V6 Mustang Classing?

[JeffYoung]

Actually, it's not entirely my opinion. I've seen the car on the scales and I know what it weighs prior to cage and driver. It can get close. How close is opinion I agree.

I will also say what these guys did with the Mustang was not easy. Took a lot of work. Far more than I see go into most IT builds.

The one guy actually building one of these prefers it (it appears to be a tweener but I am fairly certain that will change once you see what a built 3.8 makes) to be in S. A few other guys think the tweener should have fallen the other direction.

Right now, the fact that the one guy building one to race wants to stay in S is pretty much otucome determinative for me, like it was with other tweeners (say the ITS/A Civic).

[Ron Earp]

The 1994-1998 (formally 1994-1995) Mustang used to be classed in ITS at 3100 lbs (edit to correct from 2850 lbs, checked old data). The initial classification wasn't based on the ITAC process but was classified using the nebulous procedure that involved curb weights, dead chickens, and chanting.

I don't know how long the car was classed at that weight, but sometime around 2007 or 2008, when the current ITAC classification process was solidified and being used, I wrote a letter to the CRB/ITAC to re-evaluate the Mustang classification and to expand the model listing to include up to 1998 Mustangs. The process was applied to the car, based on stock horsepower, and the new weight was obtained. Purely running it through the process at 150hp you get:

150 hp x 1.25 x 12.9 = 2418 lbs. Add 50 lbs for torque (maybe it should be 100 lbs, I don't know), and it comes out to be 2470 lbs.

2470 lbs weight is not obtainable, I 100% agree with that. However, it is possible to get close enough to the minimum weight to be competitive. And, while I'm writing there might be something else to consider.

The Mustang uses a 3.8L two valve V6 rated at 150hp from the factory at 9.0:1 compression. It was built to digest 87 octane gas and as such it has an extremely conservative timing/engine management strategy keep knock at bay since the Ford EEC-V implementation in this car has no knock sensor. The motors respond well to minor changes in timing and fuel delivery. If Ford would have required it to use premium gasoline it would have easily be rated around 160-165hp and with that stock rating I doubt anyone would like to class it in A, that is S territory for sure.

Let us assume for a moment that Ford required the car to use 93 octane gasoline and the car was rated at 163hp. At that stock horsepower the ITS classification would be:

163 hp x 1.25 x 12.9 = 2628 lbs. Add 50 lbs for torque and it comes out to be 2670 lbs. I expect to be within plus or minus 30 lbs of that weight, completed car with driver installed.

So in the end it doesn't bother me that the car can't reach the GCR IT specified weight. There are many cars that can't obtain the minimum weight, or, are suspected of not being able to obtain a minimum weight and are deemed uncompetitive. However, I'm in the middle of an ITS build and if there is a real chance of the car being re-classed in ITA I’d like to know so I can cut my losses; I’m not interested in building an ITA car for the SE.

Ron