S197 Drops Seven Seconds Off Lap Time With Just Bolt-Ons

During a race, a slight advantage of a tenth of a second per lap can make all the difference. Racing teams spend countless hours on research and development in an endless quest for a slight edge over their opponents.

To that point, the Speed Academy video below shows that with just a few hours and a credit card, you can knock a full seven seconds off of your lap time. In the Project Mullet Mustang series, they’ve taken a stock S197 GT — in a gorgeous silver over red color combo — and carefully selected components to improve all aspects of performance. And they’ve improved the look and sound of the stock car while they were at it.

On the horsepower side, modifications included intake, headers, and exhaust, with special attention paid to the cooling system in the form of a Mishimoto aluminum radiator. The suspension was improved with adjustable coilovers and sway bars, while braking performance benefited from DBA 4000 Series rotors and Hawk pads.

Tires are the most important component of any performance car, and the Mullet Mustang rides on Kumho Ecsta PS91s mounted on a wide set of Enkeis. All in all, this package allowed the Mustang to drop its time a full seven seconds at Toronto Motorsports Park. Great work, guys!

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Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.
He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.
In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.
You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.
When he's not busy working on his Harley-Davidson bike, the vastly experienced writer has covered an array of features, reviews, how-tos, op-eds and news stories for Internet Brands' Auto Group and is also a co-founder and co-host of the popular podcast Cammed & Tubbed.

Check him out on Instagram at: Camvanderhorst.

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