The Ford Super Duty is big, useful, and strong, among other things. This is especially true of the F-450 King Ranch, which looks a lot like a cowboy’s simple home on six wheels and tires. The 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel engine in the truck is more than enough. It produces 475 horsepower and 1,050 pound-feet of torque. It has four-wheel drive too. It’s not quite a racing car, though. Nevertheless, Team O’Neil’s Wyatt Knox managed to maneuver one of these 8,000-pound hosses through a crooked, tight gravel path. A little computer know-how was all it took to pull three ABS fuses. After that, as long as the truck was in two-wheel drive, everything went smoothly. Before going on a timed run, Knox gave the truck a full checkup. It works incredibly well for sliding, and its tremendous torque makes controllability simple. If you were asking, third gear is best for pulling nasty skids, but the 10-speed transmission makes things more difficult. Just remember that all that speed is moving something 22 feet long, so give the truck a lot of room to work. In the past, Team O’Neil’s track has seen its fair share of strange rally cars. It was unexpected that the Ford Crown Vic P71 and the second-generation Toyota Tacoma outperformed the Dodge Charger and the Kia Sedona in terms of speed. Everything ends up on the ground again. Though it wasn’t the fastest—in fact, it was the slowest—the Super Duty was incredibly strong. The sweepers were easy to get through, and Knox reached speeds of 70 mph in a straight line near the end. He had to be very careful when making the tightest turns, mostly because he couldn’t go back if the brakes stopped working. When coming out of those turns, the phrase “when in doubt, throttle out” was a great way to go. With a time of 2:11.78, the Ford was four seconds slower than the Sedona minivan. Yet! What more could a worker want than to be honest and stylish? It did both very well. It was much more stable than, say, an F-250 because it had two back wheels. It makes no difference how badly the tires burned later. If you own one of these tools, you should not turn off the safety features and go for a skid. It is reassuring to know that you could, nevertheless, if necessary.
