Take a look at the 2020 model year Ford F-150 in the following clip. It looks pretty much stock with the notable exception of the Cervini’s hood. Out back, the no-frills XL with a single cab and a plastic steering wheel is rocking an aftermarket bumper and a tonneau cover, but the party piece of this half-ton pickup is the 5.0-liter Coyote V8 with a PTS turbo.
The 76-millimeter spinny snail is complemented by a 2018 Ford Mustang GT intake manifold, a triple-pump fuel system, and E85 because 85-percent ethanol translates to cooler air temperatures and considerably bigger bangs.
Further augmented by an Innovate Motorsports SCG-1 boost controller, the pickup still features the stock engine internals, valvetrain, and torque converter of the 10R80 automatic transmission. In the hands of Palm Beach Dyno, the gentle giant is much obliged to deliver 883 horsepower and 806 pound-feet (1,093 Nm) on the first pull. Because nobody likes to see rods on the shop floor, PBD settled for 16.8 pounds per square inch of boost and 988 horsepower plus 917 pound-feet (1,243 Nm) of tire-shredding oomph.
To put those numbers into perspective, the most potent half-ton truck for the 2021 model year comes in the guise of the Ram 1500 TRX. Officially rated at 702 horsepower and 650 pound-feet (881 Nm) of torque, the biggest rival of the F-150 Raptor won’t have it easy once the Raptor R goes official.
Ford isn’t willing to confirm or deny what kind of V8 engine is hiding under the hood, but we all know it’s the supercharged lump from the Shelby GT500. 760 horsepower and 625 pound-feet (847 Nm) sounds like a lot, but the Raptor R will play second fiddle to the next generation of half-ton rigs.
The F-150 Lightning, for example, promises to hit 60 miles per hour (97 kilometers per hour) in the mid-four-second range. A set of drag radials and some weight-saving measures would be more than enough to break the three-second mark. As for the long-awaited Cybertruck, Tesla quotes less than 2.9 seconds for the tri-motor powertrain that starts at $69,900.
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
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