Battle of the Ford Powered Monsters....:p
Last night I'm out with my buddy and the Bird at the local cruise night hanging out and checking out some sweet cars. We decide to split a little early to go check out another cruise locale a few miles away. Were going south down this two lane road (Winston Churchill in case you know my area) to get to an on ramp to go east onto the highway (QEW). Anyways, I'm driving along and I see a Pantera GTS come roaring up my *** and then go sharply around in front of me just before getting on this on ramp. He goes into the corner carrying some good speed so I do likewise. He's a good 40 feet in front at the entrance of the turn but I catch him by the apex ( It's a long turn) This Pantera sticks quite well but seems to run out of grip by the apex (or the driver runs out of confidence!) My car sticks real well thanks to all it's road race tweaks so catching up was pretty easy. I'm in third and we're doing about 65-75km/hr and the road straightens out so he punches it and I do like wise. The Pantera sounds real healthy but I'm with him all the way through third gaining ever so slightly up to 5500 ( Is 3rd just not the worst gear in the T-5?). We practically shift into 4th simultaneusly and it all changes...I start pulling hard on this guy. I had to back pedal three times or I would have drove right through him and he was giving it all it had. I easily could have drove past if the road was wider. We're really cooking now ( I'm doing something like 160km/hr so I figure I've proven my point to him (and myself) so I let off and coast down to a normal speed. Mr Pantera keeps his foot in it and drives off.
I'm totally stoked after that as we drive to the next cruise locale. I've seen this car several times before (it's a beautiful car) and my buddy that's with me has actually talked to the owner. Apparantly this thing makes well into the 400+ range according to the owner as he had lots of engine work done. My budd told me the guy was really talking it up about how fast this thing is.
It was a really satisfying experience for me. Why? It gives me a gauge on the quickness and power level of the Bird. I never had the oppurtunity to run any other cars up til now. I knew the Bird was quick, but it's hard to gauge when your in my shoes. For one, the last time I drove the Bird before the new engine was over 8 months ago and during that time I refused to drive any car like a Mustang or what not that had some power because I knew it would just intensify my cravings to get my car done and make the whole process feel even longer than it already was taking. kinda like a junky needing a fix..only I'm a power junky. Plus the fact when you jump into something that's quick from the onset seeing as I did eveything all at once mods wise, you get used to the power very quickly..you know kind of like when you drive your stock Mustang and it feels fast to you, until you go for a drive in a supercharged one which makes your car now feel slow.
I plan to get the Bird on the dyno next spring after I tune it ( I'm getting an Innovate LM-1 Wideband over the winter) to see what she'll do. I figure worst case scenario I'm in the 450 rwhp range or more if this Pantera is making around 400+. I did some checking on the net and I learned i'm giving up a fair bit weight wise to one of these cars. Panteras come in around 3100-3200lbs whereas I'm easily 3600+lbs (Stock TC"s weigh 3600..I have at least 170+lbs of stereo gear in the trunk)
Next weekend I'll go talk to this guy to hear his version of our little impromptu race since he's a regular at the cruise. Or...maybe I'll get my buddy to talk to him and play it up..something along the lines of "Hey, I saw you and this blue Thunderbird getting on the highway last weekend...what was up there? Looked like you were going at it" just to see what he says.
:D
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Originally Posted by Kato Engineering
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