Ford does make note, however, of the success its upgraded rear suspension design has experienced on the track. Its race-prepared
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| "SVT and Ford Racing will be working closer than ever as we go forward on future projects, especially Mustangs." (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
Ford Racing Mustang FR500C was "purpose-built from the base 2005 Mustang body structure and suspension geometry to run in the Grand-Am Cup series, a class of road racing for production-based cars." Ford mentions that it has competed against "the best from Germany and Japan," and that the Mustang FR500C won at the season-opening Daytona International Speedway event in February.
"SVT and Ford Racing will be working closer than ever as we go forward on future projects, especially Mustangs," stated Hau Thai-Tang, director, Ford Advanced Product Creation and SVT Programs, plus a Ford Racing alumnus who served as the race engineer for the Newman-Haas Racing team in 1993. "The Mustang FR500C racing program is an exact demonstration of the capability we engineered into the mainstream Mustang to be capable of. Now, we have both a Daytona victory and the return of the Shelby Cobra GT500 to showcase Mustang performance possibilities."
Well, despite its lack of an IRS, it's difficult to argue with racing success. Of course, while racing can be a grueling exercise in developing reliability as well as fine tuning suspension geometry for optimal performance, among other things, race tracks normally feature much
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| It would be interesting to see if the system that has won on the track is also as tractable in real world conditions as an IRS system would be. (Photo: Ford Motor Company of Canada) |
smoother surfaces than city roads and backcountry highways. It would be interesting to see if the system that has won on the track is also as tractable in real world conditions as an IRS system would be. I suppose I'll never know, unless I happen to get my hands on a Shelby GT500 refitted with one of Saleen's aftermarket IRS systems. Hey, Steve, any word on an upgrade? Oh, you say Saleen isn't going to build an IRS for the new Mustang. Too difficult to make it fit? The current panhard live-axle setup is already good enough? Kenny Brown doesn't think so, as he has already developed a fully independent double wishbone rear suspension with inboard rocker activated shocks for the new 2005 Mustang? Sounds awesome. And an independent uneven length double wishbone front setup with Saleen N2 triple-adjustable shocks and adjustable sway bars to boot? Now that's more like it. Obviously there's a need, and Kenny Brown is filling it.
