Bondurant

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Here is some footage playing with Bondurants Cobra Mustangs. Both Mustangs and my 99 have professional drivers. To give the Mustangs a break, we put Ari (99MX5) in the passenger seat for ballast. ;) The second video is the same footage but taken with a hand held camera from inside the car. Street tires. Stock suspension.

Outside (http://www.FastForwardSuperchargers.com/Bond-Stangs-Outside.wmv)

Inside (http://www.FastForwardSuperchargers.com/Bond-Stangs-Inside.wmv)

[BlownMX5]

Well, it's hardly a fair fight. I'm guessing those are pre-2003 Cobras (no blower whine) which means they are the naturally-aspirated variety. They're only putting about 275 hp to the rear wheels. At about 3600 lbs, that's about 13 lbs/hp. If your Miata truly puts 220 to the wheels, at probably 2500 lbs, that's like 11 lbs/hp. Plus, the Miata's balance is far better than the Cobra, despite having an all-aluminum engine and IRS. I loved my '99 Cobra, but when it comes to changing direction, my Miata had it beat hands down. Add enough grunt to the Miata to come close to keeping up in the straights and it's all over :seeya:.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

Yep. Non-supercharged. Those things were over 4100 pounds stock? Wow. These are stripped to the bone. They never even got undercoating. IIRC, they said they were over 500 pounds lighter than stock. I knew Mustangs were heavy but didn't know they were well over 4000 pounds. The Mustangs did pretty good considering that.

Well, we threw Ari in to help balance the equation. My 99 is 2470# without the two people and it was about 210WHP at the time so 240 crank? About 2800/240 or 11.6 pounds per HP (I was trying to be kind to Ari and Tim. :)). You say that the Mustang is 3600# after stripping and 275 WHP (310crank?). 3750/310= 12. Allowing for one person. So they were pretty well matched. They said the fastest cars they had were the Z06, followed by the Mustangs, followed by the C5. Funny that the Mustang could be faster than the C5 with all that fat on it.

They are now running the new Z06s and C6s so I'm sure the Mustangs are now in third place on the track. 4100+ pounds. Wow.

[BlownMX5]

Sorry, I didn't know that the Bondurant Cobras were lightened. Cobras are about 3600 stock, so figure 3100 then. The 4.6 32-valve motors made (allegedly) 320 at the crank. Mine dyno'd 272 rwhp on a Dynojet. Mine also had a 3.27 rear, I wonder if they put a shorter ratio in those? Anyway, I guess it was "fairer" than I thought. Makes your car's performance all the more impressive!

Pat.

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

When you look inside of them, they are a shell of their former self. :) Two race seats (probably 10 pounds each :)) and a cage. They came from Ford with no VINs and not street legal. The engines are pretty well dyno tuned and probably not one gram more than is needed to run. I saw some of the Mustangs up in the 3900 pound class so I figured it could be that he Cobras were over 4000. They run light rims and GoodYear race rubber. All the other cars are street stock (Corvettes, Z06s, GTOs, etc.) and only get an exhaust upgrade as Borla is a sponsor. :) The Corvettes have a constant CEL due to the lack of cat in the exhaust and race rubber (GoodYear brings a truckload of new rubber pretty often as the Corvettes get a new set every week/class) but are otherwise stock.

My 99 now has 220-225 WHP, RB sways, JIC 12/10 coilovers and RA1s for the track. It is a tad faster around the course now as well. However, I'll leave stomping on the Z06's to Ralph's 99. More on that in another thread when I get a chance to post it. :)

[99mx5]

Watching those videos bring back some great memories! I am forever grateful Tom, thanks!

[Tom @ Fast Forward]

You didn't mind being used for ballast? ;)