Bathurst shootout in the Outback

Traditionally, Aussie have bought V8 sports sedans and settled their stoushes at Mount Panorama.

But nowadays we’re buying more and more utes and they are coming with more and more performance (and at skyrocketing prices).

Think Ford Ranger Raptor as the very definition of this; a hugely capable off-roader with a 75K price-tag.

So, if our new normal is dirt, dual-cabs and diesel, the challenge is to come up with a new way of establishing their ultimate performance.

So, this is it: Mt Clayorama. Not its real name and not really a mountain. In fact, this claypan in outback South Australia is as flat as a tack and the nearest substantial dollop of civilisation is hundreds of kilometres – not hundreds of metres -- away.

Put it this way, miss your braking marker for ‘Murrays Corner’ on this circuit and you won’t end up headed for Bathurst, you’ll be bogged in the world’s biggest sandtrap.

To test each of our contenders out over a single lap dash we’ve brought the perfect man – Luke Youlden. The 2017 Bathurst 1000 winner is renowned for his 11/10ths attitude in anything he drives, so he’ll undoubtedly extract the best times possible.

Luke’s also helped lay out the track – hey, who better to make sure we get it right...

OK, given the limitations of the claypan’s shape our circuit’s not exactly the same shape as Mt Panorama. Honestly, it looks a bit like an ice-cream cone. And its only 2.5km long, compared to the legendary Bathurst track’s 6.213km length.

But you know what? Considering the pace of our dual-cabs versus the highly-tuned racing machines that rush around Mt Panorama, the lap times turned out to be not that different.

The arrival of the Ford Ranger Raptor probably triggered the thought processes that eventually led to this oddball challenge.

Here’s a road-going version of a high-performance desert racing ‘pre-runner’ developed by Ford Performance boasting Fox Racing Shox, a widened and toughened chassis and a brutal body makeover. Yours for $74,990 plus on-roads.

The elephant in the room – or under the bonnet in this case – is the Raptor’s 157kW/500Nm 2.0-litre BiTurbo diesel engine. Many have argued a more powerful, more evocative V6 turbo or V8 might be a better choice … and who are we to argue!

No oomph arguments when it comes to the Mercedes-Benz X 350d 4MATIC Power. With 190kW and 550Nm punching out of its 3.0-litre V6, not much can top it … except for the Volkswagen Amarok V6 Ultimate 580.

Yep, what Benz can do, VW will always try to do that little better, in this case offering 10 more kiloWatts (on overboost) and an extra 30Nm from its 3.0-litre V6.

Neither German utes have the off-road cred of the Raptor, but there were no ups or downs of any sort in this course -- just lots of fast, medium and slow bends and a couple of l-o-n-g straights.

Completing the field are a couple of new variations of familiar models, both powered by 2.8-litre four-cylinder engines. The Rugged X version of Australia’s top-selling Toyota HiLux and the Holden Colorado Z71 Xtreme.

Hey, the Toyota is Australia’s biggest seller so it demands a place on the grid. And Holden dominates Mt Panorama history, so it’s only appropriate we bring it to the off-road equivalent.

So, three four-cylinders, two V6s; one 10-speed auto (Raptor), one eight-speed (VW), one seven-speed (Benz) and two six-speeds. The Germans come with permanent all-wheel drive systems and the other three with part-time.

Weight is the enemy of performance of course and all of these vehicles are lugging the kegs. The Ranger is the porkiest at 2332kg, which is no surprise considering the amount of strengthening and modification that’s gone into the chassis and body. The Colorado is the lightest at a still substantial 2150kg.

Luke’s done a couple of practice laps to bed himself and the track in. They’ve been spectacular, vehicles slewing sideways, dust rising in huge powdery clouds under a bright blue sky – when we can see it through the swarms of flies.

Oh yeah, did we mention it’s 40-degrees plus out here? Luke’s the definition of committed when it comes to a fast lap but not even he was tempted to turn off the air-con when it came time for his timed laps.

And there are no stop-watches here by the way; all laps are electronically timed by VBox. Every vehicle is in 4x4 high, stability/traction off (where possible) and in their most aggressive sports mode where available. Luke elected to leave the autos alone to do their own thing.

Most of the course is marked out by cones, although we have a couple of unique local touches, like the cow’s skull at the start/finish line and the Emu skeleton Luke’s using for a brake marker on ‘Mountain Straight’.

