joke.

As a 2018 owner, I paid close attention to the 2019 shocks and recaros.

My take is the shocks are noticeably different, but it isn't game changing dramatic. Which is both good and bad. They behave intuitively which is good, but on the road they aren't as butter smooth over small imperfections as i was expecting (high speed | high frequency small amplitude damping is more than expected). They are less floaty on the road (drove in sport mode 24x7 on the road), but they transmit the little bumps that the 2018 filters. Offroad, we didn't run as fast or as hard as I run; I couldn't tell a difference, though I imagine there is one. On the little offroad autoX course, they had us nail the brakes in three modes, and there was a noticeable difference in dive across the modes, I imagine that was at least in part shocks related.

My take on the Recaros is I prefer them to the regular seats, but they aren't dramatically bolstered as I'd like to see in a set of sport seats. The material offers a higher coefficient of friction so they keep you in place better. Unsure how alcantera holds up to getting dirty. Wish they were offered in black or dark grey.

WRT the 'Trail Control': I tried it once, left foot braked for all other times where it'd have been used. It's very effective and kinda cool, but I'm not pointing a truck at obstacles because I want to be a passenger.

Overall take:

Definitely worth the flight if you're a SBUX edition driver and want a taste. For more advanced enthusiasts, worth the flight if you want to do some pretty tame offroading, see Utah scenery, and hang with some cool car guys and race car drivers. Not worth the flight if you're looking to be Ken Block in Ford's trucks.

I enjoyed the trip, and used it as an excuse to hit up Moab for a few days. Philosophically, I think it's really cool that Ford offers this, and I hope they continue to do so.

 

[rsbug]

Pretty much what mezger said....I had just attended recently...there was a lot of mud, some snow and such. The Baja mode run was fun as well, yet only allowed a top speed of 40mph.....mainly due to liability I’m sure. One thing I learned ...Ford does not provide their vehicles that we take out, hence its tamed down a bit.
Great experience

 

[loupuleff]

I'm heading out there next weekend anyone here going from az ?

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[gdestiny]

I went last Sunday and mezger’s post is spot on. IMO it was well worth it. It rained all day so it added a lot of muddy terrain. I hit up Red Iguana as well after reading others recommendations. That place was worth it too. The program is a great way for Ford to build brand loyalty.

 

[Offsetz33]

I’ll be there May 19-20