Ram’s ‘apex predators’ arrive Joel scored first, now Australia catches up Two months ago, Wainui off-roader Joel Giddy was good enough to give NZ4WD a good look around Ram’s finest: the first Hellcat-engined TRX down under. He used his Ram TRX to bring his race trucks down to Manukau from his home base north of Auckland.
The 523kW truck was parked in a line-up of Ram and Chevy Silverado haulers and a few more mundane offerings, making the latter look like puppies alongside the ‘big dog’. The TRX didn’t arrive through official channels, which made it all the more intriguing. Now, Aussie’s all excited about finally getting the Ram TRX. “The TRX sets new benchmarks for extreme performance trucks,” according to Neville Crichton, chairman of the Ateco
Group, owners of Ram Trucks Australia. Across the ditch, Ram has gone from zero to 13,000 in seven years. That’s 13,000 happy pick-up owners. Impressive. As noted in the article on Joel’s truck, the TRX is built around the 6.2-litre supercharged Hemi V8 making 523kW at 6,100rpm and 882Nm at 4,200rpm. That gives the big truck a 0-100km/ h time of 4.5 seconds. Strangely, Ram quotes a maximum speed of ‘just’ 190km/h. The transmission is an eight speed Torqueflite unit and the truck’s ‘active’ transfer case features upgraded internals for improved strength and durability. The TRX uses a 3.55 ratio Dana 60 solid rear axle with full-floating hubs. An electronic locking rear differential is standard for increased performance off-road Designed exclusively for TRX, new front and rear 2.6-inch Bilstein Black Hawk e2 adaptive performance shocks provide fast reaction time, unbeatable damping and improved heat dissipation for traversing harsh terrain at high speeds Five-link coil suspension is tuned to
deliver the best combination of ride, handling and comfort no matter the road surface. It rides on specially-developed Goodyear Wrangler Territory 325/65 R18 All-Terrain 35-inch tires. The truck’s safety spec includes a range of active and passive safety and security features including ParkView rear backup camera with dynamic grid lines, electronic stability control (ESC) with electronic roll mitigation and six airbags, blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control, ready alert braking and full-speed forward collision warning. Australia’s Ram pick-up truck range starts with the 1500 Express Crew and Warlock models in the original DS variant, followed by the 1500 Laramie and 1500 Limited in the recently launched DT model range, and the Heavy Duty 2500 Laramie and Heavy Duty 3500 Laramie. The TRX is the new range-topper and is priced from AUD$199,950 (NZD$219,900). It is loaded: the only option will be a full-length panoramic sunroof, at an additional $10,000. Australia is the only Ram-approved manufacturer of right-hand drive trucks.
Block hammers the Hellcat Parents, don’t let your children try this – it may well count as cruel and unusual punishment. NZ4WD recently profiled Joel Giddy’s awesome private-import Ram TRX ‘Hellcat’. It’s his ‘enjoy’ truck, 523kW of on-road fun, the first and most likely still the only such truck in this country. It has already been off-road, but only into the grassy paddock at the Counties Manukau
6
NZ4WD
AUGUST 2022
Offroad Racing Club’s stadium track at Colin Dale Park. Ram has taken things a step further in the USA, announcing a special edition called Sandblast and letting rally/drift/ rallycross star Ken Block loose in it. American showman Block has posted a teaser video to his social media channels previewing a new Ram spec apparently built off the Ram TRX ‘Hellcat’. The brief
black-and-white video shows a nostrilgrilled Ram pickup carving donuts in the dirt with a giant plume of dust billowing into the air. The exhaust note, which is audible in the video, gives it away. It’s a classic ‘neither confirm nor deny’ for Ram. We can confirm no actual Hellcats were harmed in the making of the video. See for yourself at shorturl.at/ LNPU1.
