Howdy guys. I'm relatively new to the Mustang crowd, got Penelope back in July, but she hasn't seen must action other than daily driving, that is until yesterday: her (and my) first auto-cross event. I have to say it was a blast. Sadly, I must add that she's not nearly as nimble as i had hoped, well, being compared to the competition, that is, though much of it was due to my driving :| Yes it was a little disheartening, but there was one thing that lifted my spirits. The course was set up at a vacant airport, and with a vacant airport comes empty (approx. quarter-mile) runways asking to be raced upon. My roommate and I had a quick round, well, I had a quick round, he was in a Saturn SL1. Let's just say it was a confidence builder. After that, another buddy upped the competition: a 2004 manual Mazda RX-8. To start off, he's no slouch of a driver. The first go around definitely leaned his way, from the get-go, I lost traction for the first few seconds and then the tach limiter kicked in b/c i was paying attention to the tire spinning. Needless to say, he won by a car length. The second round was a different story. Both of us had near perfect starts and were giving it our all. Long story short, he edged me by no more than a foot as judged by the Saturn driver sitting out this one. I'm not too sure of the RX-8's numbers, but i was definitely proud of my little pony after the show she put on that day.

 

Very cool! Thanks for sharing your experience. As a suggestion, you may want to save up for better tires (and perhaps rims) if X-ing is something you'd like to do regularly. I saw a definite improvement in handling when I switched from the stock 16" BFG's to 17" P-Zeros. GT take-off or aftermarket sway-bars (plural) are a good investment, I understand. Regardless, 'glad to hear you're going out and having fun in your Stang.

 

Hello Agmrpink. The autocross community is kind of limited on MF, but there are a few of us who are interested. You might want to go visit the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) site at http://www.scca.com and take a look at their Solo II (what SCCA calls Autocross) section. There are also Time Trials which is solo racing on a track with higher speeds, SCCA use to call this Solo I, but I believe they are changing it to Time Trials, so look for a change on their web site.

Edit: 28hopup made me think, SCCA rules are kind of strange, apparently, as long as a part comes or came on a Mustang, you can add it and still be stock. So if you don't have sway bars, you can add the GT bars and still be in stock class, but if you were to add an aftermarket sway bar you'd be in modified.

 

28hop up - where did you get your GT - takeoff wheels? Saw a deal for $299 in MM&FF from Saleen but have no idea what they would charge for shipping. Kinda waiting for my stock tires to need replacement first but at $299 for wheels and tires, its a hard deal to beat. Did you reallly notice a big improvement with these? I like the stock wheels so I'm having a hard time deciding on looks alone.

 

Oh god stock 16' tires are garbage.
I drove some girl's mustang with those tires and rims, and I almost drifted a corner in a canyon on accident (To my defense, I was used to mine, which has Pony Package)
Get the GT Takeoffs, they are a much stickier tire, not to mention, everyone loves Bullitt rims.

 

The wheels pictured below are 17" POLISHED Bullitts, not GT take-offs. I tried to buy them when I bought the car new, but the dealer couldn't find them (they were pictured in the 2005 catalog as a Ford aftermarket option), so I bought them locally along with stock-size Pirelli P-Zero tires. They were at least $200 each.

I have also bought a set of 2007 silver Bullitt wheels/tires from Haney Motorsports for $295 + shipping. I will use them to mount up some winter tires. I like the silver ones cuz they look close to my polished Bullitts.

 

https://mustangforums.com/m_1451105/tm.htm

 

Thanks for the info guys, new wheels are definitely on my need to get list. I just feel that being able to pay rent and eat are priority #1 for the time being

 

I just finished the major part of my suspension got the shocks and springs. Using the GT models on my v6. I am using Tein GT springs, and Tokico D-spec shocks and struts. Its unbeliveable the car handels soo well I cant wait for my next auto-x event. Ill murder most cars on the track. I have a feeling its a bit faster than my Corolla's "in the turns" that I have setup for racing because of the width of the tires. It realy handels as good as it looks, Japanese suspension on an American car. Ill have more pics I just took that one with my phone ill take more tonight and start a new thread.

 

Hi Guys,
Glad to hear about others autocrossing the 6 cyl Mustangs. I have been away from solo racing for 30 years but re-started this year with my pony. The first event I came in 5th out of six in the wrong class, but I beat some other older v8 Stangs in E stock and did have a lot of fun. Second event I won when placed in G stock, and than have placed 2nd three other times(with 4 to six entries). I am on stock Nero tires but have to pump them up to about 43psi to get the best performance from the tires on the course. I have been tending to charge the corners to much and get a lot of push/understeer, but I can get the car to drift in a cross control when done right. I once posted saying "corners well" but didn't get much responce. I didn't think anybody was interested in anything else but dragging or street racing in this forum. I won't get arrested for spinning out on the track so it is a BLAST!
A freind is offering me to use his racing tires from his 99 Cobra but I am afraid I will be so spoiled I will have to buy a set for myself also. There is to be another race Oct 29th and I may abuse my tires one more time. It addictive!