Raptor R Team Member Tells Us His Story

We were able to talk to Keith Weston, Ford Performance vehicle engineering supervisor, for a few minutes. He knows you might think he’s a little biased, but he says even if he didn’t work for Ford, he’d still think the Raptor R is the coolest truck on – and off – the road. We talked with Keith about the truck, the talented team who made it happen, and what he loves about Ford.

You called the Raptor R the “coolest truck in the world” – what makes you say that?

What makes a Raptor a Raptor is the chassis – the truck’s ability to traverse desert terrain at pace is truly exceptional.??Drive modes tailored to the environment…sophisticated shock absorber tuned and developed by the best vehicle dynamics engineers I have ever worked with.?The extraordinary power delivery of the 5.2L Supercharged V8 takes the Raptor R to the next level.

You really need to drive it! On-road, the level of comfort and its capacity is unbelievable. Off-road, there’s just nothing you can drive out of a dealership like it.?

What would your dream on-or-off-road day be with the Raptor R?

Baja…where else…with the right people in a group of Raptors!

Tell us about some other fulfilling projects you’ve been involved in at Ford.

When we took the 2015 F-150 from steel to aluminum, the weight reduction was a game changer. Our customers love and depend on the F-150, so that had a big impact.

Also, the 2020 GT500, which was my first opportunity to work with and learn from the extraordinary development engineering team at Ford Performance. It provides supercar levels of performance in an amazingly accessible package, and our team here knew when we did GT500 we needed to find a way to put a derivative of that engine in an F150 Raptor.

What are you doing when you’re not producing amazing vehicles?

Traveling with the love of my life, Kristina.??I also do yoga and weight lifting. I can also be found building stuff outside of work too -- sometimes because I have to, and sometimes because I want to!

What was your first car?

I worked nearly full time through high school making between $4 and $5 an hour so I could buy a manual transmission 1990 Mustang LX 5.0 with a 3.08 axle.

What brought you to Ford?

I came from the aerospace industry, and of course planes and rockets are exciting, but after I completed my MBA, I decided I needed to work on a product I loved, and I’ve been an automobile enthusiast all my life so I came to Ford. That was 22 years ago. Honestly, if I knew about the exceptional and passionate engineers I would have the privilege of working with, and the amazing products I would help create, I would have come here even sooner.

What keeps you at Ford?

As you can tell, I love the products. I also have the ability to innovate – I have 108 patents so far, either in the filing process or granted. And of course, the people – the incredibly talented engineers I get to work with and learn from. I’m so proud of our team. These are people who could be running their own companies, have trophy winning racing careers, or do any sort of engineering they want, but they choose to work for Ford Performance because of the extraordinary products they get to be a part of creating. We’re all so proud to be a part of giving customers something they can’t get anywhere else.