Drive

Ford and Me

Tag Archives: Big isn’t it?


by Leave a comment

Why did the Chicken Cross the Road? // #RangerRaptor

I warned you that I go off on a tangent…

Well actually this time we went off-ROAD on a tangent. Throwing the (by now quite dusty) Raptor up a rocky hill to admire the views, we heard a strange sound in the bushes…

Clearly someone else had come to check out this machine. Maybe to investigate the load area for a suitable laying spot?

I would like to take the time to point out that according to some studies I found on Google, chickens are the birds most closely related to dinosaurs (inc raptors) … well that’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

I’d also like to reassure you that no chickens, tortoises, or other animals were harmed in the making of this photo series. I badly bruised my hand trying to get a particular shot, but that’s it.

We were certainly well placed to ruffle some feathers (sorry) with this beast of a pickup…

I’ve been taking part in a really special @fordeu event this week, sharing all the excitement with you on Social Media. Be Social with me using the icons below #RangerRaptor More…


by Leave a comment

Forget-me-not // #RangerRaptor

My buddy for this trip was the inimitable Filip, a Business Manager from Ford of Poland.

You get paired up at random on these trips I find, so you’re never quite sure how your personalities and priorities for the trip will combine.

I was so lucky in Spain to have a wonderful co-driver who took in all my excited demands to park the car in ‘just THIS field please’ to get the shots I wanted – would I still get to play with locations this time?

The die was cast pretty early on – the Ranger Raptors on our drive were available in two stunning colour ways, Ford Performance Blue and Conquer Grey (with optional Raptor decals), and we were both agreed we had the blue in mind for the first of our adventures.

The deep blue is simply stunning – of course it looks amazing in the Moroccan sun, but equally it would look at home back in the UK.

You also find blue in the stitching of the premium leather power seats, the interior leather details, and on the FOX Racing long-travel shocks.

So far so good – we set off in convoy, and that was that…

Or was it?

I couldn’t find my mobile phone.

What to do?

Would Filip let me go back to the airport for it, and drop out of the convoy? Would he forgive me for being an utter pain?

Of course he did…

By the time we picked my phone up from the airport car park floor (in my defence I had probably dropped it while pulling myself up into this hefty beast of a vehicle!) and returned, there was no convoy ahead, just donkeys.

Not a problem of course – with the route mapped into our Sat Nav (with ‘breadcrumb’ feature to leave a trail when exploring uncharted areas) it was time to play catch-up…

I’ve been taking part in a really special @fordeu event this week, sharing all the excitement with you on Social Media. Be Social with me using the icons below #RangerRaptor More…


by Leave a comment

Homework // #RangerRaptor

A lot of people might think these trips are holidays. Please let me disabuse you of that notion – this is WORK. I’ll concede that the office looks a little more exciting sometimes but still…

I’ve shared before how the employee ambassador team feels so committed to these opportunities and it shows in the research and prep we do before we set out (and the work we do when we are home, like writing this blog and editing stills/video).

So it really helps when, having taken off from a rainy Frankfurt airport we get a chance to sit back and look through the media pack as a kind of revision…

Not all of the info is what you might expect…

So what can I tell you?

The vehicle we were going to test out, the Ranger Raptor, is coming to Europe this month.

It’s billed as the toughest, highest performing version of Europe’s best-selling pick-up which sold over 50,000 units in 2018.

We were travelling with a select group of German vehicle media professionals; usually these media launch events happen over a number of weeks, with groups from the markets each taking their turn.

That said, despite our group being one of the last to take the tour of the new vehicle, everything felt fresh and welcoming. Knowing now how we tested those Rangers each day I can only say I can’t believe how hard the teams work to keep the launch fleet perfect between drives!

Back to the beginning – on arriving at the tiny Essaouira airport (couldn’t be a greater contrast to our departure!) we were welcomed with bottles of water and a thorough safety briefing.

After that, we got the keys and were ready to go…

Big truck, isn’t it?!

I’ve been taking part in a really special @fordeu event this week, sharing all the excitement with you on Social Media. Be Social with me using the icons below #RangerRaptor More…