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The Ford Falcon FPV GT vs. the Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R.
Two seemingly different cars when first looked upon. One is a family sedan with tacky decals, oversized wheels and a ricer wing on the back. The other is an unashamedly crude looking muscle car with an odd looking airdam and a tall body color wing, just like a 70 Superbird/Charger Daytona in statement, but a little more subtle. It's only when you peer under the hood that you notice that they have a little more in common, besides heritage (the earlier Mustangs sat on the Ford Falcon platform, although this Mustang sits on the Ford Fox platform)...
The Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R (hereby reffered to as Mustang or SVT) and the Ford Falcon FPV GT (hereby known as the FPV or Falcon) both have similar drivetrain qualities.
Specifications:
These specs reflect in their basic peformance evalutation:
Basic Performance:
* Limited by the Test Course top speed length.
Now, these similar results would indicate that the cars handle similarly, right? Well, to put this to the test, I ran each car at Tsukuba Circuit for 10 laps, and then took the fastest lap of each car and compared them with the analyzer. I ran the SVT first, as I had it selected first because I regularly use this example (but with TCS understeer set to 10). But first, for initial driving impressions:
Initial Driving Impressions:
At the Tsukuba Circuit, the SVT didn't understeer too badly, and the four corner IRS suspension really showed what the car's 20 year chassis could do. In all of the hairpins, particularly the second one, the car would begin low-speed sliding as the rear tires lost grip in 2nd gear. To counter this, throttle and steering modulation was implemented. Best time over 10 laps: 1:02.103. A fair time. I might have done better if I had more laps, but oh well.
Overall: Quite a bit of fun to drive. Feels like it has a lot more potential if it had racing tires on it.
After using the SVT and then the FPV, all I can say is, wow. These two, on paper, similar cars, are incredibly different beasts when it comes to handling. The Falcon can be summed up in one sentence: too much grip in back, not enough in front. It understeers everywhere. Although this is handy, as it allows you to brake whilst turning, and therefore brake later, than the Mustang, which has to brake in a straight line more or less. Some side effects of this, however, are slower exit speeds, a sometimes nasty amount of lift-throttle oversteer and, in an endurance race, no doubt tires that wear out more quickly. Despite this completely different handling, the cars time was 1:02.312. Barely off of the Mustangs times. However, I'm not so sure I could get much better, as I'm sure I could with the Mustang.
Overall: The car was boring. Even trying to get the most out of it wasn't very fun. You also always had to sacrifice the perfect racing line in for the sweeping left before the last hairpin so you could set up for the hairpin.
Telemetry comparison:
At the starting line, the FPV is going 97.8 MPH and the SVT is going 100.2 MPH Looking at the analyzer, the data shows that the Mustang breaks quicker from high speeds, but you need to feather the throttle on exit to avoid tire spinning. Because the FPV simply refused to lose grip in the rear in any gear that wasn't first, it had a clear advantage here for the high speeds (in excess of 105 MPH) prevent the FPV from braking whilst turning very effectively. A problem asserted itself, however, as the FPV has to shift into 3rd before the SVT, but they both have to shift into 4th at about the same speed (107MPH). This means that the Mustang has a higer ratio for 3rd gear than the FPV, thus giving it more acceleration and the lead by turn 2. This is the first turn where the FPV's braking characteristics come into play, but unfortunately, this is also a turn that it's handling characteristics come into play in a negtive way aswell. It was genuinely faster into the second hairpin and most of the way through it, but it's understeer prevented it from being powered out of the turn. This is also because of the adage "fast in, slow out" and vice versa, but, oddly, the FPV refuses to want to be driven "slow in, fast out". Either way, and despite the Mustang's constant throttle feathering, it pulled away from the FPV before the hairpin was even over, coming up to the 90 degree turn before the sweeping left hander. Down the straight, the SVT was going a steady 4 MPH faster than the FPV, making it so they shifted into 3rd at practically the same time. At the 90 dergree turn, the GT again blew past the Mustang, due to the low hairpin exit speed and the lift throttle oversteer. It allowed the FPV to take the corner at 65 MPH, so at the time I decided to avoid a downshift, optng instead to have the low end grunt pull the car up into the higher revs. The SVT, however, was forced to take the corner at 52 MPH, so it needed a downshift. Despite this, or perhaps because of it (the Mustang has a much revvier engine than the Falcon), the SVT caught up with the FPV relatively soon. Not helping the FPV was the fact that taking the corner so fast had set it up for a poor line for the sweeping left, it's rather surprising lack of alot of low-end grunt and the fact that even though it wasn't going very fast, because it had a poor line, it required a throttle lift to get it through the sweeping left. Either way, the Mustang caught up with the Falcon about halfway through the sweeping left and held the lead until the next turn, it being the tightest hairpin. When the SVT arrived at the hairpin, I had to slw it down quite a bit and had to feather the throttle more than anything. This allowed the FPV, that was already going around 8 MPH slower than the SVT, to just sweep through the turn and not have to worry about understeer as he SVT was at the same time having serious traction problems of it's own, as evidenced by the throttle feathering. Unfortunately, because of the later braking, the FPV had to apply the brakes much more than the SVT (which I managed to get through the turns only feathering the brakes) to get through the turn. This made the two cars upon turn exit pretty even. As it came down to the final straight and a relatiely sweeping right turn, the Mustang was sure to dust the Falcon. However, something funny happened to the Mustang in the final turn. It had to apply the brakes. All the Falcon had to do was lift off of the throttle and let the front tires do the rest. It had a steady speed through the turn of 75 MPH, whereas the Mustang went from 78 MPH all the way down to 71 MPH. On turn exit, the Falcon was going 74 MPH and the Mustang was going 72 MPH. It was all in vain, though, as the worse 3rd gear of the FPV caused it to come across the finish line at a speed of 96.9 MPH. the SVT's speed at the line: 99.0 MPH exactly. SVT lap time: 1.02:103. FPV lap time: 1:02.312.
