Ford Raptor T1 Meets American Desert Racing

0:00It's the Enwill Time Card Talk Show just to have Matt Martelli and the new Ford Raptor. Yeah. Race truck. Jeff has the cruise in and events, Caledars. Plus, we'll have this week's top automotive news stories. How do you along with Mike out of this world, Mars? We always need more Jeff Seacon. David Ainsley is vacationing in the U.P. of Michigan. And he called in earlier. Just to take the screwdriver and put it in a little bit further. Trick down. I thought he was calling in six for a minute, but I didn't. He didn't sound sick. Well, he is. Well, he's seen that. There is that. But anyway, just to rub it in, it was like, I don't know, 65 degrees up there. Well, he's drinking his coffee on the lake. On the porch, watching the boats go. Yeah, that. Anyway, so that's what he's doing. I'm Don Armstrong. Glad you could join us today. Let's get right to it. And let's talk to Matt Martelli and the debut of the Ford Raptor T1 at the Casey folks.

1:05Vegas, Toreno run. Right. Well, good morning to you, Matt. It's good to see you. Get talk to you. And let's find out first of all about you. Who are you and who are you with? Oh, absolutely. I'm the CEO of unlimited off road racing. We run the American off road racing championship, which is now the largest off road racing championship in the world. So pretty exciting year for us. And, you know, like you were alluding to the T1 Raptor is coming to race with us. That's making it's American debut. So we're really excited about that. It's a very unique vehicle. And we're excited to see what it does in our style racing. Why did Ford decide to go with you for its American debut in this race? Well, it's interesting because these cars are what's called rally raid cars. So they're, they're used to doing multi stage events, usually about 300 miles per stage. And they have limited travel.

2:06So it means that most of the courses we run in North America are too rough for them. So this particular race is very smooth. It's a lot of graded roads and it's 550 miles. So it would effectively be the longest stage that any one of these vehicles has ever run consecutively one day. So they saw it as a really good opportunity to connect the dots with the European style of racing of rally raid and the discipline that they're racing at Dakar and American off road racing. So is the truck built for off road racing and they were putting it on the street? Is that basically it? No, it's it's racing off road. So it's just it's built for milder conditions than what we normally race in America like Baja. Yeah, like Baja or the mint 400. The mint 400, in particular, is the roughest race we have all year. So our vehicles have bigger tires, more horsepower, more suspension.

3:08They're actually the only form of racing that is truly unlimited. If you can build it and dream it and bring it and race it, then it's on. So this is the Ford built and designed truck for this race, but it can obviously do other races as well. So they've decided that hey, we're going to put it in this race and put it up against all of these hot rod folks for lack of a better term and see what it does. Yeah, I know it's really cool that this particular car was designed by Ford in conjunction with M sport out of Europe and was designed specifically to race the Dakar rally, which is, you know, a 14 day, 14 stage rally that is a lot of dunes. And some rough terrain, but nowhere near the amount of rough terrain that we have here in the United States, you know, our deserts produce some of the most wicked conditions on the planet. Yeah, pretty, pretty deep sand. Now is this Ford version, maybe closer to one of their street spec trucks rather, you know, a more accommodating segment of a Ford truck rather than what you're doing to it out there.

4:18More of a daily driver. It's not. It's a specific built race vehicle. My guess is be about a two and a half to three million dollar car. Or we'll drive. I mean, the acceleration on these things is absolutely remarkable. They're really wicked cars. What kind of motors have got in it? It is running a Ford engine, the coyote, I believe. Okay. Okay. So this is a race truck through and through. Yeah. Absolutely. So it doesn't have an EcoBoost six cylinder in it. This is the real, the real McGillah. Well, it is, but what's interesting is is when they're racing in Europe, they have very tight restrictions, right? So that the engines restricted, the travels restricted, the wheel sizes restricted. But when they come to America, essentially, they're, they're racing against our unlimited trucks, right? Which are real unlimited vehicles. So to give you an idea, like the unlimited trucks that we race are a thousand plus horsepower.

