Mustang noises.
Mustang thrills.
We wanted in.
Our big take-home lesson from this fall’s Tire Rack SCCA Solo Nationals: The club’s new Club Spec Mustang could offer a fairly easy route to building a fun, competitive autocross car that, as a bonus, has a home in multiple SCCA disciplines.
Time for us to join the party and build a car …
Not our first later-model Mustang, either, as we prepped a 2012 Mustang GT for SCCA CAM autocross a while back.
All the reasons you've listed are why I bought a Mustang; of course as I like older cars I went with the Foxbody.
What's ironic about this is 30 years ago there were a dozen of us in LVR SCCA that were suing the same car for all of the events we ran; Autocross Rally-X and even club racing.
Love this concept.
I'm looking forward to following this build. I've been missing a V8 in my fleet and the S197 Mustangs seem to be in a sweet spot as far as depreciation and cost for reliability is concerned. It seems like I could pick one up for a reasonable price, enjoy v8 noises and acceptable performance for a few years and then resell without having to do a bunch of repair work and without loosing much if any money.
As the Mustang and Miata spec classes have been developing, it's been interesting to watch the adoption in the Mustang class seriously outpace the MX-5 class. If you had asked me how I thought it would shake out when these classes were announced, I'd have predicted exactly the opposite.
But after driving our new-to-us Mustang, I kind of get it. Even in it's off-the-used-car-lot condition the car does a lot of things well, and shows a lot of potential. it doesn';t hurt that it makes awesome noises and has great presencee on track, either.
S197s have exceptional steering. I'm not sure how they do it, but they do. The steering makes the car feel 20% smaller than it is since you can just place it so well and stay tidy with your lines. Even on the 540 tw (!?!?!) tires it had an air of nimbleness about it. The brakes sucked, and the diff is shot, but all that stuff is easily fixable, and those areas are on the CSM spec sheet to address anyway.
Front camber is always an issue with S197s. I recall on our project car, we'd cup the outer edge of the front tires fairly quickly, even with over three degrees of negative camber. So it'll be interesting to see how the narrower Goodyears hold up to likely even less camber than that.
Still, i think it's going to be a really fun project. This was a good choice by the SCCA for a fun and appealing starting point. It's a bummer so many of them are grody as hell at this point, but maybe this class is what can save a few of the good ones.
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
If by "save" you mean "ruin" I think you're on to something. I never see S197s in the JY.
As far as adoption rate, it probably helps that Ford sold a E36 M3 ton of them.
JG Pasterjak said:It's a bummer so many of them are grody as hell at this point, but maybe this class is what can save a few of the good ones.
A large number of grody starter vehicles is exactly what you need for a spec series.
Biohazard on the inside, with perfect mechanicals... The dream.
Sort of related, but on December 25, 2004, I was photographing this. My wife was running in a race, so I took the car around DeLand for some photos. 
If I lived a little closer, I'd love to build up my Camaro alongside your project car, part for part , week by week. I think that would be a very interesting comparison, and would probably be the motivation for me to stop talking and start doing.
The FIRM is a bit far as well, but if you want to take it to Bradenton or Sebring before mods begin and get a baseline 😜
JG Pasterjak said:As the Mustang and Miata spec classes have been developing, it's been interesting to watch the adoption in the Mustang class seriously outpace the MX-5 class. If you had asked me how I thought it would shake out when these classes were announced, I'd have predicted exactly the opposite.
When the wife suggested I pick up a dual duty car, I thought the Miata would be the answer, BUT like a lot of people I've done the momentum car thing ad nauseam. The Mustang makes perfect sense; they are fun to drive and have a great exhaust note. Even when they are going slow they sound fast.
In reply to racerfink :
Soon, I hear, we might have some FIRM baseline times and data. (I’ve said too much.)
And remember the Mustang FR500C? We were there when they debuted during preseason testing. This was something totally new for the day’s street stock wars. Unlike the Cobra R, Camaro 1LE, BMW M3 LTW and other models intended for racing, this one came fully prepared for racing: full cage, data system, fire suppression, window net, harness, etc. It was like a GT4 car before we really knew what GT4 was. Ford Racing still has the hero card posted here.
Is it messed up that I immediately pictured a Fox body?
Appleseed said:Is it messed up that I immediately pictured a Fox body?
No, not at all. It had four headlights, right?
In reply to Appleseed :
That was my first thought as well. The retro cars are getting close to vintage.
Appleseed said:Is it messed up that I immediately pictured a Fox body?
Perhaps you were thinking in hexadecimal (base 16)? If so, then "0x20" is 32 decimal, and a 1992 just barely covers Fox bodies. :)
David S. Wallens said:In reply to racerfink :
Soon, I hear, we might have some FIRM baseline times and data. (I’ve said too much.)
Yeah, I should have included "against a V6 Camaro"...
We love our 2011 S197 Mustang with the six speed and the 3.7 litre V6. It's great fun on the track, and surprisingly quick. The price advantage over a GT allowed us to get some great stuff from Maximum Motorsports to address the suspension needs.
So...which of the team will this one reside with?
I have an 09, with with 34k on it for a clean started car. Let me know if you are interested. Has 18x9.5 wheels and fresh Koni yellows also just to get you started. Currently has a Torsen in it but I have the stock LSD.
It's the one in the little picture to the upper left.
Sound like you already found one.
Andy Hollis said:So...which of the team will this one reside with?
Let’s just say there’s a Mustang-shaped object currently sitting in our driveway.
In reply to akylekoz :
Don’t want to give anything away but, yeah, more on our hunt to come soon.
I think the retro design of these has aged well. And it's ~20 years old, so whatever weird thing that happens for me when cars get to be old and I all of a sudden like them is happening with these Mustangs too.
In reply to CyberEric :
I’d agree. I think they still look good. Impressive that Ford has stuck with the retro design for 20 years.
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