The suspension and stance...
The suspension and stance of the Lightning are more than adequate to get the job done-regardless of whether that's towing your race car with the truck's 6,000-pound towing capacity, going to the autocross, getting the week's groceries (up to 1,350 pounds), or pounding the local competition. There are 18x19.5-inch rims wrapped in steamroller 295/45ZR18 Goodyear Eagle F1-GS tires. Bilstein gas-charged shocks and huge stabilizer bars deal with the weight of the heavy Ford truck. It's an unbelievable combination that has been scienced out since 1999 when the Gen 2 trucks first appeared.
Our Sonic Blue Clearcoat test truck, with an MSRP of $33,555, came by way of one of our loyal readers, Jared Tschuor of Cincinnati. He was cool enough to let us beat on his brand-new truck for this story. We hope you have as much fun with your new Lightning as we did spending a few days kicking around in one. This is an awesome vehicle that does everything a truck is supposed to do-and many things that it's not. If you're in the market for a special vehicle, stop into your local SVT dealer, and take one for a bolt around the block.
As if the boundless torque hadn't already shown itself, we decided to dyno test the new Lightning anyway just to see where this thing matches up with the rest of the world. Of course, we headed right over to one of our favorite test sites, Paul's Automotive Engineering in Cincinnati [(513) 791-1087]. Paul Faessler not only has a complete chassis dyno facility, but also his collection of Ford experts can handle any project we could get into-stopping by for a quick dyno session was no problem for them. However, we advise you to give Paul a call before you stop in just to make sure they can accommodate your needs.
Driving the big Lightning on the dyno actually turned out to be a bit of a challenge because of the automatic transmission and tight converter. As the trans would shift into Third (Drive), the technician would go full throttle to record a pull. The problem was that this was around 3,000-3,500 rpm, which caused a peak in the graph. These peak numbers came out to 342 rwhp and 468 rwtq, when the actual numbers were more like 330 rwhp and a stump-pulling 440 rwtq. The recorded numbers were enough to verify what our pants were already telling us. These trucks make power from the punch, and they don't let up until you do. Satisfied after two pulls that we had the real thing, we headed off to the next stop on the Lightning tour-the drags!
It's easy to smoke 'em in...
It's easy to smoke 'em in the '03 SVT Lightning. Crush the gas into the floorpan while adding a slight hint of brake, and the big truck will sit there while the rear tires explode into a molten pool of aerated rubber. Oh, yeah, we should say, "We cleaned the tires before each run to maximize traction"-or something like that.
Just about every Lightning owner has gone to the dragstrip with his new Ford. And, with a borrowed truck, we weren't going to be any different than the rest of the Lightning cult. The SVT Lightning has several good things going for it-a torque-filled engine, a tough-as-nails transmission, an indestructible rear axle packed with 3.73:1 gearing, and fairly decent weight distribution on launch. On the downside, the Lightning is a truck that weighs 4,700 pounds and is as aerodynamic as a brick. Still, if you're a truck guy, there's nothing like blowing off a sports car with your daily work rig.
Typical of the Midwest in July, it was hot and sticky when we pulled into the Thursday night test session at Tri-State Dragway. We weren't trying to break any records with this truck-we'll leave that to those lucky testers who evaluate cars in a mineshaft. We did want to see what $33,555 worth of Ford would do, so we went through the normal routine of parking the truck in the shade and icing it down after each run to avoid excessive heat-soaking.
One of the most fun aspects of this truck is that it's relatively easy to drive. Cool it down, click off the Overdrive, go around the water in the burnout box, give the tires a quick blast to clean them off, shallow stage the rig for maximum starting-line advantage, powerbrake the truck to launch, leave the line at 1,300-1,400 rpm, and away you go. The 60-foot times ranged from 2.018 to 2.198 seconds, the e.t.'s ranged from 13.945 to 14.327, and the mph ranged from 96.29 to 98.25 mph for the six runs we put on the truck in about four hours. Of course, the better launch (short time) got us the better acceleration (e.t.).
Really, the only story here is that the SVT Lightning is a lot of fun at the track. It laughs at this type of abuse, and that's probably why it has so many fans across the country who spend their time at local test-and-tune nights trying to get just a hundredth or two more out of the truck. We've heard of stock Lightnings going 13.20s at more than 105 mph and, given the conditions (85 degrees and 95 percent humidity), we're sure they could come close. The normal reported quarter-mile times for a stock Lightning are around the 13.80 range at 100 mph, so our tester sure didn't do too bad. Again, the best part is that the truck is a blast to drive, with Second-gear shifts kicking you in the backside, while that Eaton blower screams for life under the hood. We like!