www.laspeedgarage.com

While waiting for a doc appointment, I had a chance to thumb thru a Motor Trend and a Car and Driver. In the Motor Trend, all the discussion was about the Dodge Hellcat and the Camaro. One would not have known that there was Mustang in existence.

The automotive press appears to me to give GM a giant pass on their problems. " These recalls of GM’s most high-profile car (the 'Vette') are but two more cherries on top of the really awful sundae that has been GM’s calendar-year 2014. Since January, the company has issued some 67 recalls affecting 29 million cars." Considering that GM sold almost 10 million vehicles world-wide in 2013, that is about 3 years total production being recalled...

The Hellcat. Imagine if they had been able to get the weight down to 2 tons instead of the 2 1/4 tons that it is. I have seen reports that the engine is sort of like the Terminator engine. Massively understated hp. But the GT 500 posts better 1/4 mile numbers mostly due to the crappy rubber that Dodge puts on the Hellcat. Has anyone run into one in a "mildly competitive" situation yet?

I have been looking at the NET for road tests of the new Mustang, and, there really aren't any extensive tests yet. Recently Ford let journalists drive some around the LA area, and the feedback was mostly positive. I saw one alleged 1/4 mile time and it had the GT running a high 12 second 1/4 at over 112, which they indicated was about 1/10 slower than the previous edition GT. They attributed this to the added curb weight of the new car since, apparently, the 435 HP on 93 octane doesn't make all that much of a difference. All those who drove the car commented that it was too quiet and that it needed a louder exhaust but, in all the comments, it was agreed that the 5.0 still remains the only choice if you are into performance.

It will be interesting to see more comprehensive tests, and, I still wonder why Ford rated the engines for 93 octane when it is known that California, the biggest Mustang market, has only 91 octane. In previous models, Ford disclosed the HP drop when 87 octane was run. For instance, my 412 HP on 91 octane, would be 402 on 87 octane. All I know is that they are going to have to work hard to match, or even get close, to PMachy's 12.67 at Famoso with a dead stocker right down to the air cleaner and performance tires at full street pressure. And, his run was captured on my GoPro so it was completely legit.

All that said, it will also be interesting to see how the new IRS holds up since the older stick axle cars have proved to be durable when used for drag racing. And, the manual trans has also been rumored to not be the stoutest out there. Lots of questions to be answered after the release of the new car.

But, cubes is cubes, and the big Dodge Hemi certainly will make such giant power numbers that when the car is fitted with some drag tires and perhaps a bit of suspension tweaking, I am pretty sure that it will be quite fast. But, there is that 11.5 barrier for street driven cars, so, having a 10 sec. car, is not necessarily an advantage if you wish to go to the strip, unless you want to cage it and do all the other safety stuff. And, any Terminator can be easily, and relatively cheaply, modded to go 11.5, or quicker......

FRPP already has halfshafts in the catalog:




They could just be stock replacements.

Tetge wrote:I have been looking at the NET for road tests of the new Mustang, and, there really aren't any extensive tests yet. Recently Ford let journalists drive some around the LA area, and the feedback was mostly positive. I saw one alleged 1/4 mile time and it had the GT running a high 12 second 1/4 at over 112, which they indicated was about 1/10 slower than the previous edition GT. They attributed this to the added curb weight of the new car since, apparently, the 435 HP on 93 octane doesn't make all that much of a difference. All those who drove the car commented that it was too quiet and that it needed a louder exhaust but, in all the comments, it was agreed that the 5.0 still remains the only choice if you are into performance.

It will be interesting to see more comprehensive tests, and, I still wonder why Ford rated the engines for 93 octane when it is known that California, the biggest Mustang market, has only 91 octane. In previous models, Ford disclosed the HP drop when 87 octane was run. For instance, my 412 HP on 91 octane, would be 402 on 87 octane. All I know is that they are going to have to work hard to match, or even get close, to PMachy's 12.67 at Famoso with a dead stocker right down to the air cleaner and performance tires at full street pressure. And, his run was captured on my GoPro so it was completely legit.

All that said, it will also be interesting to see how the new IRS holds up since the older stick axle cars have proved to be durable when used for drag racing. And, the manual trans has also been rumored to not be the stoutest out there. Lots of questions to be answered after the release of the new car.

But, cubes is cubes, and the big Dodge Hemi certainly will make such giant power numbers that when the car is fitted with some drag tires and perhaps a bit of suspension tweaking, I am pretty sure that it will be quite fast. But, there is that 11.5 barrier for street driven cars, so, having a 10 sec. car, is not necessarily an advantage if you wish to go to the strip, unless you want to cage it and do all the other safety stuff. And, any Terminator can be easily, and relatively cheaply, modded to go 11.5, or quicker......

That is all good, but I think the rags have some effect in building brand momentum, and the absence of any advocate for the Mustangs in the 2 that I had a chance to read was disappointing. I think that the 2015 IRS eliminates the anomaly/embarrassment of having a stick axle car in 2014, over 45 years after it became available. The 1968 Datsun 510 had an IRS I think, I know his 71 and 72 did. Had our Terminators come with stick axles I don't think they would have been as highly regarded.

All of us ran our mid-11s on the IRS 11-12-13 years ago. Then Ford wussed out and didn't go forward into general production with it.

USA Today did a nice feature on the 2015 Mustang today. Generally positive all around. Sort of predictably, the writer liked the 2.3 Ecoboost engine. If that is the engine that was in the Fusion that we put 3100 miles on this summer, I am a fan of that engine too, but not as much of a fan as of the real engine.