Ford Ranger Raptor Assault School Teaches Owners Off-Road Skills

Ford Ranger Raptor Assault School Teaches Owners Off-Road Skills

The Ford Ranger Raptor has finally arrived in North America, rounding out the existing Raptor lineup. It joins the F-150 Raptor and the Bronco Raptor to give extreme off-road enthusiasts more choices when it comes to having fun in the dirt.

It has impressive capability with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 engine that pumps out 405 horsepower, all-terrain tires, multiple off-road drive modes, and a suspension system designed to take a beating, but what if you don’t know how to truly drive this beast? Enter the Ford Ranger Raptor Assault School.

Launching in June in Tooele Valley, Utah, the Ranger Raptor Assault School will teach you how to fully utilize this truck’s off-road potential. The school is open solely to owners of the 2024 Ranger Raptor. There is no fee to attend, but you do need to pay your own lodging and travel expenses. Whether you’re an off-road veteran or a nervous novice, you will learn something new.

Dawn McKenzie, Ford Truck Communications Manger told CarBuzz, “The Ranger Raptor Assault School is the latest example of the unique experiences Ford provides customers. We don’t just teach off-road driving skills – our professional instructors ignite a passion for adventure and empower owners to more confidently pursue challenging terrain. Attendees will leave with increased knowledge and understanding of how to unlock the full potential of their new Ford Ranger Raptor.”

We had the opportunity to spend some time at the school with Ford’s experts where they took us through an abbreviated version of what owners will experience. Honestly, when a car company says they’re letting us off-road, you never really know what to expect. We’ve done off-road drives the average Toyota Camry could manage. We’re happy to say this course would have totaled a Camry.

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The Ford Performance engineering team helped design the curriculum to make sure that it highlighted the full capabilities of the Ranger Raptor, and they did not mess around. It doesn’t just show off the truck. It teaches about the truck. It covers the basics and the kind of driving most people don’t usually do, including jumping through the air.

Our experience was divided into two parts. First, we took it on a drive through loose rock with steep hills that had us looking at nothing but sky at the top. No problem. The Ranger Raptor has cameras, so it’s easy to see where to steer as you come back down on the other side. We changed drive modes along the way as the terrain changed, learning which modes worked best in which situations.

The second part of the experience was the part most people don’t do often, if ever. We put on helmets and Hans devices, which are head restraints that help protect your neck when you’re driving more aggressively. All the equipment is provided by the school, so no worries about needing to purchase extras once you’re on site.

Instructors guided us every step of the way as we navigated our Ranger Raptors through a Baja-style course marked with cones as a guide. Sharp corners, banked turns, and a healthy amount of mud due to a recent rain were all a part of the course. There was no pressure. Some of us were fast. Some of us were slow. All of us learned new skills.

Our last activity of the day was jumping. That’s an intimidating proposition if you’ve never done it before. Heck, even if you have done it you never know quite what to expect from a vehicle you’ve never driven. Once again the instructors were there, guiding us via walkie-talkie as we took our trucks into the air.

You buy a Ranger Raptor because you want to push it to the limits off-road. Learning exactly where those limits are is why you should take advantage of the Ranger Raptor Assault School.