Sam Strano

Funny, but I don't really have an issue with autoxing the Mustang, or a Camaro both of which weight about the same thing. The Shelby @ Nats' was 3436 w/o drive. My Z28 is 3429 w/o driver. I went on to pretty healthy wins in both '07 (mustang) and '06 (Z28) in what were among the two heaviest cars in the class empty. And for those that have met me, DEFINITELY the heaviest when being run on course. I'm not a small guy--at all.

There is a thing called the PAX index, which a factor that every class has to somewhat equalize the classes so you can judge your driving and/or setup. It's nothing official but is a good measure of where we stand. I PAXed #1 for '07 Solo Nationals, out of 1152 other competitiors. I PAXed #11 in 2006 in my ESP Z28 with a like number of competitors (and didn't run in nearly as good a condition). I also flat out-ran some faster classes such as B-stock which includes MUCH lighterRX8's and lighter, smaller and just as powerful 350Z's. Those cars also run on like size wheels and tires too.

The fact is, if you know what to do (driving and setup wise)these cars are DAMNED fast. First National Tour this year I outran CS (the Miata Solstice class) on raw time, and PAXed $1 out of 280 or so cars for that event. Over the winter the F-stock PAX index took a huge jump over what it was in 2007 too.

You can't really drive these cars with the throttle much on any sort of R-compound tire. A little, but it won't always work as the grip of the tires just tends to make the inside rear tire ignite if you are carrying as much lateral grip as you can. As for making sure you don't blow corners, that applies to every car, not just heavy ones.

RodeoFlyer

autocrossing taught me that I could be a REAL good drifter if I didn't think that motorsport was LAME

seriously -

my car is too far gone to autocross because of SCCA's lame rules, but i'm glad I did it for the time I did. I'm actually considering going back and getting run over in CP just for the practice.
You learn a LOT about car control in autocross.

The only thing that sucks about it is that if you decide to go road racing you have to learn to drive just as well offline because someone is next to you. Most of your passing is done offline, so you have to apply what you have learned in a different situation. Fun stuff.

GotMunchies?

So any tips for those of trying to dial in our Mustangs? I think my biggest problem right now are my all-season tires mounted on the heaviest wheels available.