Team O’Neil Proves You’ve Been Driving Your Ford F-450 Wrong
Driving stuff off-road is one of the most exciting things you can do with a motor. However, something even more fun is taking stuff off-road that has no business doing what you see it doing. And, if you really want to turn the good times all the way up, you drive that fish out of water a little too fast. Team O’Neil needs no lessons in this proven way to achieve big fun. Wyatt Knox piloted a massive Ford F-450 down a dirt road like he forgot what he was doing. Despite the massive HD truck being cartoonishly slow, it looks more like a rally stage than a dirt road.
Can you take a Ford F-450 off-road?
As the Team O’Neil video shows, you sure as hell can. I’m not so sure that this counts as just good ol’ plain off-road, but you can (if you have the skill and nerve) drive it like you are trying to place in “Big Boys of the WRC.”
Knox starts the film with a helpful explainer of what exactly is happening here. The unlikely rally rig is a 2022 Ford F-450 Super Duty King Ranch Editon dually diesel. This thing is as big as it gets, weighing in a burly 8,000 lbs, making 475 hp and 1,050 lb-ft of torque.
Knox digs in deep on every reason why this truck is not meant for this kind of driving: tires, suspension, weight, and more. However, during the shakedown, he explains what some of these same factors actually make it track pretty well, considering. Then he does indeed proceed to to exactly this type of driving.
Team O’Neil rallies a Ford F-450
As the shakedown winds down, the dude really settles into the realization that this Ford F-450 super yacht is actually good at drifting. He makes the point that the same driving skills are used on this big rig as with a proper rally car; it’s just that one is much bigger. He even goes as far as to say, “It’s easy to drive.” If there is enough roadway, the truck should rally just fine.
The truck might be slow – honestly, there’s no might to it; It’s slow. Even if it’s slow, it looks so good ripping the corners. Seeing the monster rear end kick out and lock into these long slides is just the best.
Despite how much Knox liked rallying the Ford F-450, he still had a couple of moments that looked like he coulda put coal in his butt and make a diamond. As you can imagine, the immense weight of the rig forced it into some uncomfortable understeer moments.
Team O’Neil will rally anything
While rallying this F-450 seems completely bonkers to the folks at Team O’Neil, this is just Tuesday. They have rallied pickup trucks, a Crown Vic, minivans, and some proper machines like the Bronco Raptor and BMW E46.
What Knox said is the real takeaway: the skills needed to rally all these vehicles are the same. Sure, some are faster, and others might need a little more getting used to, but it’s still the same skills. So, maybe it’s time to add the Ford F-450 dually to the list of dream rally cars.
