Did you know that when you purchase the Ford Edge ST, or the upcoming Ford Explorer ST, you’re invited to a racing school in Park City, Utah? It’s called the Ford ST SUV Experience, a branch of the many available programs offered by the Ford Performance Racing School. We just sampled the program as if we were new Edge ST owners, and here’s what we think about it.
For the record, this program doesn’t include travel costs to get to Park City; you’ll have to cover that on your own. But, once there, Ford takes good care of you, putting you up in a nice hotel located not too far from the Olympic Park where the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were held. Ford covers your meals, and hands you the keys to a brand new 2019 Ford Edge ST painted in the color of your liking. The Blue Oval will also pay the stay for a guest, which makes for a wonderful couples getaway.
During your stay, you will experience a series of driving exercises to both better understand what the Ford Edge ST can do from a performance standpoint, and also sharpen your reflexes during evasive maneuvers and emergency braking.
The first section of the event focuses on over/understeer comprehension, where an instructor in a Ford Taurus training car, which can raise or lower its ride height to simulate a car’s weight transfer under load, teaches you how to recover an out-of-control vehicle. The event then shifts to a high-speed braking autocross course to sample out the upgraded brake system on the Edge ST as well as its collision mitigation and emergency braking systems.
From there, participants transfer over to an autocross track to drive laps against the clock. You’re given four laps in total, with the first one accompanied by a Ford trainer to make sure you’ve properly assessed the course and the vehicle’s handling abilities.
The Ford Edge ST is Ford’s first attempt at making a high-performance SUV. It’s powered by the twin-turbocharged 2.7L V6 EcoBoost engine good for 335 horsepower and 380 pound-feet of torque. It also gets stiffer springs all around, a transmission cooler for the eight-speed automatic gearbox, and an upgraded brake system by way of larger rotors and calipers.
So, if you’ve just purchased Ford Edge ST and are looking for a nice place to spend your next vacation, consider Park City, Utah as your destination. You’ll get to properly test out the limits of your new sporty SUV all while enjoying a free stay in a nice place.
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Comment
There’s you tube video on this Track Experience for the Focus/Fiesta ST. I wanted to see it for myself because I purchased a 2016 Focus ST. Check it out before considering going to this thing, It’s pretty much a waste of time.