5:24They have 40 inch tires and 36 inches of wheel travel, right? So unparalleled suspension. When we talk about all different forms of racing, you know, what our vehicles do that's totally remarkable is really the same. They don't accelerate, they don't have the highest top speed and they definitely don't turn like street race cars. So basically what you're saying is that they wouldn't even know what a curb stop is in the Croger parking lot. No, you wouldn't even feel it. Couldn't even feel it. That's about six inches of travel. Right. Like that's what's wild about our form of racing is that we measure travel and feet, not ninches, right? So like our top trucks are three feet of travel, right? So just really remarkable vehicles, just incredible. I mean, 160 miles an hour going over three to three and a half foot, you know, whoops. There's nothing like in the world.

6:25And I'm not trying to change the subject here, but what happened to what I considered an extremely popular venue and that was stadium racing for trucks like this trucks and other off road type vehicles. What what happened? It's a great story of really a great American Mickey Thompson. He started really promoting desert racing and realized he needed to take it to the masses. So he created Mickey Thompson short course racing, you know, back in the 80s and into the 90s. And really went all over the world and it was very remarkable. Unfortunately, he was assassinated. I don't know if you remember that. Oh, yes. You know, still, you know, there's a lot of people that believe that the person or the people responsible are still not figured out yet, right? So after his death, it kind of fell apart like he was a true, not just a visionary, but he was a guy who could walk into a room and, you know, convinced huge corporations to invest into off road, which, you know, to his credit led to what we have today and off road vehicles, even street vehicles.

7:37And I can wholeheartedly tell you that without Mickey Thompson, there be no Ford Raptor, right? There be no Bronco return, you know, on and on. So it kind of lost its way. And then it changed from stadium to kind of like a more a bigger track outdoors racing, which we still have today. But the biggest track we have is Brandon and Northern Wisconsin. They do two races there a year. And I highly recommend if your motor sports enthusiasts and you have the opportunity to go to fall Brandon, turn one and fall,

8:41and then you can, Reno? No, I actually reside in San Diego. Well, I'm sorry to hear that for you. Yeah, I was born actually funny story, right? I'm a Michigan kid. I was born in Kalamazoo. And my parents relocated 1984 dropped us in Elca home, which is one corner of what we call the bromuda triangle. Bro, you're the triangle. Can we, we're going to expand on that too good. Yeah, bro, you know, it's San Diego, Las Vegas and Phoenix. Well, that's what we refer to as the bromuda triangle where all the, the really the growth of off road culture, which was born from hot rotting culture, right? So you'll see a lot of crossover names and a lot of parallel people who, you know, took techniques that were being. You know, created for making cars go faster in the 1950s and they put them in off road.

9:41Well, I have to tell you that I mean, I'm not an off roader, but I certainly do appreciate all of the technology that goes into those trucks. I mean, and as you said, you know, you could put a million horsepower into anything. But when it comes to the suspension work on these trucks, mainly trucks. Now, because I know that there are other forms other than trucks, but we're focused on trucks here to see the suspension on these. I have been fortunate enough to see that you're going, how did somebody manage to put that pencil to paper and create, create this, this thing that's like an elevator. I know how they did it. How do they do it? They went, hold my beer, watch this. Yeah, that's it. Is somebody with a welder going, you know what? We can probably get at least another foot out of that suspension. But if we have new rivet, it'll do it.

10:42Yeah, I mean, it's truly amazing to see how that thing works. And to think that they, I know that probably this truck is a custom chassis and all of that sort of stuff. But these guys will take an actual stock chassis, gussy it up, and somehow, some way, get the suspension travel on the thing and make their own shocks. Yeah, you know, all that fluids and all that. Yeah, it's truly amazing. So Ford's got this several million dollar vehicle they're bringing over here and run on your, run on your turf. What are some of the other teams? Are they, do they have several million dollar vehicles? Or is it like a backyard kind of set up or what? Well, yes and no. That's a beautiful thing about our sport in particular is that we have the top level teams that are the unlimited trucks, which are multi-million dollar vehicles, right? Yeah. And we're spending millions of dollars to race them every year. And then we have 28 different classes of vehicles below that all the way down to, I'd say the slowest class is still stock VW bugs.