First vehicle out is the Holden. Luke’s progress is charted by a stream of dust, but there’s precious little noise. No racing exhausts here, but you can hear tyres howling on the hard-packed surface.

Luke wheels into the Chase, first sideways right and then sideways left, because there’s no keeping it straight and neat on this surface! Incongruously, there’s a roof tray bolted to the top of the cabin.

The result of all that effort is a 1 minute 58.67 lap time – almost exactly the same time that Luke set in the Brabham BT62 supercar at Mt Panorama earlier this month.

“It’s loose on entry so it’s actually good fun,” laughs Luke. “Just enough so I don’t get understeer, so it’s perfectly balanced for what we are trying to do here.

“It’s slow in a straight line but I’ve just got to change my terms of reference, don’t I?”

“The seating position lets it down, but I get a feeling they’re all going to be like that.”

Yes Luke, no all-encasing Sparco racing seats and six-point harnesses here!

Right, to the HiLux and to be honest expectations are not high. The Rugged X is not going to do anything special and its 2:02.13 time confirms that. It all looks a bit ponderous and rolly-polly, but Luke emerges impressed nonetheless.

“Everything’s a plus about this thing except the outright straight line,” he reports.

“It’s actually really nicely balanced. It turns really well and it’s got just the right amount of oversteer. But it’s got no power! It’s down 20 kays an hour at the end of each straight. You just drive it into each corner really, really deep. I am going past the Emu!”

Next up it’s the Benz, running a far more road-oriented Continental CrossContact 255/60R18 tyre than the A/T-shod Holden and Toyota.

And while that helps grip, the refusal of the Benz to allow us to completely disable traction/stability control -- even in the most aggressive Dynamic mode -- means the X 350 isn’t drifting as much as Luke wants it to across the top of the mountain from ‘Skyline’ through the ‘Dipper’, the ‘Esses’ and ‘Forrest’s Elbow’.

But the run down Conrod looks really fast and the 1:52.74 time confirms it. That’s pretty darn impressive and the quickest so far.

“It’s all just power!” Luke exclaims. “Maybe there’s a fraction more grip, but it just gets it all done in a straight line.

“The disappointing thing is I turned the stability off as much as I can, but it’s still trying to cut in. The car is still loose enough to help me turn-in, which is good.”

Luke takes the trip from Stuttgart to Wolfsburg and heads out in the Amarok. He’s keen and there’s plenty of attitude on the warm-up lap as the car pivots round the tight bends.

Like the Benz, the VW is also running an 18-inch Conti CrossContact, but it’s a much chunkier design and Luke’s not as happy with it after crossing the line in 1:54.47.

“It just doesn’t have the same level of grip [as the Benz],” says Luke. “Even though we are sliding, on dirt each tyre has a different level of grip, so it’s comes down to how much you are sliding versus going forward, and that is the lap time.

“You can tell the Amarok is sliding more than the Mercedes. You might have expected it to be faster, but it’s not. In a straight-line they are similar.”

This is the crunch. Can a really well sorted but less powerful car defeat a big engine at Mt Clayorama? Well, if Mt Panorama is any guide the answer is no. But Luke’s willing to give it his best shot to reverse the accepted norm.

The Raptor doesn’t look that fast in a straight line, but it looks bloody fast and controlled through the corners. Luke drifts through McPhillamy Park and flings the Ford over Skyline, the truck’s tail swivelling sideways, spraying huge clouds of dust. Commitment!

Our impressions from outside the cabin are confirmed by the VBox – a 1:57.79 lap.

“It’s got no grunt -- that’s what lets it down,” Luke states baldly. “It doesn’t feel like it’s getting on with it at all. It’s very cruisy inside.”

“You can get it loose at will, not really battling understeer at all. It’s definitely the most fun to drive. It stops better than the others and the tyres are probably working better than the others.”

No shock on either score there as the Raptor runs big vented discs all-round and highly-regarded BF Goodrich KA2 rubber on 17-inch rms.

It’s victory to the Benz then, with the Amarok and the Colorado/Raptor on the other two steps of the podium.

What did we prove? Well, you can transfer from bitumen to clay but grunt and grip still rules. And there’s no doubt the Benz had the most of both.

Not that Luke rated it as his favourite vehicle.

“If the Raptor had an engine it would be mega,” said Luke. “Stick a V8 in there and no-one would see where it went!”

Sounds like a good plan to us. We’d be back at Mt Clayorama like a shot to test that out!