[Shotimes] SVT Taurus - R?

[Mark Nunnally]

>Who would have shelled out 25k+ for a fat 4 door that's heavy in the turns.
The whole Q ship as

Fat and heavy?  You know how much a '00 Cobra R weighs?  Several hundred lbs
more than any 89 SHO (fully loaded).

I think if there was actually some factory backing and racing support behind
it, and the success it could have had, I think it could have been popular.
Granted stand alone Ford didn't support/back and market the std SHO well,
but SVT was new in the early 90's, and SVT didn't build the Mustang or F150
either, they just modified each for a street version, and built an "R" model
mustang for club racers (or collectors who stuff them in a garage).
Wouldn't have been hard to do the same for a SHO, even using a stripper gen2
platform.

> I think you need one of the Bondo SHOs Mark.  And with your move to
Georgia
> and the cars being in Chatanooga, it might just be destiny.

Nah, I've already built the SHO "R".  No need to start over again.  And for
far less than $25k :)

> On a semi-related note, Mitsubishi is going to be selling a stripped down
> version of the Evo.  $3000 and 146 lbs lighter than it's counterpart, the
> car lacks a radio, carpeting, trunk carpeting, wing, power windows, power
> locks, cruise, and a host of other ammenities.  For a car that's .10
seconds
> quicker than the loaded Evo and only 146 lbs lighter, I want all my
features
> back! :-)

That's pretty cool.  Had not heard that.  That tenth is probably listed as a
1/4 mile sprint, on a typical 2 mile road course, that 146 lbs would
translate into lap times way quicker than 1 tenth.

My 89 is 255-260 hp (factor 3.2 motor).  3300 lb race weight (driver/fuel),
Quaife, 225/50 DOT comp tires on 16x7.5 rims.  Eibach springs/tokico struts
(nothing fancy...yet) 22/26 sway bars, 4 pot bridged fixed calipers.  A/C
delete/radio delete, no sound material, just like a Cobra R set-up.  In
other words, nothing fancy, nothing exotic, not a ton of power, most of the
parts were around 10 yrs ago, (minus the ATB diff from quaife, and DOT
rubber would have been different).  (heck I haven't even drilled out the
front tower plates yet, left them at -1.7 camber) My time trial lap times a
few weeks ago at lime rock were 1+ sec faster than both a 03 EVO and WRX
Sti, on skinnier rubber with less hp, and no AWD.  I'm no mario andretti
either.  My point is the potential of the SHO in a track trim mode.  This
wouldn't have been hard to do 10 yrs ago, I think if you were kicking a 93
Cobra R's butt 3-4 secs a lap 10 yrs ago (another car I beat at limerock),
people would have taken notice.

mark