11:48So, you know, the great thing is unlike NASCAR Formula One, you can still go build something in your garage with your friends and you can come and race our racists, right? And that's really for us, like that's very important because that's the American spirit that spawned hot riding that spawned off road, right? Like people built all this stuff in their garage. Now we have a, we have an industry now of race vehicles that are being built that are very remarkable and capable. You know, if you, if you have the budget to go that way. So, you know, it kind of gives a space for every budget level to come play in our sport. Great. So, what do you have, Matt? I've learned something a long time ago about keep your money in your pocket and just go enjoy everybody else's dough. Yeah, basically like I think it flies floats or whatever, right? And I have a handful of UTVs, which are remarkable vehicles.

12:53If you've never been able to either ride in one or go drive one, I highly recommend it. There's a lot of rental places all over the United States where you can go rent a can am or a Polaris. So, we've got several of those that we use both for fun and for the work that we do out, course marking, you know, several trucks, etc. But no, I get to enjoy racing with other people's things, which is which is the best way to do what I feel. Do you ever get to ride with someone? Yeah, absolutely. What I, I'm very, I guess I would call myself a like an off road tech nerd, right? So, when there's new innovation, a new type of vehicle or new shock system or whatever, I want to experience it so I can really speak to it. So, you know, I have the luxury of calling some of our top guys and saying, hey, you guys put this new engine in.

13:54It's, you know, whatever 300 more horsepower. I want to see what that feels like. Can I come and take a ride? And most of the time they're excited to, you know, just share the evolution of the technology. And we've had some really cool evolutions as of late. And we've just recently been able to have four wheel drive vehicles. Because prior to about, you know, 10 or 15 years ago, we couldn't get the suspension, the four wheel drive suspension to live, right? Like it was predominantly two wheel drive vehicles. And now there's some four wheel drive vehicles that are starting to make some headway. So Matt, when is this race? This race is coming up at the first part, part of August, August 12th through the 15th. Yeah, it's a little, give me a little warm, but in a desert. The cool thing about this year is that it's the 30th anniversary. And we are running it backwards. So we are running Reno, to Vegas, which we've never done.

14:56Which is going to create all sorts of additional drama because we're racing from a cooler area at elevation down to a hotter area. So typically at the end of the race, the vehicles are pretty spent. And you're trying to like, you know, get it to the finish line. And now you're going into the heat. So it means that the cooling fans and the electrical will be running at full clip. So it's going to be a real test of the mechanics of the vehicle. So we're going to be able to follow along during this race or how does that work? Yeah, absolutely. This year also, this will be the first year that will be live streaming it. So you'll be able to go and watch the entire race for free on YouTube. As well as one of the coolest innovations that have happened lately is that we've begun attaching star links to the vehicles. So now you can see in cars the entire race. Right. We have star links. So what do we look up on YouTube?

15:58Just unlimited off road racing and best of desert. Both will have the feeds for the YouTube live stream. If you just search for Vegas Reno, it'll come up as well. Pretty easy to find. Matt's great to talk to you, my friend. Thanks so much for all the info. We know a part of the bro, but you're trying to go. Are we part of that now? Well, you know, I was just up in Michigan and northern Michigan and Traverse City and South Haven. I'm like, maybe we should loop this part of the country in. Yeah. Well, well, we'll talk about that. That's another show. Matt, thanks again. We appreciate you talking to us. Awesome. Thank you guys. Thank you, Matt Martelli. Okay. Hey, be sure and join us for our live show every week in real time. Here's Saturdays, 10 to noon, Facebook, YouTube and in realtime.com. And of course, if you miss it, you can catch 30 minute podcasts of this show at your favorite podcast store. Thanks for joining us. We'll back after this break.

