Ford’s New Dakar Rally Race Truck Is the Coolest Off-Roader You’ll See This Year

The Ford Bronco’s days as the automaker’s coolest off-roader are over.

The Detroit giant’s performance division showed off its latest creation, the Raptor T1+, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed late last week. The wild-looking 4×4 actually ran the hill climb at the annual event and could be the Blue Oval’s entrant in next year’s Dakar Rally.

If you’re a fan of the Raptor line or Ford Performance’s handiwork the company’s latest off-roader may look a little familiar. That’s because the Raptor T1+ is related to the Ranger-based race truck that Ford built with M-Sport last year. But whereas that vehicle was a pickup outfitted with a bunch of off-roading gear, the Raptor T1+ is more of a mash-up of a monster truck and a fastback coupé. It features a heavily sculpted carbon-fiber body with aero elements on nearly every surface, wears a Red Bull racing livery, and rides on a set of 17-inch aluminum wheels wrapped in 37-inch all-terrain tires.

The Raptor T1+ will turn heads, but what’s really impressive may be what is (partially) hidden beneath its aggressively styled exterior. The truck is powered by a Coyote-based 5.0-liter V-8 that’s been equipped with a dry-sump oil system and a tuned exhaust engineered specifically for Dakar. Ford hasn’t revealed how powerful the setup is but did say it “delivers the power and torque needed to take on the rugged terrain.” Video of the truck’s Goodwood hill climb suggest it has more than enough grunt to get the job done.

Of course, a rally racer needs more than just a potent powertrain. The Raptor T1+ makes use of a steel space frame and has been equipped with a front and rear independent double-wishbone suspension developed in collaboration with Fox. Thanks to the advanced suspension and gigantic tires the truck has a nearly 16-inch ground clearance sure to come in handy in any off-road rally.

“Taking on such a demanding race like Dakar is a daunting task for all of us at Ford Performance, but we have never shirked a challenge,” Ford Performance Motorsports global director Mark Rushbrook, said in a statement. “To embrace this challenge, we have partnered with the best in the world with M-Sport and Red Bull and I think it shows how seriously we are taking this project.”

Unfortunately, as with Ford Performance’s SuperVan, there seem to be no plans to put the Raptor T1+ into production. There will be chances to see the truck in action, though. Ford has plans to enter the vehicle in competitions over the next six months, the Baja Hungary in August, the Rallye du Maroc in October, and the 2025 Dakar Rally in January.

Click here for more photos of the Ford Raptor T1+.