S650 steering and handling is night and day difference compared to S550 Mustang says Chief Engineer Ed Krenz

[TTown]

What about the suspension and how the car handles. Will it handle as well or better than the dying Camaro?

Sponsored

 

[9secondko]

So what does this lead us to? Exactly, wait and see

pretty much. But yhe car has more power, likely a better suspension, and the s550 shortcomings have been cleaned up for the s550+.

I imagine ford is making an effort just for feel to drive customer sat. But also to truly improve performance metrics.

cdnt wait to find out. And to see what the Cobra/GT500 level turns out to be.

 

[9secondko]

What about the suspension and how the car handles. Will it handle as well or better than the dying Camaro?

this is really important. The Camaro outhandled the prior ecoboost and GT. Even pp2 couldn’t stand up to 1le.

and that’s just wrong.

the s650 needs to at the very least beat the 6g 1le SS and base. Otherwise that’s just embarrassing.

 

[93-Oct Mayne]

I just hope the wheel hop issues of the S550 are fixed so we can get some proper launches

 

[9secondko]

I just hope the wheel hop issues of the S550 are fixed so we can get some proper launches

seripusly. If the aftermarket can fix it, ford can do a better job from the factory. No excuse to have wheel hop an an irs performance car anymore.

 

[Dub347sbf]

seripusly. If the aftermarket can fix it, ford can do a better job from the factory. No excuse to have wheel hop an an irs performance car anymore.

I have never driven an s550, but the wheel hop on my 2001 cobra irs was insane. Really bad. Is that still an issue? I thought for sure that would have been fixed by now.

 

[Hi-PO Stang]

I am thrilled to hear Ford has made the steering ration quicker in the S650 than the 16:1 ratio the S550 had. If the Mustang is to feel like a sports car it needs 14:1 or quicker. On the dirt track modified I race , I have a 16.1 box with a 2:1 quickner to make it equivalent to 8:1 steering ratio. With power steering , there are aftermarket steering boxes of 9:1 for oval track race cars. I am surprised Ford waited so long to offer steering ratios quicker than 16:1.

 

[9secondko]

I have never driven an s550, but the wheel hop on my 2001 cobra irs was insane. Really bad. Is that still an issue? I thought for sure that would have been fixed by now.

stock IRS wheel hop on the 99-04 Cobras was like your car tearing itself apart. Thank God for full tilt boogie racing irs parts.

the s550 fares better, but it’s still a rough deal.

 

[Mazman]

with regards to the thickness of a wheel.
I swapped my OEM wheel on the MX5 to a custom one which thickened inwards, so the outer diameter is the same.

I have to admit it did take away some from the steering feel, so having a to thick wheel can potentially be negative for some. But in my case I still prefer the custom one compared to the OEM one.

 

[Charlemagne]

the s650 needs to at the very least beat the 6g 1le SS and base. Otherwise that’s just embarrassing.

 

[Ace]

Just to throw in some numbers from C&Ds lightning lap:

2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1 HP (MT), 2:51.4
2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R (MT), 2:51.8
2018 Ford Mustang GT Performance Package Level 2 (MT), 2:53.8
2017 Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE (MT), 2:54.8

Ford pulled about on par with the PP2, but the Mach 1 with Handling package (and not the slow european model) is a far faster track car than the SS 1LE, even outperfoming the GT350R. I would expect the Dark Horse with Handling package to even get 1-2 seconds faster in this comparison which would actually be a really competitive track car for the price.

But I really hope for handling improvements for the base GTs. The base GTs definitely don't feel as agile and good in corners as the base Camaro SS models.

 

[IPOGT]

Engineer (salesman) advises new(ish) product is better than last.

In other breaking news, water wet, new iPhone "better".

Because Pericak couldn’t figure any of this out the first time. ( He did).

 

[Mazman]

Just to throw in some numbers from C&Ds lightning lap:

2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1 HP (MT), 2:51.4
2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R (MT), 2:51.8
2018 Ford Mustang GT Performance Package Level 2 (MT), 2:53.8
2017 Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE (MT), 2:54.8

Ford pulled about on par with the PP2, but the Mach 1 with Handling package (and not the slow european model) is a far faster track car than the SS 1LE, even outperfoming the GT350R. I would expect the Dark Horse with Handling package to even get 1-2 seconds faster in this comparison which would actually be a really competitive track car for the price.

But I really hope for handling improvements for the base GTs. The base GTs definitely don't feel as agile and good in corners as the base Camaro SS models.

The tires on the 1LE are not on par with the 305/315(Cup2s) setup on the M1(PP2 305 square), the Eagle F1 Supercar 3(285/305) is a great tire it seems but is a bit slower than the cup2s in the same size.

However in general comparing track times on different days and potentially different drivers....

This is a interesting comparison the PP2 and 1LE with Cup2s on both

 

[OppoLock]

Just to throw in some numbers from C&Ds lightning lap:

2021 Ford Mustang Mach 1 HP (MT), 2:51.4
2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R (MT), 2:51.8
2018 Ford Mustang GT Performance Package Level 2 (MT), 2:53.8
2017 Chevrolet Camaro SS 1LE (MT), 2:54.8

Ford pulled about on par with the PP2, but the Mach 1 with Handling package (and not the slow european model) is a far faster track car than the SS 1LE, even outperfoming the GT350R. I would expect the Dark Horse with Handling package to even get 1-2 seconds faster in this comparison which would actually be a really competitive track car for the price.

But I really hope for handling improvements for the base GTs. The base GTs definitely don't feel as agile and good in corners as the base Camaro SS models.

The numbers aren’t even as much a concern as the overall feeling of how they’re pulled off from the driver’s seat. The Alpha chassis was inarguably a tier better than the S550’s. Way stiffer and a better starting platform before even taking suspension geometry and tuning into consideration. They did more with less with any like comparison.

Which raises the question on what they did to improve the S650 from a material and construction perspective.

 

[Twin Turbo]

You'll hopefully be surprised when you drive it. It's amazing how just a (relatively) few tweaks can make a massive improvement in what you feel from the driver's seat.

I remember being quite shocked at how much better the 2010 was over the previous 2005-2009. The steering was crisper, and the suspension felt massively better. And yet the underpinnings were very similar, just tweaked.

I felt there was a similar improvement in "seat of the pants" feel from 2014 S197 to 2015 S550. Hopefully it'll be a similar story from 2023 to 2024.

Sponsored