A Michigan automobile thief in a stolen Ford F-150 Raptor unwittingly led cops to the situation of three extra lacking pickups and a GT500 Mustang after failing to note he was being tailed by a police helicopter.
The incident started on Wednesday evening when Michigan State Police obtained a report that a number of excessive efficiency Ford Raptor pickups had been stolen from a Ford facility in Dearborn. Troopers have been knowledgeable that the thieves have been sporting ski masks, and of their path of journey, so determined to ship a chopper as much as scout for them.
One of many Raptors was shortly situated and adopted, the airborne crew giving floor officers location updates so they might get cops in automobiles able to pounce. The spied truck’s driver deserted his Raptor outdoors a home, however the pickup was recovered, and shortly afterwards troopers have been in a position to cease a automobile leaving the identical tackle pushed by a person in a ski masks.
Three suspects have been arrested and the police found three extra autos that turned out to have been stolen, together with a Mustang GT500 that had been pinched from Ford’s Flat Rock plant earlier this 12 months. That automobile is one in every of “4 to 5” GT500s swiped in June, three of which have been recovered the identical day, as police loved a minor success within the battle to cease a spate of thefts from factories in Metro Detroit.
Associated: Gone In 60-ish Seconds: 4 New Ford Mustang Shelby GT500s Stolen From Flat Rock Meeting Plant
Thermal imaging footage from the police helicopter appears extremely cool, making the warmth from the truck’s twin tailpipes appear like the Raptor has a pair of rockets strapped to the underside of the mattress. And once we get an opportunity to leap behind the wheel of the brand new 2023 F-150 Raptor R, hopefully later this 12 months, we suspect it’ll really feel like that too. The inventory Raptor is fairly fast due to its 450 hp (456 PS) 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6, however the Raptor R will get a 5.2-liter supercharged V8 from the Mustang Shelby GT500 that whips up 700 hp (710 PS) and 640 lb-ft (868 Nm) of torque.
That’s not fairly as a lot muscle because the GT500 itself (760 hp / 771 PS) or the Ram TRX (702 hp / 712 PS), however ought to scoot the R to 60 mph (96 km/h) in lower than 4 seconds. Don’t go getting any concepts about stealing as soon as from Ford’s plant and making an attempt to outrun the eye-in-the-sky, although: the Raptor R’s high pace is artificially restricted to only 120 mph (193 km/h).
H/T to The Detroit Information