In the April 2006 Inside the Oval magazine, SVT Chief Engineer Jay O'Connell says "Winning five of nine races last year has led to a newly mandated inlet air restrictor to reduce power." And "It's time to crank up the performance before the next race."

Also "SVT is working with Ford Racing to homologate the Shelby GT500 front fascia, and more importantly the splitter, to improve the FR500C's aerodynamics. During development of the FR500C, we found that the center of pressure was too far forward due to too much front lift. So, for the Shelby GT500 we added a deeper front fascia and incorporated a horizontal splitter to reduce front lift and move the center of pressure rearward. At speed, the Shelby has 70% less front lift that the Mustang GT. Since the splitter and fascia will soon be in production on the Shelby, Ford Racing should be able to convince Grand Am to approve the parts for competition."

 

Interesting. Any smart people out there know if you could tell a difference between a factory front fascia and one designed for racing (like the Steeda) at normal highway speeds (60-80mph).

What I'm getting at is, I don't plan on racing my future purchase but, if it was a noticible during daily use, I would consider function over looks.

 

AFBLUE,

Most people couldn't tell the difference, especially at highway speeds. And to be honest, companies like Steeda just don't have the resources to optimize thier bodywork, like a front fascia for aerodynamics. To do that properly requires many many hours of windtunnel time at a rather high cost.

As for Grand-Am approving the GT500 nose for competition, we would all love it, precisely for the lift issues, but I'm not holding my breath. Grand Am isn't interested in giving the mustangs any breaks this year because of how well they did last year.

 

Thanks for the response Brian.