After a 500-mile blat through the Nevada desert, off-road racing legend Lauren Healey has a rather dirty and dusty Ford F-150 Raptor R race truck. Top Gear’s job is to clean it, in just four hours. This challenge was set to demonstrate how to clean an off-road race truck after it has been through one of the most grueling desert races in the world. Off-road race trucks face some of the harshest conditions in existence, encountering mud, ruts, water, gravel, and dust, all coming at them with "extreme violence and at high speed," which inevitably means they get "very dirty". The featured Ford Performance Raptor R was fresh from conquering the Vegas to Reno race, a journey of approximately 500 off-road miles from Las Vegas, Nevada, all the way to Reno, which took close to 12 hours to complete. During the race, the truck faced everything the Nevada desert uses "to kill you with", including 110-degree temperatures, the "nastiest dirt silt rocks ruts," and pervasive dust caused by 300 to 400 trucks racing and attempting to pass each other.
The truck utilized was a Ford-built production Raptor R, described as a "very stock truck". The entire Raptor line, including the Bronco Raptor, Raptor Ranger, and Raptor R, is "off-road inspired" and was designed and developed with off-roading in mind. The standard Raptor R comes equipped with a 5.2 L supercharged V8 engine, delivering 720 brake horsepower and 640 lb.-ft of torque, a 10-speed automatic transmission, and is capable of 0 to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. It also features 37-inch tires, Fox Live valve shocks, 13 inches of ground clearance, and specific off-road modes, including a Baja setting. Driven by Lauren Healey—a five-time Baja 1000 winner and the most successful driver on the planet in the Ultra Four class—the truck's modifications were mostly limited to "simply safety spares and communications", proving its stock performance by dominating the production-based classes. Healey, who has experience designing and developing Ford's off-road locations, advised on the cleaning strategy.
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The Top Gear Clean aimed for a realistic approach, limiting the process to four hours—the time a normal person might spend on a mini valet—and using only "normal products and tools" readily available at home. Healey stressed the most crucial first step: "don't add water" until as much dirt and dust as possible is removed, because adding water creates mud, which then "bakes and dries and it makes the situation worse". The trick is to use air, such as leaf blowers or a high-powered air compressor, to remove the silt and dust from tight areas like wheels and tires. Aided by "no-nonsense speed clean muscle" Jose and Dan, the team first tackled the interior, using a 140 PSI air compressor to blow out the talcum powder-like silt dust crammed into every nook and cranny. Key touchpoints, including the mats and center cluster, were then addressed with a foaming interior detailer, which brings the dust and dirt to the surface of the plastic before it is wiped away. The race truck presented unique challenges, such as floor mats that were bolted and glued in place, requiring meticulous work.
The team then shifted focus to critical safety components, prioritizing the suspension and brakes. It is essential to clean these properly to ensure the vehicle is safe to drive and to prevent silt from entering the bearings and acting as a "grinding paste". This required taking the wheels off to attack the baked-on mud and rocks inside the wheel structures. Foaming wheel cleaner was applied to break down the "really deep dirt that's kind of caked on", followed by power washing and scrubbing. To address the bodywork, the team used snow foam, a bubbling pre-wash that is sprayed on and left to sit, which works as the "least invasive way of soaking off that crud" by lifting and separating grime from the body. Although perfection was unattainable and the truck retained "battle scars", the process successfully transformed the vehicle from a "beaten down race truck to a race truck with a glow up," making it "red carpet ready" for its next event.