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18:00The Enwill Time Car Talk Show thanks you for 15 wonderful years. Yep, our first show aired May 7, 2011 on the local radio station. Then it was a move to the digital world and social media and you followed. Thank you. We continue to build and grow our fan base and it's all because of you and your auto-enthusiast friends. We appreciate your support. It's always great to see you at our remote broadcast too and we hope you'll continue to stop by and say hello. It's been a great ride and we hope to bring you more fun and adventure right here on the Enwill Time Car Talk Show. We really appreciate it for our live version of this. It's time now here on the Enwill Time Car Talk Show for our cruise in and events calendars. Yeah, we've got some headlines after that. Yep. So for next weekend July 17th, Saturday, you got the Travis County Exposition Center. It's the Texas Heat Wave out of Austin's going on next weekend. Wow. Enjoy that if you're out there taking their conditioner. Yep. And then also Saturday, that would restart Friday. I should say for the Texas Heat Wave Coast weekend.

19:02Next Saturday is the Hemstead Watermelon Festival Car Show. It's a barbecue store. Now this is anybody that knows Houston and Northwest part, Highway 6 and 290. This is the old Lawrence Marshall lot. It's where they had the car dealership. Wait a minute. Didn't he go to jail? I don't know. That's not in the story. But it is Hemstead Commerce and Civic Association. They're going out there. It's a watermelon festival. You know, bury yourself in some of that sweet red watermelon juices and all that good stuff. 5050 Ralph. There's a big event going on out there. So another Saturday event is the Tint World Cars and Coffee. Wait a minute. What did you decide? Tint World with an end in it. Yeah, it's a new brothel. So get either way. Tint World. 553 South Sure Business Interstate Highway 35. So Tint World Styling Center is hosting cars and coffee every Thursday. Saturday. And then on Sunday, the 19th, you got the Will Rogers Memorial Center. This is the 35th annual yellow rose classic Southwest all four national car show.

20:04Hang. You can get that on a bumper. These are only for fours that have not been recalled. This is up in Fort Worth, up kidding. Up in Fort Worth. And this is the 35th annual. I don't know how they count that high because they're up there. And then of course, the, you got the Will, the Willis Classic Car Show coming up. And then what's you talking about Willis? Car meets at 403. So that's all going on next weekend. There's a lot of car shows. So in your community, all you got to do is Google car shows in your area. Boom, they'll pop. You know, we started this show. There were maybe a dozen, you know, cruise. They're all over now. There are so many. There's no way we could ever get to all of them. Well, you sent me a link to one this past week. And I looked into it and there's, you got to go to like 20 steps to get in anything. Hard concrete information. So a lot for posting. So if you got a car show, you want to know. Yeah, let us know. Yeah. Exactly. All right. Yeah. Speaking of Ford. This is a story that it just, it's unbelievable, but it's not too far fetched.

21:10Ready? Yeah. Ford Motor Company reportedly fired an electrician earning more than $200,000 a year at the automaker's most profitable assembly plant over a $1.95 chocolate chip cookie. Kurt Crom told shifting gears that Ford had him escorted out of the Kentucky truck plant after accusing the 60 year old diabetic of stealing a cookie during his overnight shift on May the 9th. Ford had a break room surveillance video, according to them showing him getting a red failed payment screen on a self service kiosk. But Crom, who was feeling light headed at the time, said he successfully swiped his credit card on a second terminal before eating the cookie to raise his blood sugar level. He said, I thought this was all a joke at first.

22:14He said, if you wanted to get rid of me, you could have just asked, and I'd quit, why are you doing this over a cookie? Crom later produced a bank statement listing the $1.95 charge. And Ford eventually offered to rehire him after confirming the payment with Aremark, the vendor that operates the kiosk. But by then, Crom had already moved back to his hometown in Wisconsin, go badgers, and gotten a new job with better pay. So they make it more than 200 grand a year. We don't talk about individual cases, but there are times when we look into things and realize it could have been handled differently, according to a Ford spokesperson. When that happens, we try to rectify it. We value our employees and want to be as fair as possible. You know, I know a company that's just like that.

