Ford Mustangs Win GT4 and Koni Challenge Mfg Titles

2006_GT

New Member
Joined
Oct 7, 2008
Messages
2
FORD MUSTANGS CLINCH ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN NORTH AMERICA AND EUROPE



VIR.jpg

Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell clinched both the team and drivers? championships after finishing fifth in the No. 55 Mustang FR500C in the Grand-Am KONI Challenge season-finale in Alton, Va.

FR500GT4.jpg

Eric de Doncker, driver of the No. 1 Mustang FR500GT4, clinched his second consecutive GT4 European Cup after finishing third in the first two races of the weekend and fourth in the third race of the GT4 events in Nogaro, France.

DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 5, 2008 ? Ford Mustang fans around the world celebrated as America?s original pony car wrapped up racing championships on two different continents. Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell won the Grand-Am KONI Challenge series championship in North America and Eric de Doncker repeated as the GT4 European Cup champion in Europe.

Foster and Maxwell capped a terrific season with a fifth-place finish in the KONI season finale in Alton, Va. During the season, the duo combined for two wins, five top-fives and eight top-10s on their way to capturing the drivers? and team championship. They become the second Mustang FR500C drivers to win a KONI championship, with the first coming in 2005.

?Winning the championship was an amazing thing,? said Foster. ?It's something Hyper Sport hasn't done before, and team owner Patrick Dempsey and Rick Skelton, the partners in the team haven't either. I know Patrick, on the set of Grey's Anatomy, was watching online all day. Personally, it's the culmination of a lot of hard work by about 100 people sharing in this.?

The race also moved Ford into first place in the manufacturer standings after three Mustangs finished in the top five spots. Mike Canney, Hugh Plumb and Matt Plumb, drivers of the No. 60 Mustang FR500C, won the race and finished the season tied for sixth in the team standings. Their Rehagen Racing teammates, Dean Martin, Jack Roush Jr. and Ryan Phinny, finished in second place, moving up to fifth place in the standings.

?This is my first win in this series, so it's really exciting, especially to do it like we did today,? said Canney. ?Our crew chief Quinn Conda had a great set-up on the Mustang and the car handled really well during my stint. I'm happy to get a 1-2 finish for Rehagen Racing. It's an exciting way to finish this season off and it's also a great way to get things going for next year.?

Bret Seafuse and James Gue, drivers of the No. 37 Mustang FR500C, entered the race just one point behind Foster and Maxwell, and fought the entire race for a chance at the championship. Right when it looked like they might be able to put together a strong run to catch Foster and Maxwell, they lost a cylinder near the end of the race and eventually finished 10th, clinching second place in the standings.

Over in Europe, Eric de Doncker won his second consecutive GT4 European Cup championship after placing third in the first two races of the weekend and fourth in the final race of the weekend in his No. 1 Mustang FR500GT4. De Doncker tallied four wins on the season and finished on the podium in 14 of 17 events.

?This season has been very good, with tough competition, but we've achieved our goal once more,? said de Doncker. ?I have to thank my team for all the hard work they did to get us here again. We've had an excellent car that was built to win.

?I'm happy for the team and for Ford as well.?

So the SOILD AXLE Mustang Beat BMW, Aston Martin, Chevrolet, Lotus, Maserati, Nissan, Opel, and Porsche!:lol:
 
Maybe now the Europhiles will realize that a solid axle is superior for track racing, as the rear camber doesn't change from the inevitable body roll in high speed turns.
 
That win was more because Ford poured cubic dollars and factory support into the class, rather than from the inherent ability of the vehicle (much like the C5R in LeMans racing).

Also, IRS does not necessarily require that rear camber change from body roll. And if the surface is uneven at all (Sebring, Monaco, LeMans, the real world), the IRS has the advantage. The big drawback for IRS has been wheel/axle hop under power, and Cadillac/GM finally figured out how to fix that this year. I know I'll be applying their fix to my Series III.

Also, if the stick axle was an advantage, why is it that IRS cars dominate most other classes of racing? No, the Mustangs won on factory support and greater engine power, plus better drivers, and in spite of their rear axles.
 
That win was more because Ford poured cubic dollars and factory support into the class, rather than from the inherent ability of the vehicle (much like the C5R in LeMans racing)..

Cubic dollars? This isn't the "Total Performance Era"

The car is the same car that has competed in the Koni Challenge since '05. To keep the playing field even after Homologation "Modifications subject to the GT4 Bureau approval", from the GT4 web site, so Ford pored money into engine depelopment? or into further developing the three way dampers? or maybe the Brembo brakes? Koni has the same rules if your car is to fast they add weight to keep the playing field even.

Also, if the stick axle was an advantage, why is it that IRS cars dominate most other classes of racing? No, the Mustangs won on factory support and greater engine power, plus better drivers, and in spite of their rear axles

The IRS dominates because there are no soild axle cars built for those classes. And yes IRS does have advantages (but it is harder/more expensive to setup for open tracking/racing than a solid axle car) I just find it really funny because all the sporty car types are always poo-pooing the Mustang with it's "buggy axle".
 
I haven't followed either series and am not either fan or hater of solid rear axle, but there's one point in this I'll bring up...

