The Nurburgring is one of the most torturous race tracks on earth and the owner of a brand new Ram 1500 TRX recently decided it would be a good idea to try and complete a full lap of the track with the pickup.
In a straight line, no other pickup truck can keep pace with the TRX thanks to its powerful 6.2-liter supercharged V8. It can hit 60 mph (96 km/h) in less than 4 seconds and sprint down the quarter-mile in the mid-12-second range. It is well suited to a drag strip but isn’t quite so well suited to the ‘Ring, as Dale Lomas from Bridge to Gantry discovers.
Just a few minutes into the lap, the brakes of the pickup started to smoke and the driver is forced to back off to cool them down. Once cool, he is able to start pushing the truck once again and it actually performs quite valiantly. Sure, it’s not going to set any lap records but there are also not many other vehicles you’ll see lapping Green Hell that can also tow almost 8,000 lbs (~3,600 kg).
While the Ram 1500 TRX currently has its segment of the pickup truck market all to itself, Ford has confirmed that it is working on a flagship variant of the newly-revised F-150 that will be dubbed the Raptor R. We know it will have a supercharged V8, most likely the same engine as the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, albeit slightly detuned from the pony car’s 760 hp.