Ford Performance Tests: A Day at the Races
Published by The team in News the 17/11/2021 at 14:26
One circuit, four Fords, 1,680 cumulative hp. Shall we take you?
“Meet at 8:30 am at the La Ferté-Gaucher circuit”, the email told us. No problem, especially when we know that we were invited by Ford to participate in a “Fun to Drive” day with, at the end of the day, this triple promise: 1- we brought our best performing cars, 2- you go get dirty and 3- tell yourself that, in general, even the most civic Fords always have in them this concern to offer a generally sympathetic driving experience (what I was able to observe with the test of a placid Fiesta automatic 100 hp ).
Yes it's called “Mustang”, yes it's an electric SUV, no you don't see the connection , no, neither do I. Now that we have ruled out these marketo-linguistic questions, let's take a closer look at the beast. Ford therefore lent me a Mustang Mach-E “Extended Range AWD” - understand by that a battery of 99 kWh, an engine on each axle, 351 cumulative hp, 580 Nm of torque and a 0 to 100 km / h carried out in 5.8s- for about fifty kilometers around the circuit, and overall I had a good time.
It was my first time in this electric Mustang, and I must tell you that I had some curiosity about it. It should be noted here that the previous electric Ford, the brilliant (no) Focus Electric - of which one of the very rare copies was miraculously parked not far from a friend's house, which probably explains why I am aware of the existence of this thing - with its range of 160 km NEDC and its lack of fast charging did not particularly argue in the desire of Ford to break into electromobility. Surprise! The Mach-E is doing it with honors. Despite fairly firm suspensions, the car is very pleasant to drive; add to that a nice exterior styling, an ultra modern dashboard and state-of-the-art technologies (well, a car that indicates the directions of Android Auto in the meters !!) to tell you that no, the Mach-E-cata clearly did not take place. Only the average consumption of 20 kWh / 100 km is… average, precisely. But apart from that, I really want to take a longer term one to see what it is worth on a daily basis!
We continue strong in Mustang Mach-1
Well, the Mach-E is a lot of fun but it's another Mustang Mach-something that was the star of the day: welcome, for the first time in Europe, to the Ford Mustang Mach-1. The recipe is generally simple: start with a Mustang Fastback GT, inflate the V8 5.0L atmo to 10 small horses (we still arrive at 460 ponies at ... 7,250 rpm !!), make sure that all this little world can stay at the ideal temperature for as long as possible with exchangers in all corners, and continue with a lot of work on the chassis. Tighten the springs and anti-roll bars, review the piloted damping calibration and steering assistance, stiffen the undercarriage silentblocs, in short, do your utmost to make this' stang the sharpest in the range. And let's not forget the aero with a specific shield, a flat bottom and a rear diffuser taken from the very nasty Shelby GT500 to stick the Ford to the road. Sprinkle the whole thing with a little body kit not stung by cockchafer, including a large central band which is scary and particularly bright colors. Oh, and the nasty exhaust goes without saying.
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Contact, vroom, the V8 starts with a lyricism of its own - all the same, you can set a “silent” alarm clock so that your neighbors, in fact, do not wake up in the morning. I set my sights on the specific manual transmission version signed Tremec, but a BVA10 (sharp, too) is also present. The first few meters are… sporty, with a firm clutch pedal and hairy gear shifts; sensations that I had not known since, in memory, the Nissan 370Z Nismo. But let's get on the track and find this good old La Ferté Gaucher circuit. Let's be honest: I was curious to say the least how the Mach-1 would perform, knowing the “normal” Mustang GT's limited appetite for the track. I'm not going to lie to you: I had a blast. So, yes, the car weighs 1,851 kg and yes, putting a 5.0L V8 on the front wheels has never been the best recipe to obtain the ultimate tracker, but the Ford Performance teams have achieved a hell of a synthesis in terms of driving dynamics.
The car is super healthy in the end. The automatic rev-matching (heel-toe) allows you to arrive at the entry of a turn with confidence, the limited slip differential directs the nose in the right direction, the links to the ground of astonishing rigor take care of keeping the stable body and the breathtaking breath of the atmo V8 tears us out of the corner without (too much) overflowing the rear axle. Sound level, I remain convinced that the howl of a compressor under full load is the most beautiful noise that a car can emit (ah, the Cherokee Trackhawk !!) but it's still a lot of good to have such a charismatic melody. ... and natural (ah, the SQ5 TDI!!) in the ears. Let's finish with a completely respectable endurance braking system, only beginning to admit its limits after a well-revered session. Let's sum up: I loved my race.
