silvrsvt Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GearheadGrrrl Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 I was impressed, until I remembered that as an autocross/rallycross enthusiast Ford has nothing for me- Mustang V8 is too thirsty to double as a daily driver, the Ecoboost 4 gets thrown in the same autocross class as the lighter AWD Golf R, and up north Mustangs become garage queens for half the year. Everything else Ford builds today has too high a center of gravity. If Ford expects Ford racing to turn a profit, they'll have to produce a product the thousands of us amateur racers will buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted January 18 Author Share Posted January 18 3 hours ago, GearheadGrrrl said: I was impressed, until I remembered that as an autocross/rallycross enthusiast Ford has nothing for me- But you forget that this isn't about you either... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GearheadGrrrl Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Chasing away customers willing to buy a profitable product isn't a viable business strategy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akirby Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 12 minutes ago, GearheadGrrrl said: Chasing away customers willing to buy a profitable product isn't a viable business strategy. Oh please. Comparing Autocross enthusiasts to NASCAR, NHRA, IMSA and LeMans racing enthusiasts is like comparing a canoe to an aircraft carrier. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 1 hour ago, akirby said: Oh please. Comparing Autocross enthusiasts to NASCAR, NHRA, IMSA and LeMans racing enthusiasts is like comparing a canoe to an aircraft carrier. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 6 hours ago, GearheadGrrrl said: I was impressed, until I remembered that as an autocross/rallycross enthusiast Ford has nothing for me- Mustang V8 is too thirsty to double as a daily driver, the Ecoboost 4 gets thrown in the same autocross class as the lighter AWD Golf R, and up north Mustangs become garage queens for half the year. Everything else Ford builds today has too high a center of gravity. If Ford expects Ford racing to turn a profit, they'll have to produce a product the thousands of us amateur racers will buy. To be fair, don't let the SUV form factor fool you. The mach-e, and most other performance electric crossovers have a very low center of gravity. When you think about it, the mach-e has some of the basic engineering principles as a mid-engine car, most of the mass is centralized between the wheels, and it's as low to the ground as possible. The maverick also, and I can't believe I'm saying this, has really good handling for a truck, and I have the hybrid, not even the sportier Ecoboost. Journalists have described the maverick as having the playful handling and steering you would see on a lot of Ford hatchbacks, and they aren't wrong. I haven't pushed it super hard, or hard at all really, but the steering and turn in is quite responsive, and there isn't a ton of body roll. The maverick is basically a focus st that's actually reliable and can carry stuff, with a cooler body design I might add. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 As someone who's always thinking about what's coming next, I couldn't help but noticed they hinted at an all new EV demonstrator that would be revealed later this year to take on Pikes Peak. I'm guessing that's the street version of the lightning switchgear, the new Ford three row in racing attire, or a s650 given the mach-e 1400 treatment. Fingers crossed it's the later, it is the mustangs 60th anniversary in April after all. Excited to see whatever they've cooked up. I know some hate these demonstrators because they aren't usually indicative of production vehicles, but there's just something about designers and engineers being able to go all out that appeals to me massively. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 (edited) 7 hours ago, GearheadGrrrl said: I was impressed, until I remembered that as an autocross/rallycross enthusiast Ford has nothing for me- Mustang V8 is too thirsty to double as a daily driver, the Ecoboost 4 gets thrown in the same autocross class as the lighter AWD Golf R, and up north Mustangs become garage queens for half the year. Everything else Ford builds today has too high a center of gravity. If Ford expects Ford racing to turn a profit, they'll have to produce a product the thousands of us amateur racers will buy. brings to mind the Focus RS...sadly it was pretty damn expensive and after the initial hype sales they sat...so im sure after that Ford veiws that market somwaht differently, hard to make a business case for incremental sales... Edited January 18 by Deanh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GearheadGrrrl Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 Expensive to start with and then too many dealers added markups and chased buyers away. Same thing has happened with VW's Golf R- Dealers got greedy and now they've got a thousand plus unsold units. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted January 19 Author Share Posted January 19 22 minutes ago, GearheadGrrrl said: Expensive to start with and then too many dealers added markups and chased buyers away. Same thing has happened with VW's Golf R- Dealers got greedy and now they've got a thousand plus unsold units. They haven't sold them in 6 years...WTF are you talking about? Just drop the shovel and move on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 4 hours ago, akirby said: Oh please. Comparing Autocross enthusiasts to NASCAR, NHRA, IMSA and LeMans racing enthusiasts is like comparing a canoe to an aircraft carrier. Not to mention the whole “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” thing hasn’t really been a thing since the 70s. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 17 hours ago, silvrsvt said: They haven't sold them in 6 years...WTF are you talking about? Just drop the shovel and move on I think she's talking about the Golf R maybe? 