Horsepower is the benchmark many people use to measure cars, with weight considered a sinful handicap. However, there is one arena where weight can help – the vehicular tug of war. It’s the heaviest vehicle that often has the advantage in these competitions, though there are exceptions, which are on full display in a new Carwow YouTube video.
The video pits a pair of European commercial vehicles against one another and a formidable American foe – the F-150 Raptor. Both the Ranger and the Transit Custom pack a 2.0-litre, but they have slightly different outputs – 170 bhp and 309 lb-ft of torque for the Ranger and 184 bhp and 306 lb-ft for the Transit. The Raptor uses Ford’s twist-turbocharged 3.5-litre V6, making 450 bhp and 506 lb-ft of torque.
Gallery: 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor: First Drive
The Transit is heavier than the Ranger, which should have given it the advantage against the pickup, but the truck’s four-wheel drive and grippier tyres helped it demolish the van. The front-wheel-drive van, tuned by MS-RT, wore low-profile tyres. The Ranger then hooked up to the heavier Raptor and lost in a solo tug-of-war with the off-road F-150. However, it wasn’t a crushing defeat by the bigger truck. The Ranger held its own.
Off-road tug of war:
The final tug-of-wore tied both the Ranger and the Transit Custom to the F-150, and the Raptor stood no chance. It wasn’t a blowout victory for the smaller Ford models, but the two easily overcame the F-150 once the Ranger found its footing – stability control. Weight is often king in these gifts, but tyres and all-wheel drive can also help. The ground looked quite wet, muddy, and slick in the video, which certainly did not help any of the competitors.
Source: Carwow / YouTube