Car collected + pics :)

[Gibbo205]

I've never had a rear wheel drive, but I guess I knew what to expect as I do a lot of sim racing.

I've had front wheel and my last car was a 4wd Audi s5 so it sticks to the road like glue.

This morning cold and wet, was an uphill mini roundabout I tested the traction on - I was going right so I gave it a little gas to see how much it took for the back end to lose grip- which wasn't very much . But I guess, yes it did exactly what I expected it would do having rwd.

It was all fine . There was no one about and the back slid for maybe 10 feet . I don't actually recall the traction control even kicking in whilst it was sliding.

First: New car on new tyres, they will still be releasing release agent, this is typical gone after around 200 miles but during such time it will feel like the car is on ice. An option to get this off the rears faster is line lock. ;)

Pzero: Really is a terrible tyre in cold/wet conditions, they simply do not work and take a very long time to get heat into them to make them work. During winter months trying to get such heat into them would probably result in a crash. Its not just Mustang owners with such issues, Porsche and BMW ship a lot of their performance cars on Pzero and those owners do similar and typically switch over to MPSS or Goodyear F1AS2/3 and the improvement is a dramatic one in wet conditions.

RWD: If you have never owned RWD before then please take your time, the Mustang on stock suspension and bushing is quite a brute to control for a novice when they get loose. The traction system is also extremely conservative, normal mode typically won't catch a slide in time in wet conditions to save the day it will be down to you, wet mode is quite the saviour and I'd advice you make use of that mode often on cold wet mornings.

I got my car this time of year last year and I had a really big slide at rather high speeds going full pelt down a slip road, the car broke lose in massive fashion in cold/dry/damp conditions, being in 4th I was never expecting it but a combination of RWD, torque and shit tyres meant the car went sideways at nearly triple digit speed, someone not use to RWD would of no doubt lost it as typical reaction is to let off, thankfully I straightened the car back up but it shocked me. The lesson taught me be smooth with the inputs and give it respect.

Now I am on MPSS and 100BHP more, on those tyres in comparison I can go flat out, they are like some kind of voodoo magic and when a slide does occur the car feels more natural to control, also sorting all the soft bushings out on the car helps a lot, so with sorted suspension and tyres the grip improves a lot as does communication and actual control, but the most important factor is the driver.

Just give it respect and treat the pedals like there is an egg under each one and keep your steering inputs smooth and gradual. Coming from AWD Audi the Mustang is a world apart, in an S5 you can hammer the power, throw the steering and it will just go where you point it and the AWD/DIFFs/TC/ABS will keep it pointing and going very quick. In the Mustang it is all down to you and at this time of year it won't have anywhere near the grip of a decent AWD sports car.

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[Nookie]

We've been having really misty/foggy weather here for almost the last 3 days and although the roads look near enough dry, there's a 'dampness' that can catch you out very easily.

I never really understood what all this fussing over tyre temperatures was all about when I watched Formula One or Touring Car racing, thinking it can't really make all that much difference... but by God you can tell the difference between the grip level when you first start out on those P-Zeros when they're cold and once they've warmed up.

I find the rear wheels 'skip' quite happily when pulling away from a junction with virtually bugger all throttle when cold, but pick up quite a bit of grip within 5-6 miles... or maybe it's just me being more careful once I've registered what's going on behind me!

MPSS should be on the car in the next week once I get the valve issue sorted with the new wheels... but I'm still gonna be careful and not let the fact that they're supposedly that much better lead me into a false sense of security. Had plenty of RWD cars before with fairly powerful engines (Rover P6 3500, 3.0S Capri, Commodore 2.8 GSE coupe), but that was a good few years ago, and none as powerful as this, and I've kinda got used to FWD and Quattro on the recent stuff... so need to 're-learn' a bit as Ford says!

 

[v8hgt]

After a 10 month wait I collected my car on Yesterday too. Was up at 05:30 today and have now put 250 miles on her. I went over the peaks in the cold damp morning and used the modern running in technique with lots of hard pulls in third up to 4500 rpm then engine braking for the first 60 miles, then a lope down the A1 in 6th gear for the remainder of the journey.

Putting a powerful car on p zeros in our climate is irresponsible in my opinion. I had the same problem on my Maserati. What works in Milan doesn't do so well in Manchester.

I am slowly revising my modification plans. As a long distance machine this thing is epic! I fear a louder exhaust and lower suspension may compromise its ability to cover big miles so effortlessly. By my arrival I had abandoned plans for headers and kw shocks and am now wondering if an H pipe on stock back boxes may be better than a full system. After all Bizzarini once said no car he could conceive would need more than 400hp.

Got another 250 miles coming up tomorrow to get home so plenty of time to ponder the subject..

 

[bobpies]

After a 10 month wait I collected my car on Yesterday too. Was up at 05:30 today and have now put 250 miles on her. I went over the peaks in the cold damp morning and used the modern running in technique with lots of hard pulls in third up to 4500 rpm then engine braking for the first 60 miles, then a lope down the A1 in 6th gear for the remainder of the journey.

Putting a powerful car on p zeros in our climate is irresponsible in my opinion. I had the same problem on my Maserati. What works in Milan doesn't do so well in Manchester.

I am slowly revising my modification plans. As a long distance machine this thing is epic! I fear a louder exhaust and lower suspension may compromise its ability to cover big miles so effortlessly. By my arrival I had abandoned plans for headed and kw shocks and am now wondering if an H pipe on stock back boxes may be better than a full system. After all Bizzarini once said no car he could conceive would need more than 400hp.

Got another 250 miles coming up tomorrow to get home so plenty of time to ponder the subject..

I put the borla axle back s type on and I find it on the very limit of what I can tolerate. It's quite loud.

On another note - cue ball shifter installed

 

[v8hgt]

Snap I put the white version on this afternoon. Much better as a result.
Oil catch can tomorrow morning and I'm done for initial mods. Although a friend is about to relocate from the US to the UK and I'm tempted to make a couple of smaller purchases to add to his containers.

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