Ford Mustangs dominate their classes in Car and Driver’s Lightning Lap

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Ford Mustangs dominate their classes in Car and Driver’s Lightning Lap

29 December 2010 1,012 views No Comment

Every year Car and Driver holds their Lightning Lap competition at Virginia International Raceway to “find the best outright combination of power, handling, roadholding and braking offered by the latest performance cars.” This year the entire 2011 Mustang lineup was involved in the competition, from the V6 model to the Shelby GT500. As expected, the Mustangs performed extremely well, winning two of the classes.

The Mustang V6 earned top honors in the LL1 class (under $30,000), beating out the Subaru Impreza WRX and the Hyundai Genesis Coupe 3.8 R-Spec and tying the class record time of 3:12.5. The time could have been further improved if the 114 mph speed limiter had not been in place. Car and Driver said about the Mustang V6:

We might have found our minds wandering on the speed-limited straights, but the Mustang had no problem holding our attention in the corners. Equipped with the Performance package, which adds 255/40R-19 Pirelli P Zero rubber and a firmer, track-friendly chassis, the car swept through the rest of the track with an ease that masked its 3513-pound curb weight and solid rear axle. Under trail braking—braking past the point of turning into a corner—the easily modulated binders enabled impressive front-end grip as the Mustang tucked into tight, low-speed corners with the nimbleness of a much lighter car. A cinch to balance through the middle of a corner, the chassis tends toward neutrality and is only disturbed by big, foolish control inputs.

In the LL2 class ($30,000 to $59,999), the Mustang GT and Shelby GT500 dominated the competition. With a time of 3:04.0 the 2011 GT500 knocked off a full two seconds from its time in 2007 thanks to its lighter aluminum block engine and retuned suspension, and it even beat out many of the cars in the LL3 class ($60,000 to $119,999 class) including the Lotus Evora, Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG, Jaguar XFR, and Cadillac CTS-V Coupe. Car and Driver said about the GT500:

At 3824 pounds, the 2011 car is also lighter than that one by 84. It’s still a portly beast, but it handles like a coupe that is closer to the 3500-pound mark. There is some body roll but not a lot. And despite its solid rear axle, the GT500 brews confidence by the gallon. It excels in sectors three and five, where it keeps pace with pricier LL4 participants. If the seats did a better job of keeping the upper and lower body in place, times in sectors two and four would shrink drastically. A certain amount of steering-wheel control is sacrificed when your arms have to work harder to keep you in place than the seat does.

Finally, the Mustang GT put in a respectable time of 3:08.6, finishing third place in LL2 and beating out the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution SE, Subaru Impreza WRX STI, and Mazda RX-8 R3. You can see a video of the Mustang GT’s lightning lap below: