F-350 Platinum has a tune and less emissions hardware choking its Power Stroke V8. How fast can it fly through Bonneville?
Have you ever looked at a long strip of empty road and fantasized about going as fast as you can down it in a high-performance car? Of course you have. We all have at least once. The main problem with making that daydream into a reality is that it’s illegal, but it can also be hard to find a road where you could max out a vehicle’s speed. The host of the YouTube channel Judah’s Garage (we’ll have to assume his name is Judah) found just the place to take his modified 2015 Ford F-350 Platinum with the almighty 6.7-liter Power Stroke diesel to its top speed: Bonneville.
We know what you’re thinking – Judah went straight to the famous salt flats. He did, but summer rains made them unsuitable for a high-speed runs. Having driven six hours from Las Vegas just to get there, he was determined to put a big number on his Super Duty‘s speedo, wherever he could.
Doing that would be fun enough in a stock Power Stroke truck, but Judah’s rig has had some work done under its hood. “It’s tuned and deleted and it’s running … a full five-inch straight pipe.” Other mods include upgraded piping and an aftermarket intake.
Judah and his pal end up finding a seemingly forever-long and endlessly straight stretch of Utah highway that eventually leads to distant mountains. Once Judah’s friend pulls up a speedometer app on his phone, Judah pops the F-350 into drive and puts the hammer down. The exhaust shoots out a monstrously dark cloud of smoke and the guys take off. The brave timer calls out the speeds as they come up on his screen. “Ninety four, a hundred and one, hundred and six, 118, 126.” Judah keeps his right foot flat until the F-350 hits 138 mph.
As thrilling as that must’ve been, Judah is a little let down by his max speed. “Damn. I’m honestly a little disappointed. I was thinking it was going to do like 160, 150.” Sure, it could’ve been better, but when you consider there was a 7,000-pound truck on 35s thundering down a public road as if it were on the Bonneville Salt Flats, things could’ve gone a lot worse, too.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
