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Ford ST SUV Experience

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Tucson, AZ
#1
st-suv-exp-15.jpg
Did you know that when you purchase the Ford Edge ST, or the upcoming Ford Explorer ST, you’re invited to a racing school in Park City, Utah? It’s called the Ford ST SUV Experience, a branch of the many available programs offered by the Ford Performance Racing School. We just sampled the program as if we were new Edge ST owners, and here’s what we think about it.

For the record, this program doesn’t include travel costs to get to Park City; you’ll have to cover that on your own. But, once there, Ford takes good care of you, putting you up in a nice hotel located not too far from the Olympic Park where the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were held. Ford covers your meals, and hands you the keys to a brand new 2019 Ford Edge ST painted in the color of your liking. The Blue Oval will also pay the stay for a guest, which makes for a wonderful couples getaway.

During your stay, you will experience a series of driving exercises to both better understand what the Ford Edge ST can do from a performance standpoint, and also sharpen your reflexes during evasive maneuvers and emergency braking.

The first section of the event focuses on over/understeer comprehension, where an instructor in a Ford Taurus training car, which can raise or lower its ride height to simulate a car’s weight transfer under load, teaches you how to recover an out-of-control vehicle. The event then shifts to a high-speed braking autocross course to sample out the upgraded brake system on the Edge ST as well as its collision mitigation and emergency braking systems.

From there, participants transfer over to an autocross track to drive laps against the clock. You’re given four laps in total, with the first one accompanied by a Ford trainer to make sure you’ve properly assessed the course and the vehicle’s handling abilities.
 

Joe B

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Akron, OH, USA
#2
I participated on July 2nd’s class. Well worth the time and money to get there and go through the experience. The Explorer course was slightly different than the Edge Course.

The Explorer class runs the accident avoidance first, then does a trail ride to showcase the Trail Mode, Autohold and Hill Descent features. After that is the AutoCross. Due to time constraints, we did not get to do the Skid Car activity.

The instructors were awesome and through. I highly recommend taking advantage of the opportunity!
 

Msmith4x4

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Texas, USA
#3
Does the North Carolina include same driving experience? Just confirming, they provide vehicles?
 

Joe B

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Akron, OH, USA
#4
Identical is what I understand. Vehicles are provided at both schools.
 

KegsBdry

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#5
Does the North Carolina include same driving experience? Just confirming, they provide vehicles?
I sure as hell am not doing it in my vehicle! :ROFLMAO:
 

Msmith4x4

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#6
I would not want to use my own either, lol. Not going to treat it like a rental car
Thanks for the answers!
 

minuteman3

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U.S. Air Force Veteran
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Location
Tacoma, WA, USA
Vehicle
2020 Explorer ST
#7
Saab was offering a similar program (Aero Experience) back in 2007 when I bought a new 9-3 Aero convertible. Held at Road Atlanta in Georgia. Tons of fun!! I ended up with a small trophy for the "Most Improved Time" on the autocross course (we did a run as the first thing on the schedule, then another after the two days of instruction). Guess I paid attention!!

During a break someone mentioned how one day the cars we used would show up at some Saab/GM dealer as "low mileage corporate car" and sold to someone who had no idea of the abuse that had been heaped on them!! One of the instructors said they replaced the front brake pads about once every 90 days ...

I was planning to go to Park City in September, but since Utah has said anyone coming from a COVID "Hot Spot" like Washington must quarantine in place for 14 days on arrival ... we decided to wait until next spring when all of this silliness will probably be over!!

Ken
 

Kirk ST

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U.S. Army Veteran
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Pittsburgh, PA, USA
#8
I just bought my 2020 ST and was surprised that the salesman didn't mention anything about this during the sale. While I was waiting on the paperwork, the Ford guy in the cube next to him told me about it. It's in fine print on the bottom of the window sticker. A course like that has at least a $1000 value. it's not why I'd buy a car, but it's a really cool thing Ford is doing the group of ST buyers to give them perceived value of the ST brand. I'm definitely going to go to the ST course in Asheville, NC sometime in '21. it'll be a great road trip for us from western PA. glad to hear it was such a positive experience (and that you aren't killing your own vehicle!)
 

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NJ
#9
I'll be attending the NC one with my wife in 2021 for sure.
 



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