23:14Yeah, but waiting for him to say he's got a $10 billion lawsuit against Ford or something. I knew you were official, told Crom that Ford was changing its policy to suspend the workers over suspected break room thefts, rather than immediately firing them for it also paid Crom $28,000 for five weeks of lost wages. That's more than 14,000 times the cost of the cookie it thought he stole way to go. It is a dress off-centre box of cookies. Wouldn't that be so? Drivers across the US, including some behind the wheel of performance vehicles, are switching from premium gasoline to regular in a search for savings as fuel prices remain elevated. This from automotive news between June 22nd and June 25th. Daily sales of premium gasoline were down nearly 5% by volume compared to the average from February. Just before the Iran War led to a rapid spike in prices according to data from fuel cash

24:16bank, sorry, fuel cash back app upside. Mid-grade sales were down 2%. While sales of regular were up about 10% according to the data. Under gasoline average 381 a gallon as of July 3rd, while premium average 470 a gallon according to the AAA. That's good for roughly 90 cent difference between the grades and all time high in premium prices typically stay higher for longer. I like it as much. My truck on the truck, that's 27 bucks at a fill-up. Does it only take premium? No. If I put premium, it takes the regular unlated, but that would be the difference if it was premium like a Raptor or the big TRX or something. You talk in 25, 30 bucks every fill-up. Yes. Somebody said, well, I have to run premium in my car. No, you don't. If you are a heavy right footer, then maybe perhaps you could back off the foot just a little

25:23bit. But most modern cars today have a thing called an ECU called an electronic control unit that it knows and has knock sensors in the engine that if it's not getting enough of the knock reducer in the fuel, e. premium, then it backs off the timing of the engine so you don't get engine knock, which is detrimental to engines. So you can run regular in most gasoline engines. I think even a lot of the more performance ones, it says, recommended to run premium. I don't try to remember one that says required. Probably some of the Corvette or the Hellcats or something. Well, if you run a performance car from a Hertz or an Avis, they require you to put in the fuel that takes the car, they ask you to put in. What happens if you don't? Well, that's just it. I don't know. I've done that.

26:23So I'm saying a lot of the gas caps say it's recommended. Didn't say it's required. Yeah. But, you know, who knows about these rent car companies and what do they do? Give it the smell test. Oh, that's regular. Yeah, we know. They pull the car around to the back to clean it up for the next guy and there's a gas pump there and they only got one type of exactly right. That's exactly right. I don't know. Okay. Whatever. Right. That's the way I see it and I'm sticking with both. There you go. Yeah. The Corvette runs premium. I put premium in it and about once or twice a week. We were on a search for Tecron on the trip back from Grandbury. We were. And I finally found it and it was $10 a jug. But I and it's funny because I went to a place that Chevron station. They didn't have Tecron. What are you talking about, boy? It's in the guys. It's in the guys who are before we poured a can in the tank on the ground when we filled it.

27:25And then there was the Dex fuel. I was asking questions about that was another story. The gallon of Dex fuel. How much is that? No, it's another day. Yeah. Inter- road trips are always interesting and fun. All right. It's time now for a break here on the in-wheel time car talk show. Our number two begins right after this. Stay with us. Your car is a direct reflection of you. So don't be satisfied with color fade or a dingy dull appearance. Get rid of those terrible automated car wash scratches. Golf Coast Auto Shield is your save the paint company. John Gray and his team of detailing experts can help your cars finish without a full repaint. Searching for real experts in window tender windshield protection. Golf Coast Auto Shield. Dash cams, radar detectors. Golf Coast Auto Shield. Got a new car? Get it protected as soon as you take delivery. If you don't know which of the multitude of protection products to go with, John Gray will give you an honest opinion and won't sell you something you don't need. John will help you understand the many options in pricing right on the spot.

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