It’s no secret that we are big fans of the refreshed Ford Mustang here at Speed:Sport:Life. Nor are we alone: the vast majority of the automotive press has awarded the 2010 Mustang first place in the revitalized ponycar wars. The common theme among many reviewers is that the Mustang’s light weight, manageable size, and obsessive detailing are enough to overlook the relatively uncompetitive engine choices.

For the 2011 model year, those caveats are history. We’ve already shared the details on the variable-valve-timed, 300-plus-horsepower 2011 Mustang V6 with you, and now we are free to tell what has been the worst-kept secret in the industry: the five-liter Mustang is back, and it’s pissed off.

Continue reading 2010 NAIAS Preview: 2011 Ford Mustang GT – The 5.0 is back

Faithful Ford truckers often fall into a dichotomy. Lightning enthusiasts crave quick rigs to gain cred at the track. Bronco fans miss muddy rockcrawlers meant for trails. Ford’s Special Vehicle Team could’ve easily built a truck for either purpose, but as guardians of automotive culture, it’s not their duty to take a safe route. SVT rethought “speed truck” ethic entirely. Instead of engineering a tire-shredder, SVT focused on sustaining high speed off-road in a way that no stock vehicle has before. The 2010 Ford SVT F-150 Raptor tackles both asphalt and desert sands so masterfully that it is instantly deserving of supercar status. The Raptor’s victories in design, safety, navitainment and ergonomics mean that it isn’t just a great truck — it’s a great vehicle.  Children will mount posters of this desert bandit on their walls. In an era of lowest-common-denominator commodity cars, that’s indicative praise indeed.

If you weren’t able to follow my Tweets from the introduction, this video preview of the 5.4-liter V8-equipped model should tide you over until this winter, when Ford will begin shipping faster Raptors equipped with a new 6.2-liter V8. You can expect a full review from Speed:Sport:Life then.

Last night I attended the premiere of the new film “Raptor – Born in Baja” which is a joint production between Ford Motor Company and Brentwood Communications. The premiere was held at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood and it came complete with a few celebrities and a red carpet that covered a makeshift dirt entrance. The movie was certainly intriguing; telling the story of the Raptor team and their quest to build and race the truck in the Baja 1000. However the truck itself was the most interesting part of the night.

  Continue reading Ford SVT Raptor – Born in Baja Premiere

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Story and photography by Jack Baruth

What if you built a five-hundred-horsepower ponycar… and nobody noticed? Worse yet, what if you built a five-hundred-and-forty-horsepower limited-edition ponycar that is really closer to a six-hundred-horsepower limited-edition ponycar… and nobody gave you any credit? Well, today we’re going to give credit where credit was due. Three months ago, we had the pleasure of meeting some of the people behind Ford’s SVT division, learning about some of the cars which have figured prominently in the recent history of fast Fords, and experiencing a GT500KR development mule around a top-secret test track. Due to technical difficulties (in other words, the race-related breakage of our crummy old DV camera) it’s taken a while to bring you this stuff, but we’re hoping it will be worth your wait.
Continue reading The secret vehicle team: a trip to Ford’s SVT division.