SCORPION STING

NESTLED between the chassis rails of Simon’s F250 is, hands down, one of the most powerful engines you’ll find in any passenger 4x4… ever. The 6.7L Powerstroke diesel is an absolute beast of a donk, putting out 440hp (328kw) and 1166Nm. Simon’s F250 is punching out even more again, with an aggressive tune thanks to the Bully Dog control unit. The exact figures are unknown as it hasn’t been on a dyno, but Simon tells us it’ll light up the rear tyres at 80km/h. Not bad for a truck tipping the scales at five tonnes.

The drain-pipe-sized four-inch exhaust has something to do with that, but the real trick is the ‘Scorpion’ turbo set-up. To push the Powerstroke to such lofty numbers, Ford Engineers strapped a huge turbo between the two cylinder heads and essentially flipped the heads around. Fresh air sucks in from where the exhaust would normally be, and exhaust pumps out through what would usually be the air intake. The design means the engine can run one huge turbo, rather than two smaller turbos or a complicated piping set-up. The results are an ungodly amount of power that sees Us-based F250s legally towing weights more than double the usual 3500kg Aussie limit.