Bring the noise

THIS OZ-DEVELOPED HERO MAY JUST BE THE WORLD’S BEST MUSTANG. BRING ON THAT SUPERCHARGER WHINE...

- ANDY ENRIGHT

A CONFESSION. I didn’t get much sleep the night before Wheels’ appointment with the Ford Mustang R-Spec. Perhaps it was the combination of it being build #001, the only one in existence and required at its own press launch a few days later, and the fact that my first acquaintance with it would be to put a helmet on and fire it down Heathcote’s strip, north of Melbourne, but I’ll freely admit to being a little bit spooked.

“We don’t have any power or torque figures for it yet,” said Ford’s Damion Smy, not exactly salving any apprehension. “Just don’t break it.” A cheery thumbs up and he was gone, leaving us with one of 2020’s most anticipated cars. Down-at heel Heathcote’s never the most scenic of locations, but this Grabber Lime R-Spec looks the goods. Lowered by 20mm, and finished with contrasting black detailing and garnished with a stripe pack designed by designer Dave Dewitt, it looks vacuumed to the scabby bitumen, the Michelin tyres snuggling neatly into the arches.

Developed in collaboration with Herrod Performance, the R-Spec is priced at $99,980. For the premium of $36K over a regular Mustang GT coupe, the extras include a Roush-sourced Eaton R2650 TVS supercharger, a revised intake manifold with air-to-liquid intercooler, a Borla quad-tip exhaust that satisfies Aussie drive-by noise regulations, wider wheels, uprated springs, beefier anti-roll bars, and recalibrated MagneRide dampers.

What haven’t changed are the tyres. An estimated 47 percent increase in power is sent through the same 275/40ZR19 Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rear boots as the stock Mustang GT. To put that into some sort of perspective, they’re narrower than a Camaro ZL1’s front rubber. This has a fairly predictable effect. The R-Spec is as hard as hell to launch cleanly.