Conclusion: The SVT is the winner of round 1. However, there is a few variables that the Tsukuba just doesn't take into consideration that a few other tracks do, like fast interchanges (Clubman Route 5) uneven surfacing (Sarthe) or elevation changes (El Capitan). They will be in update to this original test. This is because the SVT's soft suspension had an advantage on this track as there was none of these aformentioned irregulariteis were present and I believe that they could screw with the SVT's handling.
Two seemingly different cars when first looked upon. One is a family sedan with tacky decals, oversized wheels and a ricer wing on the back. The other is an unashamedly crude looking muscle car with an odd looking airdam and a tall body color wing, just like a 70 Superbird/Charger Daytona in statement, but a little more subtle. It's only when you peer under the hood that you notice that they have a little more in common, besides heritage (the earlier Mustangs sat on the Ford Falcon platform, although this Mustang sits on the Ford Fox platform)...
The Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R (hereby reffered to as Mustang or SVT) and the Ford Falcon FPV GT (hereby known as the FPV or Falcon) both have similar drivetrain qualities.
Specifications:
Code:
SVT FPV
Engine Capacity and Type: 5.4 Liter Twin-cam V8 5.4 Liter Quad-cam V8
Drivetrain: Front Engine, RWD Front Engine, RWD
Red Line (RPM): 6500 RPM 6000RPM
Power (BHP @ RPM): 385 BHP @ 6250 RPM 389 BHP @ 5500 RPM
Torque: (lb/ft @ RPM): 403.96 lb/ft @ 4250 RPM 383.99 lb/ft @ 4500 RPM
Weight (KG): 1628 kg 1825 kg
Transmission: 6 Speed 5 Speed
Mileage at purchase: 6.2 miles 0.0 miles
Price: $48,704 $48,640
+ $500 BBS Rims + $500 Ford GT '02 Rims
+ $50 Oil Change
$49,254 Total $49,140 TotalThese specs reflect in their basic peformance evalutation:
Basic Performance:
Code:
SVT FPV
0-400 m (seconds): 13.604 sec. @ 109 MPH 14.256 sec. @ 105 MPH
0-1000 m (seconds): 24.246 sec. @ 144 MPH 25.175 sec. @ 137 MPH
Top Speed* (MPH): 181.67 MPH 175.78 MPH* Limited by the Test Course top speed length.
Now, these similar results would indicate that the cars handle similarly, right? Well, to put this to the test, I ran each car at Tsukuba Circuit for 10 laps, and then took the fastest lap of each car and compared them with the analyzer. I ran the SVT first, as I had it selected first because I regularly use this example (but with TCS understeer set to 10). But first, for initial driving impressions:
Initial Driving Impressions:
At the Tsukuba Circuit, the SVT didn't understeer too badly, and the four corner IRS suspension really showed what the car's 20 year chassis could do. In all of the hairpins, particularly the second one, the car would begin low-speed sliding as the rear tires lost grip in 2nd gear. To counter this, throttle and steering modulation was implemented. Best time over 10 laps: 1:02.103. A fair time. I might have done better if I had more laps, but oh well.
Overall: Quite a bit of fun to drive. Feels like it has a lot more potential if it had racing tires on it.
