Photo: Mustang6G
Now that the pair of Shelby GT350s has joined the S550 Mustang family, the time has come to talk about... the next member of the all-new pony generation, namely the Cobra Jet.
Ford Performance is currently working on the out-of-the-box drag racing version of the new Mustang and the biggest question related to this revolves around the rear axle.
Sure, the Independent Rear Suspension (IRS) on the 2015 'Stang takes the car to another handling universe (we'll give you a track test to accompany the review soon). But when it comes to a factory-built drag racer, reliability is the key and this is where the Solid Rear Axle (SRA) remains king.
The Cobra Jet is the kind of car that has to pull repeated blistering drag racing passes and rumor has it Ford Performance has supplied 2015 shells to a few Mustang racing teams as part of the S550 Cobra Jet development process.
According to a member of the Mustang6G forums, the Blue Oval has asked Watson Racing, one of the companies, to use an IRS setup on a Cobra Jet development car, while they've developed a SRA setup for the other teams.
However, Calvert Racing decided to build their own SRA for the 2015 Mustang and you can see it in the image above. No info was provided, but, by the looks of it, this is a build that requires chassis mods.
While the engineering effort made to bring the Mustang back to the solid axle setup is remarkable, this is not a bolt on setup. With all the changes Ford has done to the car, we don't even know if that's possible. This means that you won't see every driver that regularly drag races his or her Mustang jumping the conversion bandwagon.
The Mustang racecar in question was fitted with the team's 2014 Cobra Jet Whipple-supercharged Coyote-based 5L V8. After this Frankenstein pony was brought to life, it was unleased on the drag strip, with the result being a cool 8s run - this was the first 8s 1/4-mile for an S550.
To be more precise, Calvert Racing's S550 Mustang pulled an 8.97s pass at an ultra-solid 151 mph (243 km/h). Since this was one of the early runs, you can expect the results to be even spicier in the future.
Nevertheless, Ford Performance has reportedly said this setup is different from the one they'll be using in the production Cobra Jet.
Sure, the Independent Rear Suspension (IRS) on the 2015 'Stang takes the car to another handling universe (we'll give you a track test to accompany the review soon). But when it comes to a factory-built drag racer, reliability is the key and this is where the Solid Rear Axle (SRA) remains king.
The Cobra Jet is the kind of car that has to pull repeated blistering drag racing passes and rumor has it Ford Performance has supplied 2015 shells to a few Mustang racing teams as part of the S550 Cobra Jet development process.
According to a member of the Mustang6G forums, the Blue Oval has asked Watson Racing, one of the companies, to use an IRS setup on a Cobra Jet development car, while they've developed a SRA setup for the other teams.
However, Calvert Racing decided to build their own SRA for the 2015 Mustang and you can see it in the image above. No info was provided, but, by the looks of it, this is a build that requires chassis mods.
While the engineering effort made to bring the Mustang back to the solid axle setup is remarkable, this is not a bolt on setup. With all the changes Ford has done to the car, we don't even know if that's possible. This means that you won't see every driver that regularly drag races his or her Mustang jumping the conversion bandwagon.
The Mustang racecar in question was fitted with the team's 2014 Cobra Jet Whipple-supercharged Coyote-based 5L V8. After this Frankenstein pony was brought to life, it was unleased on the drag strip, with the result being a cool 8s run - this was the first 8s 1/4-mile for an S550.
To be more precise, Calvert Racing's S550 Mustang pulled an 8.97s pass at an ultra-solid 151 mph (243 km/h). Since this was one of the early runs, you can expect the results to be even spicier in the future.
Nevertheless, Ford Performance has reportedly said this setup is different from the one they'll be using in the production Cobra Jet.
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