Photo: The Fast Lane on YouTube / edited by autoevolution
Not all truck drag races are created equal. The video below stars four off-road pickups, beginning with the Ford F-150 Raptor 37 and V8-engined Raptor R. The other two are Ram’s rowdy TRX and the 1,000-horsepower GMC Hummer EV from General Motors.
Rather than racing all four of them at the same time, the crew at The Fast Lane preferred to race them two at a time The reason? That’s because the runway where this video was filmed is too narrow to race four pickups side by side.
The first pair to duke it out in the quarter mile consists of the Ford F-150 Raptor with the 37-inch tire package and its more powerful sibling, the Shelby GT500-engined Raptor R. Neither has launch control, which is why torque braking is recommended in this scenario. Far more powerful and torquier than the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 in the Raptor 37, the 5.2-liter Predator V8 in the Raptor R is hugely impressive right off the start line.
It pulls and pulls relentlessly, with the Raptor R eventually crossing the finish line in 13.13 seconds at 108 miles per hour (174 kilometers). Considering that the runway is located in Colorado at a mile above sea level, that’s not bad for a vehicle this heavy, a truck equipped with all-terrain rubber instead of sticky drag radials.
Retailing at nearly $110,000 at press time, the Raptor R then challenges the Ram 1500 TRX to see which is better in the quarter mile. It’s a far worthier adversary than the V6-engined Raptor, for it sports a 6.2-liter HEMI topped with an IHI-supplied supercharger. More powerful and torquier than the Raptor R, the crosstown rival comes standard only with 35-inch rubber from Goodyear.
It also features two fewer speeds, and it’s quite a bit heavier as well due to a curb weight of 6,350 pounds (2,880 kilograms) versus 5,950 pounds (2,699 kilograms) for the Blue Oval’s dune basher. And the quarter mile results are 13.29 seconds for the Raptor R and 13.31 seconds for the TRX, results that may spark a heated argument between Ford and Mopar loyalists.
That argument comes to a close with the rematch, a dash from 30 miles per hour (48 kilometers per hour) to the finish line between the Raptor R and TRX. There’s no other way of saying it, but the Raptor R immediately pulls ahead, crossing the finish line half a truck ahead.
Tipping the scales at more than 9,000 pounds (4,082 kilograms), the GMC Hummer EV is the most powerful of the bunch. In addition to 1,000 horsepower, General Motors also advertises 11,500 pound-feet (15,592 Nm), which isn’t true because the way the advertised torque is measured is different from the peak horsepower rating.
It's also worth remembering that General Motors limits the Hummer EV to 106 miles per hour (171 kilometers per hour) due to its weight and tires. The first-ever Hummer to be sold under the GMC brand needs 12.36 seconds to conquer the quarter mile from a standstill.
Although the Raptor R records nearly 110 miles per hour (177 kilometers per hour), second place will have to suffice due to an elapsed time of 13.23 seconds. Remember when 13 seconds was fast by early 1970s muscle car standards? Pepperidge Farm remembers…
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News