A new Instagram video posted this week that claims to be from a Ford commercial shoot shows a brand-new 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor getting jumping gracefully though the air—and sick mad air it is, bro. Better yet, the video's original poster 395Jeep claims that the Raptor went off this massive jump eight times.
Congratulations, Guy Who Sent His Raptor Too Hard and Popped All the Airbags. If this video description is true, Ford heard your desire for epic sends loud and clear.
395Jeep deleted his original copy of the video off of Instagram sometime Thursday night, but not before other Raptor fans reposted it.
"I worked this commercial two weeks ago of new Raptor that was released today. This was one of eight jumps and Stock Raptor drove away," read 395Jeep's original caption.
Usually you're not supposed to post behind-the-scenes footage of film shoots, so it's understandable to see this video disappear quickly from 395Jeep's stream. Still, that definitely looks like a new F-150 Raptor given how far the rear wheels hang down mid-air. The 2021 F-150 Raptor went to a five-link coil suspension in the rear that allows more suspension travel than the previous Raptor's leaf spring. The coils are the longest in the Raptor's class, too, at a whopping 24 inches.
It's hard not to see this as a direct shot at the Ram 1500 TRX after last month's viral video of a TRX Launch Edition getting sent off of a huge jump and bent up upon landing. The Ram 1500 TRX is the F-150 Raptor's closest competition, after all, and being able to send the truck eight times over the same jump for a commercial would be the ultimate one-up on Ford's part.
Yet it's also worth noting that comparing the two jumps is apples-to-oranges. This is a Raptor that was sent by professionals, no doubt off of a jump that was carefully designed to be survivable and repeatable for multiple takes. The Ram 1500 TRX, on the other hand, was a big yeet off of a home-built jump done by a guy who couldn't even secure the wheels and tires in the truck bed properly before sending it. Well-planned that was not.
It wasn't pretty when an amateur tried jumping an early F-150 Raptor in this viral clip from 2013, after all.
Either way, it looks like Ford has dropped the gauntlet when it comes to high-end performance street trucks getting huge air. Perhaps Bilstein will make beefier TRX shocks and Ram themselves will answer back with their own sweet jump montage? Alternately, the new Raptor could be Viral Airbag-Popping Send Guy's chance for redemption. We recommend consulting with some stunt-driving professionals before you try this yourself, though.
The Drive reached out both the original poster of the video as well as Ford for more details on this clip. The original poster did not comment on the video itself, but asked who raptor.world was on Instagram. A Ford representative also declined to comment on this "unauthorized video."
"We always use professional drivers on a closed course and owners need to read the manual before going off-road," noted the Ford rep, adding, "If you want to see what Raptor can do, please check out this video."
That being said, the jump in question looks very similar to the one at the beginning of the longer 2021 Ford F-150 Raptor reveal video, right down to the sand dune setting:
The Drive asked Ford if that was the jump in question, but Ford would not confirm if that was the case.
Update: Saturday, February 6, 2021, 4:02 a.m. ET: Added responses from Ford and the original poster above, plus the promo that includes a decent-looking Raptor jump.
[H/T Ryan!]
Got a tip? Send us a note: [email protected]
