I took the Raptor Assault driving school outside of Salt Lake City on Monday. It was an absolute blast.
I decided to go to Utah a few days early to see a few sites.
I landed mid-morning on Friday and immediately departed for Capitol Reef National Park. This park reminds me a little of Big Bend but made mostly of sandstone. This is the least visited national park in Utah and it wasn't too crowded when I was there.
After a little time in the park, I headed South on Utah Scenic Route 12. This is the most amazing drive I've ever taken. The parks are about 120 miles apart, the route takes you through portions of Capitol Reef, Dixie National Forest, and Grand Staircase-Escalente National Monument, before reaching (close) Bryce Canyon National Park.
Bryce was very crowded, I took the NPS shuttle bus into the park. When entering the park on the bus, the entry to cars was stopped due to the lack of parking.
The views in Bryce are spectacular. Enjoy a few photos.
The next day, I headed to Tooele for the driving school. I was shocked at how much punishment the Raptor can take. Due to the extremely dry conditions, the trails were very dusty. We were broken into 4 car pods, the instructor in the lead truck, I was the 4thtruck in our pod. We were told to keep the spacing as tight as possible, it helps you see the truck in front of you, if you drop back, everything gets lost in the dust cloud. There were several times where the truck 30' in front of me disappeared. Not a great feeling when you had no idea where the trail goes.
If you look closely, you can see the Aggie Ring on my right hand below.
I'm in the 4th truck. Another Ag is in the 3rd truck. I had backed off a bit after losing site of the truck in front and going off of the trail.
The views in Utah are usually much better, but there is a ton of smoke from California plus some local fires.
We started the driving school at 8 am. The school began with almost an hour of classroom discussion and telling us what the rest of the day will consist of. There were 19 people in the class. I think 8 were from Texas with the remaining students from various parts of the country. Each truck had two students. The trucks varied between the more basic option package and the fully loaded trucks. The truck I drove had everything my truck has plus the carbon fiber package (and I still don't see the need to pay $1000 for it).
We started the driving by breaking into two groups on the Utah Motorsports complex. My group went to the rock crawling section. Here, we got the truck on a 30 degree side slope. Next, we used 2 pedal driving to control a steep hill climb followed by using decent mode to go down the steep hill without the need to touch the brakes.
Following the rock crawl, we went to a short dirt track. Here, we each took laps with the truck in Normal, followed by Mud/Sand, and then Baja mode, then a final lap in Normal to drive home the difference. The throttle and braking response of the truck is different in each mode.
After this, we left the motorsport complex and headed about 15 miles away to some public trails.
In the non-rocky portions of the trails were incredibly dusty. Some of the portions were the most terrified I've ever been going 25 MPH. When the truck 30' in front of you disappears and you have no idea if the trail goes up, down, left or right, it's disconcerting. Also, you can't slow down or you risk the following groups running you over.
After a couple of miles of terror in the dust, I had never been so happy to a paved road. After moving to the next trail, the other driver got his turn. I then learned that there is something more frightening than the truck 30' in front of you disappearing, it's being in the passenger seat of the trail truck when that happens.
There is a Jeep about 150' down the now capped mine shaft. If you climb out to the center, you can see a portion of the Cherokee. (I'm the one in maroon, the other Ag is to my right)
This was the only graded section we covered, the road was wide enough for us to go 4 wide, so we spread in a way so the wind gave the following truck visibility. This is the fastest we got to go during the day.
And finally, a Ferrari Mondail that I saw at Capitol Reef NP.
My rental Ford Fusion Titanium Hybrid. I put 900 miles on this in 3 days. Got great gas mileage.
And a few cars displayed at the racing school:
The above vehicles are used in the various racing schools, the ones below are not.
That's all!
I decided to go to Utah a few days early to see a few sites.
I landed mid-morning on Friday and immediately departed for Capitol Reef National Park. This park reminds me a little of Big Bend but made mostly of sandstone. This is the least visited national park in Utah and it wasn't too crowded when I was there.
After a little time in the park, I headed South on Utah Scenic Route 12. This is the most amazing drive I've ever taken. The parks are about 120 miles apart, the route takes you through portions of Capitol Reef, Dixie National Forest, and Grand Staircase-Escalente National Monument, before reaching (close) Bryce Canyon National Park.
Bryce was very crowded, I took the NPS shuttle bus into the park. When entering the park on the bus, the entry to cars was stopped due to the lack of parking.
The views in Bryce are spectacular. Enjoy a few photos.
The next day, I headed to Tooele for the driving school. I was shocked at how much punishment the Raptor can take. Due to the extremely dry conditions, the trails were very dusty. We were broken into 4 car pods, the instructor in the lead truck, I was the 4thtruck in our pod. We were told to keep the spacing as tight as possible, it helps you see the truck in front of you, if you drop back, everything gets lost in the dust cloud. There were several times where the truck 30' in front of me disappeared. Not a great feeling when you had no idea where the trail goes.
If you look closely, you can see the Aggie Ring on my right hand below.
I'm in the 4th truck. Another Ag is in the 3rd truck. I had backed off a bit after losing site of the truck in front and going off of the trail.
The views in Utah are usually much better, but there is a ton of smoke from California plus some local fires.
We started the driving school at 8 am. The school began with almost an hour of classroom discussion and telling us what the rest of the day will consist of. There were 19 people in the class. I think 8 were from Texas with the remaining students from various parts of the country. Each truck had two students. The trucks varied between the more basic option package and the fully loaded trucks. The truck I drove had everything my truck has plus the carbon fiber package (and I still don't see the need to pay $1000 for it).
We started the driving by breaking into two groups on the Utah Motorsports complex. My group went to the rock crawling section. Here, we got the truck on a 30 degree side slope. Next, we used 2 pedal driving to control a steep hill climb followed by using decent mode to go down the steep hill without the need to touch the brakes.
Following the rock crawl, we went to a short dirt track. Here, we each took laps with the truck in Normal, followed by Mud/Sand, and then Baja mode, then a final lap in Normal to drive home the difference. The throttle and braking response of the truck is different in each mode.
After this, we left the motorsport complex and headed about 15 miles away to some public trails.
In the non-rocky portions of the trails were incredibly dusty. Some of the portions were the most terrified I've ever been going 25 MPH. When the truck 30' in front of you disappears and you have no idea if the trail goes up, down, left or right, it's disconcerting. Also, you can't slow down or you risk the following groups running you over.
After a couple of miles of terror in the dust, I had never been so happy to a paved road. After moving to the next trail, the other driver got his turn. I then learned that there is something more frightening than the truck 30' in front of you disappearing, it's being in the passenger seat of the trail truck when that happens.
There is a Jeep about 150' down the now capped mine shaft. If you climb out to the center, you can see a portion of the Cherokee. (I'm the one in maroon, the other Ag is to my right)
This was the only graded section we covered, the road was wide enough for us to go 4 wide, so we spread in a way so the wind gave the following truck visibility. This is the fastest we got to go during the day.
And finally, a Ferrari Mondail that I saw at Capitol Reef NP.
My rental Ford Fusion Titanium Hybrid. I put 900 miles on this in 3 days. Got great gas mileage.
And a few cars displayed at the racing school:
The above vehicles are used in the various racing schools, the ones below are not.
That's all!