SVTP Has the First Bronco Raptor in the 12s!!?!
Records are meant to be broken. In the case of our Bronco Raptor’s ¼ mile record, it was meant to be shattered. Our best run was a 13.56 @ 98.9MPH in August 2023 at an NMRA event in Norwalk, OH. As far as I can tell, that run still stood as the best ¼ mile ET for a Bronco Raptor. That pass was made with a Whipple Intercooler and Calibration, and a set of SPD Downpipes. Since that time we have switched to an HP-Tuners based calibration from 5 Star Tuning and added an S&B Cold Air Intake. Those changes netted us 503 RWHP and 562 RWTQ.
We knew with that much more power on tap that we were definitely in the running to knock down our own record, the question was just by how much? That brings us to Darlington Dragway on November 13, 2024. Cool weather had come to the South and the lanes were heavily glued. We had all the ingredients needs to hit our goal – 12s. My first pass broke the old record with a 13.38 @ 100.6MPH. We quickly followed that up with a slightly better 13.35 @ 98.6 MPH. Check out the video:
We were logging those two passes, which gave Josh “The Tuneman” Newman from 5 Star Tuning the data he needed to make a few adjustments to the calibration. With those tweeks we knocked down a 13.01 @ 101.6MPH. So close yet so far away, and it was nearing the end of the night. I quickly got back in the lanes. Just as I made it to the head of the line, a Hellcat Challenger exploded a rear diff on launch and laid gear oil down about 200 feet. It was already last call and most tracks would have called it a night, but not Darlington. It was Wednesday night and there was a big money grudge racing still in the lanes.
It's cold, gotta break out the "Bottle Heater."
Welcome to Grudge Night in Darlington.
What happened next was about 55 minutes of grudge shit-talking and track clean-up/prep. Josh and I strategized that I needed to launch just a little bit harder to make it into the 12s. With the track scraped, torched, and glued to the max I piled on an extra few RPMS to my stage. The result was a complete botch job and my worst run of the night, . The BRaptor likes to be launched a very specific way in order to get a smooth run, and I blew it on that one. By all rights that should have been my last run of the night.
These guys put in some work.
However, the fine folks at Darlington Dragway knew we had come there for a purpose. So they allowed me to do a no-stop hot-lap. I came off the return road and went straight to the line. This time I launched it the way I knew she likes it. The results were exactly we needed them to be 12.93 @ 102.2MPH. We had put the BRaptor in 12s, which I believe is a first for the platform. We’re not planning on stopping there. I believe I can squeeze a little more out of the current setup, and we have more mods lined up for the future. We should be back at the track in a few weeks. I can’t wait to see how much farther we can push this beastly brick.