Having this raptor for a few months now, I can’t help but imagine that putting it into sport mode with 4 wheel drive selected would have faired pretty well. Maybe even better than baja mode, time wise.
Today I decided to review some of Wyatt's old videos, just as background music while working. I've binge-watched (listened) 15ish of them when I realized he is back. Man, I'm so happy you are back. You're one of the most charismatic hosts out there.
Amazing! The Bronco Raptor is an incredible machine second fastest time there! And considering how big and heavy it is that makes this time even more impressive. I love it!
I have been to a rally school so was sitting here waiting to critique your pendulum turns, because it was my biggest weakness when learning lol. Great driving and great job on the pendulum turns lol. I have a 2022 Bronco Raptor that rallies great! My husband has a gen 1 and gen 3 Raptor, so rallying trucks is our passion! We decided to stop watching videos of rallies on TV and learned for ourselves! Best decision ever! Great video!
Been telling Raptor owners this for years - Baja 4H is much faster than anything else offroad, especially with all the nannies 'off'. The extra power-to-ground makes a lot of difference. Even trophy trucks go faster with 4WD - it just is that the added maintenance complexity doesn't make sense yet for the big races.
You got to remember that slow lumbering feeling comes from the front shaft being locked to the rear in 4H. When you take a corner the front axle (both front wheels) want to turn at a higher rate than the rear axle (both rear wheels), but the front and rear drive-shafts are locked together (curious what that 4A mode was for...Auto?). The windup has to dissipate somehow and that is through both front wheels being forced to break traction in a turn thus the plowing/understeer feeling. In my eyes even an archaic Full-time 4wd system without a traction-aid would drive better, especially in a big vehicle like that. Problem with an open center diff is if one wheel loses traction, all power will siphon to that wheel (assuming you have open front and rear diffs). Even 80 series LC got a viscous coupling for the center diff around 92' to prevent just that though. I would have guessed the 4A mode which I imagine is "Auto" is the ticket item. Probably an electronically controlled slip grip system which is less cool than a LC/Prado/Pajero/early-WRX center diff setup but definitely superior for this stuff!
Could see the cvt being slower. Since it’s always in the perfect range for torque you’d be spinning way more often losing time. I’d still like to see it because my prediction is just that and nothing more. But if they do that test, I want to see what the manual version does for time. That way we can actually see what the benefits are.
Kind of related, and since they are so common, how about seeing if a full size pickup will rally? I wonder if they would be a realistic starting point for a rally car.
Please add a Wrangler 392 to the list! Would love to see how it compares to the Bronco Raptor. Just remember to run it with off-road + engaged! Amazing content!