17 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said: Not to mention the whole “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday” thing hasn’t really been a thing since the 70s. I could care less about Nascar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzymoomoo Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 16 minutes ago, rmc523 said: I could care less about Nascar. So you do care a little bit then? Lol 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 2 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said: So you do care a little bit then? Lol I don't know about him, I used to care when I was young. Then it dawned on me that Nascar is a lot like arguing with annoying relatives. A lot of noise while going around and around in circles and ending up in the same place you started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmc523 Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 3 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said: So you do care a little bit then? Lol Lol got me there. Nah, I've never purposely watched Nascar and never will. I don't need to watch cars go in circles for hours (I know there's more to it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GearheadGrrrl Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 I watch NASCAR once in a while... If there's no road racing or rallies to watch and the weather sucks! Honestly, between crashes NASCAR is boring- Spec cars no matter what front and rear clip tries to make them a Mustang, Camaro, or Camry and intake restrictors in case anybody builds a better engine. Lap after boring lap of driving around in circles until somebody sneezes and takes out half the cars... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 4 hours ago, GearheadGrrrl said: I watch NASCAR once in a while... If there's no road racing or rallies to watch and the weather sucks! Honestly, between crashes NASCAR is boring- Spec cars no matter what front and rear clip tries to make them a Mustang, Camaro, or Camry and intake restrictors in case anybody builds a better engine. Lap after boring lap of driving around in circles until somebody sneezes and takes out half the cars... Close pack racing would be far more engaging if teams were each given deployable active areo that they were only able to use for five laps of the race or something. Each team could have their own strategy on when to deploy that, waiting until the end of the race, trying to use it near the begging to get to the front of the pack early on, etc. There just isn't a ton of variety and variability in modern racing as far as I'm concerned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisgb Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 13 hours ago, DeluxeStang said: Close pack racing would be far more engaging if teams were each given deployable active areo that they were only able to use for five laps of the race or something. Each team could have their own strategy on when to deploy that, waiting until the end of the race, trying to use it near the begging to get to the front of the pack early on, etc. There just isn't a ton of variety and variability in modern racing as far as I'm concerned. Check out IMSA. Most race weekends have both spec races and class races, which have a wide variety of classes competing in the same race. I also find it fun to walk through the pits and see rows of Lamborghinis. Looking forward to the 2024 Mustang Challenge Series! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GearheadGrrrl Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 On 1/18/2024 at 2:35 PM, akirby said: Oh please. Comparing Autocross enthusiasts to NASCAR, NHRA, IMSA and LeMans racing enthusiasts is like comparing a canoe to an aircraft carrier. NHRA is very similar to autox/rallyx- Mostly amateurs with middle class budgets having fun with cars. NASCAR and LeMans/WEC is pretty much pros while IMSA has some wealthy amateurs too. The pro and wealthy amateur racing series teams can afford to lay out a quarter million and up for a race car and even more for a transporter, parts, tools, travel, etc. every year. But they're a small market of probably less than a thousand cars a year that are often subcontracted out to outside shops to build anyways. That works for Ferrari and it's icing on the cake for Porsche, but Ford have several factories to keep busy at around a vehicle a minute pace and payroll for over 100,000 to meet, so Ford needs more customers than a few dozen racing teams. SCCA is the major sanctioning body for autox and their national championship brings 1300 entries every year with more turned away and they've got 55,000 members who buy a lot of cars- That's nothing to sneeze at and they've been keeping Mazda who makes a major effort to cater to this market profitably busy. You'd think Ford would want some of that business... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GearheadGrrrl Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 3 hours ago, Chrisgb said: Check out IMSA. Most race weekends have both spec races and class races, which have a wide variety of classes competing in the same race. I also find it fun to walk through the pits and see rows of Lamborghinis. Looking forward to the 2024 Mustang Challenge Series! Ford's doing very well at Daytona in the prelims to the 24 hour, last I saw one of the GT3 Mustangs had set fastest qualifying time and today Luca Mars GT4 Mustang won the GSX class in the first VP Fuels 45 minute race. Mustang Dark Horse continues to get great media reviews with Road&Track finding the Dark Horse can turn slighting faster lap times that a Porsche 911 cost twice as much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeluxeStang Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 1 hour ago, GearheadGrrrl said: Ford's doing very well at Daytona in the prelims to the 24 hour, last I saw one of the GT3 Mustangs had set fastest qualifying time and today Luca Mars GT4 Mustang won the GSX class in the first VP Fuels 45 minute race. Mustang Dark Horse continues to get great media reviews with Road&Track finding the Dark Horse can turn slighting faster lap times that a Porsche 911 cost twice as much. Where did they qualify? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GearheadGrrrl Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 1 hour ago, DeluxeStang said: Where did they qualify? Daytona road course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.