The Blue Oval tossed us a big curve ball when it launched the then-new Ford F-150 Raptor back in 2009 for the 2010 model year, largely because it served as the successor to something very different – the F-150 SVT Lightning. Rather than launch a third-generation version of the Lightning, Ford instead opted to switch gears mid-development after it noticed that a lot of F-150 owners were spending big bucks to make their trucks more off-road capable. The rest, as they say, is history, and now, the Ford Raptor nameplate is celebrating 15 years of existence.
When this particular idea came about at SVT, the performance-focused unit went to work modifying a 2006 F-150 by adding bigger shocks and other aftermarket suspension upgrades, as well as a supercharger and 35-inch tires. They then sent this prototype to Borrego Springs in California to test it out in the sand dunes, where it performed amazingly well. The team then created a 65-mile route in the Borrego desert that simulated the same sort of terrain found in the Baja 1000. Later, it actually entered a mostly stock pre-production version of the original F-150 Raptor in the 41st Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 race, which went on to finish third in the Class 8 division.
“We pulled together a small skunk works team of engineers, designers, and off-road enthusiasts to prove out the idea,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance. “They created early prototypes that proved the idea could work – but would it be embraced by customers? As can happen, word leaked out to media and the internet about our project, codenamed ‘Raptor.’ We could see in real-time online (a big deal back then) that there was strong interest in the concept of a go-fast, long-travel desert racer from the factory and just as strong enthusiasm for the Raptor name. So much so that the codename became the name of the truck = F-150 Raptor.”
The Ford Raptor name has come a long way since then, adorning not only the F-150 Raptor and Raptor R, but also, the Ford Bronco Raptor and Ford Ranger Raptor, not to mention the all-new Ford Raptor T1+ prototype that debuted at this year’s Dakar Rally. Given the Raptor’s decade and a half of success thus far, it wouldn’t be surprising to see that same program influence other endeavors, too.
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