Power Trucks
Of the most ridiculous high performance machines out there, sporty pickup trucks are possibly takers of the “Most Ridiculously Useless” crown, with sporty SUVs coming in at a close second. The concept of the sport truck is relatively new, since the pre-twenty first century car designers and engineers were possibly a saner, more sensible bunch than the Red Bull (or maybe absinthe) fueled nutjobs of today.
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Why is the idea of a sporty pickup truck so implausible for proper performance enthusiasts? Well, for one, no matter how stiff and car-like the truck handles, it will never match the stability and control of a properly engineered and well-balanced sports car (or even a run of the mill saloon). The center of gravity is way up high, and off-road commitment ensures a high ground clearance and fat tires, all of which contribute to a huge amount of body roll in the corners. Forget cornering and drive in a straight line, and the amount of power the truck must generate to overcome its weight disadvantage and keep up with a sports car (or, well, a run of the mill saloon) is huge, which usually means either big displacement or forced induction. This results in not-so-cheap thrills, and for the money you pay for a proper sports truck, you can usually get high performance sedans like the Lancer Evolution or a sports car like the Nissan 370Z.
So, to re-iterate the underlying point to sport trucks, lets just say the idea is quite…“Amuuurrrican”. It's a point which is proven by a cursory glance through our list of sport trucks, almost all of which are of US origin.
The modern sport truck generation was kickstarted by Ford. When the F-150 of the F-series trucks, Ford's flagship pickup truck, underwent the first major redesign in 1997 after over 12 years of remaining unchanged. The smallest F-series truck, the half-ton F-150, was tweaked and prodded by Ford's tuning division, SVT (Special Vehicle Team), and turned into one of the few instances where a sport truck garnered any sort of worthwhile praise. In its final iteration, the F-150 SVT Lightning developed 380 hp and 451 lb-ft of torque from its 5.4 liter supercharged Triton V8, and featured heady duty shock absorbers and especially developed wheels and tires (18 inch diameter wheels meant off road capabilities were seriously hampered).
Fast forward thirteen years and you arrive at the Ford SVT Raptor, one of the latest sport trucks from the land of the free and the brave. The differences are huge. Journos taking the test drives said the Raptor has almost car-like driving characteristics and enough torque to pull the earth out of its rotational motion. The numbers read 411 hp and 434 lb-ft of torque from the 6.2 liter V8 engine. If that's not enough, there's a higher performance version by Shelby, as well as aftermarket kits from Hennessey (resulting version aptly called the VelociRaptor). Best thing about the SVT Raptor? It sacrifices very little of its off-road capabilities in the pursuit of more power and speed.
On the other side of the boxing ring, Dodge is easily the most recognisable maker of high-performance sport trucks, mostly due to the huge success of the Ram SRT-10. Powered by the massive 8,300 cc V10 engine from the Viper (well, the Viper engine was taken from a truck, but Dodge owners like to pretend otherwise), the SRT-10 was built with only speed in mind. The numbers are insane: 510 hp and 525 lb-ft of torque, propelling the relatively lightweight truck to 60 mph in just 4.9 seconds (regular cab, the double cab version took 5.2 secs). Top speed for the regular cab is around 155 mph.
Taking a Viper engine and putting it in a truck is fine and all, but what do you do when presented with a Corvette LT1engine?Well, GMC put it in the 2014 model of the Sierra Denali, with 420 hp and 450 lb-ft of torque. It promises a lot, a proper combination of luxury and power in an all American package.
If you don't want an American sport truck, your options are limited. There's the Toyota Tundra, which has a 5.7 liter V8 and the option of TRD supercharger if owners want to spice up their Jap trucks. There's also the younger Tacoma X-Runner sibling, although next to the company of the big trucks mentioned here, the comparatively tiny Tacoma is almost dwarfed.
Sport trucks are the civilized, censored versions of the typical American hillbilly's dreams. However, there's something strangely appealing about 4 tons of metal hurtling down a street at breakneck speed, V8 roaring and snorting like an angry…er, cow. It would also make a great ride to use in driving over any rickshaws which get in your way on the way to the greasiest fast food place in town.
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