Mustang Sets Speed Record At Bristol......for a street car

by Danstang Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:59 am

Last weekend in Bristol, Tenn., Ford Racing driver David Ragan set a World Record for the fastest half-mile time on a closed course at just more than 98 miles per hour in a street legal Ford Supercharged Mustang. Ragan took time to talk about the feat and what it was like to drive the production car around the World’s Fastest Half-Mile.

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO SET A WORLD RECORD?
“I’m pumped up about that. Hopefully, they can print one before we do this next year. On behalf of Ford and the Mustang division, it’s a privilege to come out here and have a little bit of fun—not as much pressure as the Sprint Cup Series is—but the Mustangs are awesome cars. Everyone knows that and this is a car that you can drive home, so it’s very cool to have that kind of performance in a street legal car and with Ford Racing that’s what they’ll give you.”

WHAT KIND OF CHALLENGE DID THE PRODUCTION CAR POSE THAT YOUR SPRINT CUP CAR DOESN’T?
“There’s a lot of pressure on the suspension with the banking for the street legal car. The biggest thing is that this is a car right off the street, so you don’t have the roll cage or the seat belts and that makes me think a little bit going into the corner at 120 miles per hour. We have all kinds of tuning devices for our race cars and we have slick tires, whereas this is a radial tire with grooves in it.

“It’s a good feat and hopefully Jamie Allison and the Ford Racing guys will tune on it a little bit and we can bring it back again next year.”

GEORGE GODDU – BUSINESS MANAGER, FORD RACING PERFORMANCE GROUP
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY SPEED TRIALS
“There’s so much going on here. I have one of the best jobs in the world because everyday everything is a little bit different and we have a lot going on. We had the opportunity to participate in some record setting laps in Bristol, the fastest half-mile in the world.

“David Ragan piloted the Kona Blue Supercharged 2011 Mustang GT. This is a car that’s just got incredible attention since we finished it late last year. We debuted it at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit. This is a stock GT with off-the-shelf, bolt-on Ford Racing parts ranging from a 624-horsepower-supercharger and induction kit, to a Brembo brake package, handling kit, and our exhaust kit. All of this stuff enthusiasts use, from simple bolt-on parts to those that are a little bit more extensive.

“The car handles well, it’s friendly, and it’s all there. He demonstrated that down in Bristol by setting the fastest street-legal car speed records with lap times that were under 20 seconds. When you consider that the Sprint Cup Fusions during the race on Sunday were running about 16 seconds, that’s really getting around the track.”