TAMING THE SANDS—AND SNOW AND MUD AND ROCKS—OF NEW MEXICO IN FORD’S SECOND-GENERATION RAPTOR.
TAKE THIS ROAD,” my co-pilot urges. “I just know that it leads someplace good.” Chances are, she’s right. Nearly every road in the vicinity offers adventure. Chances are also high that the route will get us stuck.
We’re in New Mexico, one of the few places in our overly civilized country that will defeat the average truck or SUV. For every paved road in the 121,590-square-mile state, there are dozens of dirt tracks that radiate away from the tarmac, an arterial system that runs over the meat and bones of a great, rugged beast of land. And although people come to the state expecting deserts, they’re often not ready for the 13,000-foot mountains, the jumbles of flattop mesas, the slick sandstone, or the face-slapping winds that blow down from the snow-capped San Juan peaks. It can be a lonely place. The scope is immense, the kind of big that makes you feel small, inducing for some a sort of open-air panic. But I grew up here, a third-generation New Mexican, and find comfort in the hundred-mile horizons.
For 20 years, I’ve been hemmed in on the East Coast. Whenever I need to reorient my internal compass and look to the sky while touching dirt, a trip home is in order. And if you’re going to roam this big land, you’d best do it in something that won’t force you to hoof it out.
Enter the second-generation F-150 Raptor. You may know it as the Truck That Jumps. But that’s a pretty narrow customer mandate. What Ford has sought to create is a go-anywhere vehicle that opens up places like the back roads of New Mexico to all of us.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2017-Ausgabe von Road & Track.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der June 2017-Ausgabe von Road & Track.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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MR. CALIFORNIA
MEET THE MAN WHO PUT THE STATE ON THE MAP AS THE LEADER IN THE FIGHT AGAINST VEHICLE EMISSIONS.
RESIDENT ALIEN
THE CZINGER 21C LOOKS LIKE IT ARRIVED FROM A DISTANT PLANET. INSTEAD, IT COMES FROM CALIFORNIA, WHICH IS KIND OF THE SAME THING.
FUNNY FACE
THE CURIOUS CASE OF CALIFORNIA-DIAL WATCHES.
THE PROBLEM WITH ROBERT WILLIAMS
TOWARD THE END of our third interview, Robert Williams gives me some advice about overcoming creative blocks. “Phrase it as a problem,” he says. “
Quiet Riot
In the Ioniq 5 N, Hyundai makes the case that an EV can tamp down racetrack noise without sacrificing capability.
The Sound and the Fury
A legal feud over booming decibels put California's most historic roadracing circuit in jeopardy.
HOLLYWOOD'S GREATEST STUNT DRIVER
CAREY LOFTIN WAS THE KING OF THE SCIENTIFIC WILD-ASS GUESS
OFFLINE
THIS BURBANK BOOKSTORE IS A REPOSITORY FOR THE WORLD OF AUTOMOTIVE INFORMATION NOT ON YOUR PHONE.
THE COURSE OF HISTORY
The West Coast tracks where modern racing was born.
TANK WARFARE
WHAT IF THE WHOLE CAR WERE A GAS TANK?