Good article. That driving school sounds like fun, I'm due for a trip out to another one.
Personally, I find the rally and drift stuff very appealing. Sliding=Fun... It's not even debatable.
Here is the segment about the Raptor for those of you that want to only read that.
Road&Track said:
Bringing a Tank to a Gunfight
No off-road test would be complete—or rather‚ as much fun—without the ultimate off-road production vehicle. And that‚ my friends‚ means bringing along the 2011 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor. Armed with a brutish 411-bhp 6.2-liter V-8‚ Fox Racing shocks (with 11.2-in. front and 12.1-in. rear suspension travel) and 35-in. all-terrain tires‚ the Raptor begged to be tested by Tim O’Neil on the rally playground he knows best.
Upon finishing his hot laps‚ O’Neil shares his thoughts with an ear-to-ear grin: “Driving a truck this big on roads this narrow is a fun challenge but it doesn’t compare at all to the cars. The biggest advantage for the Raptor is its suspension travel‚ which would be great in the open desert with rough terrain. You could drive over ditches and bumps without worrying about slowing down. The disadvantages are that it’s too big for narrow rally roads‚ which we knew going into this‚ but also that its 6-speed automatic transmission has a little more of a delay in acceleration [versus a manual]. A little more seat time would help‚ but I noticed that if I could brake hard and not invoke ABS‚ and then shift down to low gear when I wanted to turn in‚ it responded well. Having the rear diff locked when it’s slippery and shifting down at the right moment has a big impact on how well it’s going to turn in. I’m actually pretty impressed‚ though‚ especially where I overshot a turn and went completely off road‚ and it didn’t hurt a thing! If I owned this vehicle I’d live in it. It’s fun‚ it sounds great‚ it’s got lots of power and it’ll hold all my stuff. It would make an absolute perfect support vehicle for the driving school.”
