Spring is upon us and, as we all know, in spring a young boy's fancies turn to thoughts of love . . . and racing. source: champcarworldseries.com - David Phillips Last year Ford helped fulfill some young boys thoughts of racing through the introduction of its "Boy Racer" Mustang in the GS Class of the Grand American Racing Series. The GS Mustang also fulfilled the hopes of David Empringham, Multimatic Motorsports and Ford with a clean sweep of the 2005 Grand Am's GS drivers championship, team championship and manufacturer's championship. What to do for an encore? How about a "Man Racer" Mustang? Think of it as a grown-up version of the GS Mustang, one with an extra 100 horsepower -- up to 550 bhp -- sequential gearbox, heavy duty, race-tuned suspension, full racing slicks and suitably beefy running gear to handle all that torque and power. Now if there was just somewhere to race it. "I like to think of it as a 21st century Trans-Am car," says Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology, "or America's version of the Australian V8 Supercar." For now, the Man Racer is a race car without a series. Davis readily concedes the car has been developed -- in conjunction with Multimatic Motorsports -- as both an engineering exercise and a demonstration project in search of a race series. Although the car could be raced, with some modifications to bring it in line with specific regulations, in the Grand-Am GT or SpeedWorld Challenge series, Davis would love to see it form the basis of a new series. "It would make a great basis for a spec series," he says. "We've developed it with that in mind. The car is fully engineered, fully developed and it's ready to go. It's very durable. The engine (akin to the all aluminum, four valve, naturally-aspirated 302 cubic inch V8 built by Yates/Roush for the Grand-Am's Daytona Prototype class) can do a whole season. The goal is to make it a driver's car, one where you can focus on driving and tuning rather than maintenance and engine rebuilds." The Man Racer was on display -- and on the race track -- at last week's final pre-season Champ Car test at California Speedway. According to Davis, plans call for similar Man Racer demos at most Champ Car World Series events this season.
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