Champion Motor Speedway at the M1 Concourse is a 1.5-mile track that caters to cars with big speed and big power. The track has three long straights where cars can build big speed before hitting a tight turn. On the long straights, the 460-horsepower engine got the Mustang GT up to speeds more than 100 miles per hour but the Brembo braking package effortlessly got the car down to a safe speed as I entered the more technical sections of the track.
Even if you get into a turn a little too fast, the braking system does a great job of bringing speeds down in a hurry and unlike some performance cars, the Mustang GT with Performance Pack 2 is perfectly stable under hard braking. With some cars, a late braking maneuver as you enter a turn will lock up the brakes and cause a loss of stability, but even when I broke late heading into a hard turn – the big Brembo brakes slowed the Mustang down without any loss of control.
When entering turns with the 2019 Mustang GT, the Performance Pack 2 steering tuning provides an incredibly connected feeling. It seems cliché to say that it goes where you point it, but even in situations where I had a little too much speed getting into a corner, the car responded by going where I wanted it. Of course, a big part of the ability to put the car where you want it on the track is the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, but rubber aside – the specially tuned EPAS system provides the control, the feel and the feedback that you want from a road racer.
The 2019 Mustang GT with the Performance Pack 2 offers world-class braking capabilities and a steering system that affords the driver precision control, but with the unique MagneRide tuning and the package-specific sway bars, this pony car glides through the corners as well as it gets in and out of them.
There is no body roll, even in a hard turn-in, so as I covered the track with the best-performing Mustang GT ever, the car felt perfectly planted at all times. While entering a turn too hot would lead to a less-than-ideal racing line, too much speed coming in didn’t get the car sliding and once you hit the apex and hammer down, the Mustang GT with Performance Pack 2 sticks to the track like it’s on a rail.
"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.
