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The New Chevy Silverado Race Truck Is Ready to Conquer the Desert

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Photo: Chevrolet

The Chevy Colorado has already proven its off-road cred by unleashing a ton of stunning performances at the Best in the Desert racing series. But the Colorado’s big sibling, the Silverado, has just as much potential — if not more.

For this season, GM will debut the Chevy Silverado race truck at the Laughlin Desert Classic, the first of the Best in the Desert off-road races. With driver Frank DeAngelo of Hall Racing behind the wheel, the truck will compete in six races.  The race-ready Silverado will compete in the 1200 stock class, which allows for minor upgrades that boost safety and suspension.


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About the race truck

The new desert racer was built from a Chevy Silverado LT Trail Boss, equipped with a 6.2-liter V8 engine, paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission. Together, this dynamic duo delivers 420-horsepower. Like its Colorado predecessor, the Silverado will boast some upgrades. For starters, it’ll sport jounce shocks, long-travel suspension, underbody skid plates, Multimatic DSSV dampers, and 35-inch tires.

Although the dampers are still prototypes, they hold huge potential. They’ve already proven their worth on the Colorado desert racer, and they’ve carried over to its military-grade cousin. 

Michael Guttilla, vice president of Multimatic, sees a bright future for the innovative dampers. “We’ve taken everything we learned from the highly successful Colorado ZR2 program and scaled it to deliver next-level performance in the Silverado. Initial on-truck development has been successful, but competition will provide the true test,” he remarked.

Chad Hall, driver of the Colorado race truck, is similarly optimistic. “When you marry that suspension design and expertise with the Silverado’s 420-horsepower V8 and even greater suspension travel, I believe this new race truck will be a beast on the race course,” Hall said.


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The value of off-road racing

Brutal off-road races are more than just awesome tests of skill — they allow automakers to stress-test vehicles and components. According to GM engineer Mark Dickens, a single race can put years’ worth of wear and tear on a vehicle and its components. The data gathered by these race trucks help the automaker develop parts, accessories, and vehicles for the GM Defense program.

Source: Chevrolet