My Not So Revolutionary Revelation (Foxbody Content)

My son and I finally did our second autocross with the Mustang yesterday.

When I bought the car I was acutely aware that these things aren't fast. The impression of the lack of speed is exacerbated by the fact I just switched from a decade of running a Formula 500 / F-mod; so I'm going from a bad day being 5th overall to a good day of being 50th overall.

On a positive note the Mustang is the first car that my PAX times place me higher than my raw times.

So as an innate over thinker I looked up the results from the Solo National Championships. The winning drivers CAM-T and CS turned almost identical times.  And where were my times? Well you guessed it I was pretty much on par CS.  The course we ran yesterday was nearly identical to the national course ran this year.

I don't know why but I figured with all the power and suspension mods the class allows they'd be faster than a stock Miata.

Now had on known this before I bought the Mustang would I still have bought it? The answer is an emphatic yes.  My son was talking to an M3 driver who noted he really liked Foxbody cars and he told the BMW driver "this is the most fun car I've ever driven"

It's amazing how much fun these things are. I say this with a car that isn't even fully sorted, I've got to get the LSD rebuilt, the Cobra brakes and the chassis stiffeners on it still. At this moment I'm starting to think whoever event CAM as a class may be a genius.

Emphasis on the word fun. Which is maybe kidofsortof why we do this stuff? We used to do a lot of track days in a reasonably well set up fox coupe. And it was a riot. Much faster than anyone thought it should be.  Lots of proven upgrades available.  And ...fun.  One caution. My car was great right up to about 99.999999 percent of every bit of all of it. I never went over the edge but witnessed others do so and its over quickly when the line has been crossed. 

In reply to SPG123 :

The Formula 500 was a 73" wheelbase car; the Foxbody snap oversteer pales in comparison. 

My Datsun 1200 has leak spring rear suspension; the Mustang's coil springs are a revelation.

Yesterday I got the Mustang 60 degrees right exiting a gate, it then snapped back 45 degree left and I still managed to save it. My son asked how I did it. I told him relative to the Datsun and the F500 the Mustang has a huge wind up and it's easy to see it coming.

I also spent a lot of time riding early Yamaha Monoshock motocross bikes; they were affectionately know as Yamaswappers.