Here's an edited (!) account of the recent "shootout" among several
Mustangs, done for a magazine called "Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords".
Included among the 6 Fords running was a turbocharged Mustang SVO (engine
mods are extensive and likely CP class) and a heavily prepped autox Cobra.
The shootout involved a dragstrip segment, an autocross segment, and a
skidpad test (what, no road course?)The account has been edited and
forwarded by permission of the author.
The Mustang SVO in question is a stock model known as the Comp Prep
(Competition Prepared), but the engine is a VERY heavily modified version of
the SVO turbomotor -- but the car was competed with stock street exhaust,
stock wheels (16x7), and stock suspension (!). It is owned by Ken Schultz,
who delivered the car to the shootout and has done the engine mods.
> at 9AM, Weather is AWESOME, cool dense
> air...sunny, JUST PERFECT!....so off we all go to Motorsport Park! We
> pull into the park and see a few of the competators have arrived, so we
> park the rig and unload the Comp Prep.
> The competition would be 6 cars:
> The first was a 1993 Teal Cobra belonging to Bob Lyons (pres. of the SVT
> owners Assoc.), this car was complete with Global west suspension and a
> few engine bolt ons and Cobra R spec brakes. He had this cobra decked
> out for full autocross racing, the rear seats had been removed...a roll
> bar installed and recovered 79 Pace car Recaro seats and a full set of
> BFG R1 Racing tires.
> The second car was a1986 Lincoln Mark VII GTC,
> this was a special edition lincoln made by Cars and Concepts back in '86
> and the owner(manufacturing director for JESEL-valvetrain components)
> had modified the car with 96 Cobra 17" wheels with BFG Comp T/A ZR
> tires,Ball milled GT rotors, a highly modified motor with a Paxton
> supercharger and a 5 speed trans.
> The third car was the MMFF project car
> belonging to Vinnie Kung "Project White Trash" This was originally a 2.3
> 89 LX Coupe which now sports a 5.8, 5spd, 18" wheels with street tires
> and full suspension mods.
> The fourth car was a 95 Cobra brought in by
> Jimmy Briante(Yes, the big boys of 5.0 you always see in the magazine).
> This car had a fresh motor as they worked all night getting it ready, it
> was a 347 Stroker with TFS heads and a Vortech S trim supercharger and
> 17X9 Chrome cobra R Rims with Goodyear GSC's(street tires).
> The Fifth car was a stock drivetrain 96 Cobra with full Griggs suspension
and
> street tires. And of course our beloved 86 Comp prep belonging to Ken, we
were at the event
> with the stock SVO wheels clad with Nitto Drag radials on all 4 corners.
> We got the word that we were about to start, Ken would not be allowed to
> run his exhaust uncapped, so we had to run with the 3" downpipe to the
> STOCK Y pipe and Junk Montgomery ward Mufflers and STOCK
> tailpipes(2.25").
> The 96 Cobra which was stock except for the suspension blew the
> transmission so he was out of the competition.
> When Ken's [SVO] started up, the guys with the 95 347
> Supercharged Cobra made the comment while chuckling "What does he think
> HE is gonna do?", they knew it was a 2.3....
Drag race segment:
> The first pass Evan made in Ken's car was without the Nitrous and was a
> 12.99....the guys with the red cobra quickly went silent as their bottom
> lips hit the pavement. Evan had never driven an SVO and had a hard time
> getting used to it. The final run was made with the Nitrous and was a
> 12.003, Evan came back and told is that it would have been an 11.80 pass
> if he had not bogged it and fallen on his face on the launch. Remember
this was a street
> trim event(although R1s on a cobra prepped for autocross is not street
> trim).
> The guys in the 347 Supercharged Cobra could only manage a best
> run of 12.09 and 12.20 -- bottom Line is that the SVO BEAT EVERYONE in the
1/4
> mile competition! End of Story, the Little ole 2.3 Spanked every V8 Butt
in
> the competition. By the way...That 4,000 LB Lincoln Mark VII went a
13.00!!!
Autox segment:
> The next event was the Autocross....This was a low speed and Tight
> course. It is a little more difficult to describe this event but there
> were some cool "squirrely" magazine shots taken(like the 347 car doing a
> donut-it was the most tail happy). Bottom line here...the Autocross
> prepped R1 clad 93 Cobra won this event, Ken came in second behind it
> 1/1000nds slower!!!!!! Evan made a comment that the SVO was the MOST
> nuetral car he has ever driven and was obviously impressed with its
> handling! .
Skidpad segment:
> Next was the Skidpad test, again, the '93 Cobra took first in this one
> and Ken came in a close second....not bad for a 13 year old car with
> STOCK suspension!
The article in MMFF is expected in the Fall.
Richard Nichols
86 SVO 1C
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