Cubic dollars? This isn't the "Total Performance Era"

The car is the same car that has competed in the Koni Challenge since '05. To keep the playing field even after Homologation "Modifications subject to the GT4 Bureau approval", from the GT4 web site, so Ford pored money into engine depelopment? or into further developing the three way dampers? or maybe the Brembo brakes? Koni has the same rules if your car is to fast they add weight to keep the playing field even.

So the title was won thanks to the car's solid rear axle and not, by any chance, thanks to the car getting help from organisers?
 
Maybe those other brands should look into using a solid rear axle now, ford could be onto something here.
Let me email them this thread.
 
I think the FR500's multiple years of success is a lot more than driver skill. I especially like how most of those parts are available from Ford Motorsport for consumer use.
 
You created an account to tell us Ford won two obscure racing series? Woohoo, come get me when Ford enters a factory car in the ALMS or the Falken GT starts beating the F430s and GT3 RSRs.

The Mustang isn't the end all be all of sports cars. It wasn't the first muscle car, the only innovative thing it ever did was offer creative optioning upon purchase, and the majority of Mustangs are V6, automatics driven by women.
 
You created an account to tell us Ford won two obscure racing series? Woohoo, come get me when Ford enters a factory car in the ALMS or the Falken GT starts beating the F430s and GT3 RSRs.

The Mustang isn't the end all be all of sports cars. It wasn't the first muscle car, the only innovative thing it ever did was offer creative optioning upon purchase, and the majority of Mustangs are V6, automatics driven by women.

Calm down Beavis. It may not be a Porch, but I know plenty of Mustangs that show up on Porsche track days here in Texas that can keep up. I think the point he was making is give credit where credit is due.
 
i would cry tears of joy if an american f1 team won a constructors championship.


my next task would be to find bernie and make sure he knows that an american team just won a constructors championship.


oh and a mustang won the speed world challenge GT race at road atlanta this past weekend.
 
Last edited:
my next task would be to find bernie and make sure he knows that an american team just won a constructors championship.

And congratulate? I bet Bernie would be chuffed to bits if there was an american team and it was actually succesful. Would be very good for publicity in America and therefore mean more dollars for him.

oh and a mustang won the speed world challenge GT race at road atlanta this past weekend.

With Brandon Davis?
 
yep. davis took the lead from the start and put distance over the aston in 2nd.


And congratulate? I bet Bernie would be chuffed to bits if there was an american team and it was actually succesful. Would be very good for publicity in America and therefore mean more dollars for him.

really? i always figured he'd rather let f1 racing in north america die regardless of the money he'd make.
 
Last edited:
Maybe now the Europhiles will realize that a solid axle is superior for track racing, as the rear camber doesn't change from the inevitable body roll in high speed turns.

The T34 had a more advanced suspension setup then the mustang does.
 
Maybe now the Europhiles will realize that a solid axle is superior for track racing, as the rear camber doesn't change from the inevitable body roll in high speed turns.

Ugh, a solid axle means the driver has to introduce slip angle to maintain the proper corner speed, meaning all 4 wheels spinning in unison. This is tire-wearing, slow, and very tricky to do.

A differential allows you to drive off the corner with more rolling speed and thus a better exit without the need to bind the car up if you don't get it just right, which is entirely the whole point of slowing for a corner.

The Mustangs won because of their power.
 
Solid axle is often used to refer to a live axle, as a single beam axle is only practical on loose surfaces.

A live axle still locks the two wheels together. The differential's only use is for transferring power to the wheels. In effect, they are exactly the same thing. The only reason the live axle exists is because it is seriously impractical to drive a car via a belt or chain. It's exactly the same thing as a solid axle in behavior.
 
I think we may be misunderstanding eachother here.

The live axle, keeping both rear wheels in contact with the surface at the same near-perpendicular angle throughout a turn, allows faster application of power coming out of the turn.
Only if the differential does not allow enough slip is a live axle more likely to have a tire wear problem than a pair of independently suspended wheels, which is the reason NASCAR teams still use spider gear systems instead of limited slip differentials.
 
I think we may be misunderstanding eachother here.

The live axle, keeping both rear wheels in contact with the surface at the same near-perpendicular angle throughout a turn, allows faster application of power coming out of the turn.

Yes, because the camber is a constant. I understand that.

But there are other factors that keep a live or solid axle from being as fast as IRS, namely the fact that the inside rear wheel is dragging as a result of the outside wheel having to travel a further distance. This causes understeer, which can arguably be fixed with changing front tire pressure or sway bars or what have you without detrimental effect. I'm not of that disposition.

Yes, driving a live axle like an IRS car will get you better tire mileage. But it won't be as fast, and if you want to be fast, then you have to drive it with slip angle, which wears tires tremendously.

Besides, racing isn't about getting on the power as soon as possible, it's about being as smooth as possible, and it's a lot easier to do that with IRS. Ultimately, with IRS, yes you have to get on the power later (live axle cars can get on the power at or sometimes before the apex), but the IRS cars just maintain so much more rolling speed that I think, generally, the advantage is countered. You also can't argue that live axles are a better option on bumpy tracks, like Sebring. It just throws the car's balance too much.

I still maintain that the Mustangs won because of their power. In the Koni series, at least.
 
Last edited:
Top