I got to test drive a few hot laps at Lime Rock Park in one of those (Got invited to Ford Performance Day - Trying to sway other brand owners).
The car definitely handled great, but I was definitely a little thrown off when going flatout in the straight. It kept revving, but it didn't FEEL as fast as it was going. I think it had much to do about the torque curve; I think those had something like ~42x? ft/lb torque and like 52x HP from the factory?
I guess I was just used to my super torquey V10, which is the only car I've driven on a road course aside from a super slow Miata. The sound from the flat plane cranks are amazing though.
the low end torque is not there with this car, it won’t snap you back on acceleration like a Hellcat at all. As a track car it is setup quite well. On the straightaways it does have me wanting for more, but it’s important to not take away from where the vehicle excels. It’s lighter than most mustangs, it’s balanced pretty good, it has outstanding brakes. And it corners very well ( with a track alignment), also the high revving engine lets you work the corners with allot of technique.
it’s important to keep the RPMs in the power band at all times so the car carries the power, making sure the speed carries well and then so it rotates into the straights or following corners smoothly.
It’s easy to make acceleration in the straights as a weak point to the car, but I would point out, once you get really good at driving, and I mean really good, where your at 97-100% of the vehicles capability on every angle of the track, then it doesn’t mean so much on a Lap time.
it takes 10 plus seconds to get to your straightaway speed but it only takes 2 second to get stopped into a corner. Can having that crazy acceleration mean a faster LapTime? Sometimes. When you add extra power your now coming in hotter into a corner, can you hit the same brake marker as before? Not without meeting the barrier wall. Unless the brakes are upgraded then your stopping shorter. And when your making the turn you can’t make it any faster because you have more horsepower.
when you have the extra power, just getting it to straighten out and setup for exiting a corner is important.
I routinely destroy faster cars at the track every week because power doesn’t mean faster lap times. I can’t count how many times a faster car gets on the track and tried to run with me, we get to the main straightaway he makes a pass at high speed, then bam he’s on the brakes and I zip right past him and out brake him and I never see him again, because he can never catch up. No matter how fast his car