Someone who will also love his race is Bruno Le Maire, with the € 30,000 penalty, the 35 tax CVs and all the hoopla. Still, you end up with a V8 atmo coupled with a super car and mega well equipped for 92 400 €, it is ultimately not that funny as that - it will only be necessary to do with a dashboard of a quality totally outrageous considering the price. But what does the bottle matter, right?
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We continue fortississimo with, surprise, the Ford GT!
When Celine, the Ford press secretary, called me to offer me this day, she implied that a little surprise could await us there. Good thing: I love surprises. And bam, huge slap when discovering an extremely rare Ford GT resting in the paddock.
I suspect that you, faithful reader of BlogAutomobile, you say to yourself “but you have already tried it, no”, to which I answer you that you are perfectly right, while adding that it is Ugo who is doing it. was loaded in 2017- it's funny that, four years later, I'm riding in strictly the same one; the louloute totaling a respectable 24,132 km when it came to my turn. Anyway, let's refocus: what is the Ford GT? It's a 3.5L V6 with 656 hp & 745 Nm of torque on a chassis directly taken from the GTs that won Le Mans in 2016. In short: pure muscle. The Ford impresses with its dimensions (1.11 m high!), By its bodywork that we guess only decided by the technical and aerodynamic constraints, by its hyper cramped cockpit covered with carbon fiber; in short, she intimidates me.
I will be entitled to two laps of the track, not one more. Two laps of the track, you will agree, is little to get a clear opinion of a car, especially when it completely leaves the spectrum of cars that pass through your hands. Nevertheless, two feelings predominate at
the exitthe extraction of the cockpit: the first, the ease of handling. The seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox is surprisingly smooth at low speed, the driving position is tip top, and the outward visibility is nothing to be ashamed of. The second thing that struck me was the incredible precision of the car. The steering is surgical and allows, thanks to the frame of absolute rigidity and the archi-firm suspensions, to position itself to the millimeter and to put the GT absolutely where you want - while keeping, once again, this astonishing ease of driving. An absolutely unique experience.On term decreasing but not too much en Puma ST
Well, coming out of the absolute monster that is the Ford GT, a 200 hp B-SUV may seem a bit ordinary. And yet! And yet, I had enjoyed driving the “normal” Puma and I was always praised for the merits of the Fiesta ST. So I was all set to have a good time arriving in the nice Recaro and grabbing the steering wheel with the thick rim just enough. To situate a little, the circuit of La Ferté Gaucher which was divided in two for the day:
You understood it: as much the big curves and the straight lines will be the prerogative of the “powerful”, the more technical and sinuous part will be logically more appropriate to the small SUV. Do you want a secret? I had more fun driving the Puma than driving the Mustang. I guess my lack of sport driving knowledge explains a lot of this, but this Puma ST is infinitely easier to handle than the nasty coupe. There is something very playful in its driving and its handling, especially on this track requiring an agile and nervous car. Qualifiers that perfectly match the adorable chassis, the precision of the steering, the cheekiness of the 3 cylinders or the particularly pleasing staging and travel of the gearbox. Driving, Confidence arrives very quickly and allows the neophyte to get his feet wet and, for example, to be able to concentrate on the rhythm and / or the trajectory, while the more experienced can really have fun by being able to place the little Ford at their convenience , the rear axle pivoting on demand with kindness and thoughtfulness. I loved.
And we go home pianissimo
And we go home with stars in our eyes and good memories in our heads. The contract is fulfilled: Ford knows how to make sports cars, with a mix of pleasures that can make a pack of Häagen-Dasz jealous (even if, we will agree, the Macadamia Nut Brittle remains unbeatable). It's still cool that a manufacturer continues to make an offensive in this arch-niche sector in 2021, at a time when we are talking about ZFE and crit'air galore - when even a Mach- E tick all these criteria, not forgetting that a GT version of 487 ch & 860 Nm of torque cutting down the 0 to 100 km / h in 3.7 s will show its nose by the end of the year. The future (near, at least) doesn't seem so dark to me, after all ????
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