Ford Mustang Aussie Supercar Nearing Production

Ford Mustang will be the first non-sedan to compete in the Australian Supercars series.

For the past two decades, the Australian Supercars Championship has featured the highest performance passenger cars on the continent, generally focusing on the Ford Falcon and the Holden Commodore. Up until 2017, the series was only open to sedan-based vehicles, but with the series looking to a future without the Ford Falcon or the Holden Commodore, the decision was made to begin allowing two-door coupe-based race cars into the series.

There were no coupes in the series for 2018, but we have known for some time that the Ford Mustang would replace the Falcon in the Australian Supercar Championship. According to Supercars, production of the Aussie racing Mustang is the next step in the process, with the design phase being complete.

Design Phase

The Ford Mustang race car that will compete in Australia is being developed under a partnership consisting of DJR Team Penske, Ford Performance (USA) and Ford of Australia. The race team has been working on the chassis design for the new car for some time, but according to Team Penske director Ryan Story, the project is at the point where the fitment of the body on the chassis is being finalized.

“It’s progressing well. We’re having ongoing meetings with the Supercars technical department to share our progress and make sure we’re all on the same page,” said Story. “There are elements of the design which we’re starting to finalize so we can send the parts through to manufacturing. We’re probably on the back foot a little bit in terms of timing due to when the sign-off [of the deal with Ford] occurred, but nothing extreme. We are where we thought we’d be at this point in time.”

Meeting with Ford

Back in May, Ludo Lacroix of Team Penske met with Ford Performance in Dearborn and at that point, the first aerodynamic study for the Aussie racing Mustang began. The key to exterior development is Ford’s use of Computational Fluid Dynamics, helping the team to make tweaks to the body that improve aerodynamics while preserving the look of the mighty Mustang.

Component Production

Based on the information from Team Penske, it sounds as though the majority of the computer-aided-design is nearly complete. Once they have finished that phase of the project, the team will be able to begin working with suppliers to produce the body panels for the new Mustang race car and once they have those panels, they can affix them to the chassis that is currently under development.

Once that first car is pieced together, we could get our first look at the Australian Supercars Mustang in the flesh, with the first race for this new car scheduled for March of 2019.

When the Mustang hits the track in 2019, it will battle the new Holden Commodore ZB and the Nissan Altima L33.

Join the Mustang Source Forums now!

Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

Facebook   Twitter