!__FAQ:__ Can I make my Mustang handle as well as car? -''As originally posted by Matt Miller (Msquared).'' - %%% -Getting back to the orignal question: no, in general a Mustang cannot be made to "handle" or perform like a Vette or 911. M3? Perhaps, but it won't be as "nice" car (like when driving on the street) for the same level of performance. First of all, let's separate handling and performance. They aren't the same. Performance is very simple on our terms in this forum: how fast can the car complete a circuit on a given track? It's easy to measure, too: use a stopwatch. It's also pretty much all that really matters in the end. "handling" is a subjective terms that ecompasses the behavior of the car when pushed near, at, or over it's performance limits. For the moment, let's forget handling. - %%% -There are some very basic parameters that determine 90% or more of a car's performance: power, light weight, low CG, rearward weight distribution, track width (within the confines of the track layout), braking power, tire compound and width, and ability to keep the tires oriented to the track surface at the limits of adhesion (I might have left something out, but follow along anyway). All the rest of the "stuff", like suspension geometry, steering geometry, spring rates, understeer/oversteer, body roll, etc, matter a lot less to performance. - %%% -Now a Vette and 911 have some basic parameters that Mustang will never match: lower CG, wider track (at least the Vette), better tire alignment, and power (at least unitl the 2003 Cobra comes out, and probably even then, too). You can make a Stang as light as a Z06 if you don't care about it's niceness any more. You can always upgrade brakes. You can easily make it more powerful (again, at a cost in terms of streetability). But at the end of the day, the Vette will still have a lower CG, a much better weight distribution, wider track (especially up front compared to a Fox), and better camber curve. And you can always improve the power and brakes and lighten the Vette, too. Same deal on tires, of course. So, even though you can make a heavily modded Mustang probably run even with a dead-stock Vette or 911 on the track, it's so easy to make the Vette or 911 surpass that Mustang for fewer mods that you can't really say a Mustang could ever be the equal of them. A lower, lighter, wider car is just always going to be faster, regardless of suspension goodies. keep in mind that the magazines almost never test two cars using the same kind of tires, so any comparison is bogus right from the start. Also keep in mind that most of their writers and testers couldn't drive their way out of a paper bag. So keep taking their results lightly. - %%% -It's probably even worse with respect to handling. The dedicated sports cars just have much better-designed suspensions that tend to make the cars easy and predictable at their very high limits. With all due respect to Griggs and MM (and they are both due a hell of a lot, IMO), there's just not a good way to overcome the designed-in deficit of driving a 2-door Fairmont. None of this should discourage you from working over your Mustang. You can really make big improvements with either company's parts, and it's still a lot cheaper than a new Vette or Porsche. Plus, there's an intangible benefit to knowing you did some things yourself and are driving a car that's not exactly like any other out there. - %%% -''Wikied by BryanGT'' %%% - %%% -Original thread: http://corner-carvers.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1912Wed Aug 17 16:50:24 2005