After using the SVT and then the FPV, all I can say is, wow. These two, on paper, similar cars, are incredibly different beasts when it comes to handling. The Falcon can be summed up in one sentence: too much grip in back, not enough in front. It understeers everywhere. Although this is handy, as it allows you to brake whilst turning, and therefore brake later, than the Mustang, which has to brake in a straight line more or less. Some side effects of this, however, are slower exit speeds, a sometimes nasty amount of lift-throttle oversteer and, in an endurance race, no doubt tires that wear out more quickly. Despite this completely different handling, the cars time was 1:02.312. Barely off of the Mustangs times. However, I'm not so sure I could get much better, as I'm sure I could with the Mustang.
Overall: The car was boring. Even trying to get the most out of it wasn't very fun. You also always had to sacrifice the perfect racing line in for the sweeping left before the last hairpin so you could set up for the hairpin.
Telemetry comparison:
At the starting line, the FPV is going 97.8 MPH and the SVT is going 100.2 MPH Looking at the analyzer, the data shows that the Mustang breaks quicker from high speeds, but you need to feather the throttle on exit to avoid tire spinning. Because the FPV simply refused to lose grip in the rear in any gear that wasn't first, it had a clear advantage here for the high speeds (in excess of 105 MPH) prevent the FPV from braking whilst turning very effectively. A problem asserted itself, however, as the FPV has to shift into 3rd before the SVT, but they both have to shift into 4th at about the same speed (107MPH). This means that the Mustang has a higer ratio for 3rd gear than the FPV, thus giving it more acceleration and the lead by turn 2. This is the first turn where the FPV's braking characteristics come into play, but unfortunately, this is also a turn that it's handling characteristics come into play in a negtive way aswell. It was genuinely faster into the second hairpin and most of the way through it, but it's understeer prevented it from being powered out of the turn. This is also because of the adage "fast in, slow out" and vice versa, but, oddly, the FPV refuses to want to be driven "slow in, fast out". Either way, and despite the Mustang's constant throttle feathering, it pulled away from the FPV before the hairpin was even over, coming up to the 90 degree turn before the sweeping left hander. Down the straight, the SVT was going a steady 4 MPH faster than the FPV, making it so they shifted into 3rd at practically the same time. At the 90 dergree turn, the GT again blew past the Mustang, due to the low hairpin exit speed and the lift throttle oversteer. It allowed the FPV to take the corner at 65 MPH, so at the time I decided to avoid a downshift, optng instead to have the low end grunt pull the car up into the higher revs. The SVT, however, was forced to take the corner at 52 MPH, so it needed a downshift. Despite this, or perhaps because of it (the Mustang has a much revvier engine than the Falcon), the SVT caught up with the FPV relatively soon. Not helping the FPV was the fact that taking the corner so fast had set it up for a poor line for the sweeping left, it's rather surprising lack of alot of low-end grunt and the fact that even though it wasn't going very fast, because it had a poor line, it required a throttle lift to get it through the sweeping left. Either way, the Mustang caught up with the Falcon about halfway through the sweeping left and held the lead until the next turn, it being the tightest hairpin. When the SVT arrived at the hairpin, I had to slw it down quite a bit and had to feather the throttle more than anything. This allowed the FPV, that was already going around 8 MPH slower than the SVT, to just sweep through the turn and not have to worry about understeer as he SVT was at the same time having serious traction problems of it's own, as evidenced by the throttle feathering. Unfortunately, because of the later braking, the FPV had to apply the brakes much more than the SVT (which I managed to get through the turns only feathering the brakes) to get through the turn. This made the two cars upon turn exit pretty even. As it came down to the final straight and a relatiely sweeping right turn, the Mustang was sure to dust the Falcon. However, something funny happened to the Mustang in the final turn. It had to apply the brakes. All the Falcon had to do was lift off of the throttle and let the front tires do the rest. It had a steady speed through the turn of 75 MPH, whereas the Mustang went from 78 MPH all the way down to 71 MPH. On turn exit, the Falcon was going 74 MPH and the Mustang was going 72 MPH. It was all in vain, though, as the worse 3rd gear of the FPV caused it to come across the finish line at a speed of 96.9 MPH. the SVT's speed at the line: 99.0 MPH exactly. SVT lap time: 1.02:103. FPV lap time: 1:02.312.
Conclusion: The SVT is the winner of round 1. However, there is a few variables that the Tsukuba just doesn't take into consideration that a few other tracks do, like fast interchanges (Clubman Route 5) uneven surfacing (Sarthe) or elevation changes (El Capitan). They will be in update to this original test. This is because the SVT's soft suspension had an advantage on this track as there was none of these aformentioned irregulariteis were present and I believe that they could screw with the SVT's handling.
