Hi there
Well I got an invite from Ford last week for a free couple of hours track day at Silverstone International circuit driving my own car with an ARDS instructor for FREE, of course I could not refuse. Ford held a great even, very well organised and lots of track time in open pitlane format. Was only 17 cars on track, some real nice metal there, got lots of photos which I shall post later/tomorrow.
Anyway less boring stuff and onto the fun action stuff.
During my pax laps with the instructor I started filming after a lap in, sorry I was not pointing my phone at the track but you get the idea:
In short he absolutely loved my car, he felt it was stronger and pulled better in a straight line than any of the others he'd driven earlier in the day, so he was surprised when I told him power wise it was stock except for simple modifications to direct more cold air into the air box to keep IAT's down close to ambient levels. Clearly that works!
But the bigger story was the handling, he was amazing at how much higher corner speeds he could maintain with my car and not only that but how far better balanced and neutral the car was. This makes me very happy as I went for dampers and spring which were only 20% firmer over stock to maintain good road comfort, so the fact the setup performed so well on track is a huge bonus.
What was also impressive about my car which he loved was its balance and progressive nature, compared to the others mine was more planted in the rear and just had more grip at all four corners.
Even though in the video it is instructors driving the other cars as well the speed difference is huge, of course he was pushing it a little because in his words "oh my this car is so much fun" but saying that he managed a 1:27 lap with heavy traffic and not driving the car at qualifying or race pace, he was not flat out due to not being his car. I have no idea if that's a good lap for Silverstone International but in the car it felt hugely fast and we were hovering around 130mph on the pit straight with him driving, though he was only revving to 6000rpm as he said if its not his car he will drive to 8/10th's kind of pace, hence keeping revs low and not full on attacking the brakes.
So I took over and did around 20 minutes on circuit followed by a couple of cooling down laps, let car cool in pits for 10 minutes and then went out again and it started to rain, stayed out for a couple of laps but as track got more damp called it day as was feeling pretty tired and did not want to risk throwing it at the armco as the track got more slippy.
But from driving my own car at pace I am staggered at the levels of grip it has, on track it feels a far lighter car and is really at home on a fast wide circuit like Silverstone, as I was changing up at 7000rpm even manage to hit 135mph on pit straight.
The balance though is superb, right at the limit there is some understeer but the car is so forgiving you can actually dial in more steering and it grips and the rear stays planted, complete stook down, in fact with all the modifications have really not only improved grip levels but made the car a lot more chuckable whilst remaining forgiving at limits. Even as the track started to become damp grip levels were so high and we just left it in race mode.
My car really made the others look so much slower, obviously not just down to car but having track experience helps a lot, but it is always good bragging rights to never be over taken and literally be flying past everyone else.
Then I finished with 2-3 laps in 5th gear not using the brakes just cooling off around the circuit as I wanted no risk of over heating.
But there you have it, an ARDS race/instructor who has driven a few standard Mustang GT PP's then drives mine and says its faster, flatter, more grip, handles better, more forgiving and most of all is so much fun.
Think I got my modifications absolutely spot on, I am shocked, surprised and completely overjoyed with not only how well the car handled, gripped but oh my it is such a fun car on track and the ability is way above my expectations. WOW, had a great time!
