GRAND NATIONAL VS. MUSTANG LX
Super Stock & Drag Illustrated (August 1987)

Regular readers of this publication know that for the past six months Super Stock Magazine has been heavily involved in the presentation of Detroit's resurgent "muscle" cars. Thus far we've wrung out Buick's simplyh awesome turbocharged V6 Grand National plus Chevrolet's 350 and 305 IROC-Z28 Camaros. Conspicuous by its absence, however, has been Ford's highly touted Mustang GT for 1987.

We first drove a new GT during last summer's long lead press preview in Motor City, and were impressed with is authority on the straightaway and surefootedness in the bends. An engineer from Ford's V8 engine group assured us the car had 14.30/98 mph quarter-mile potential, but we reserved judgement until we could perform the deed ourselves. An opportunity to do just that in the company of a Grand National and 350 IROC fell through last fall, and we shared your disappointment. And so for SS&DI readers, the 5-liter Mustang's performance remained an unknown quantity. That is until now.

Thanks to our friends at Ford Motor Company, SS&DI has acquired the long term use if an '87 Mustang LX for the express purpose of exploiting its performance potential (see companion story). Boy, were we surprised! It's everything we had hoped for - and more! That the Mustang was ordered in blacvk with grey gut is no accident. From the outset we determined that if anything is boing to beat the Buick at its own game, this is it, and we wanted Mr. Mustang to look the part.

Our initial plan was to baseline the little 5-liter (302 cid) fuel injected Ford, then add a gaggle of bolt-on goodies that would hopefully put the Mustang ahead of its protagonist from Flint. As it turned out, that wasn't necessary. With nothing more than two weekends at the track perfecting our driving style, Mean Mr. Mustang delivered 14.0-second time slips with speeds in the 97 mph range. And that, dear friends, was with a 5-speed manual transmission and 2.73 rear gear!

Before taking delivery of the Mustang, we had arranged for an '87 Buick grand National to test Hypertech's reprogrammed computer chip (see sidebar). With the Ford's impressive baseline performance already in hand, there was no need to prolong the inevitable so we scheduled the drag tests for 1987 - Mean Mr. Mustang against Buick's Black Turbo Beast - the results of which should decide once and for all which brand has bragging rights to the title of King of the Street. So far the 350 IROC-Z Camaro had come closest with 14.20s to the Grand National's 13.90s. As stated on the cover of our October '86 issue, Can the Mustang Beat the Buick?

The site for this contest was Atco Raceway in southern New Jersey. Transmission Specialties had rented the track for a customer test session and granted our request to join in. It was a hot Spring day and Atco's concrete launching pad was responding well to the numerous assaults of high horsepowered machinerey. As it turned out, in our case the track was too good.

Our objectives for the day were to baseline the Ford and the Buick and then run a best of three match race for the overall title. Using two different drivers and lots of runs, we figured we could bring out the best in each car's performance potential. All too soon it became crystal clear that these two machines were evenly matched. After our first series of test runs, the Mustang carded a best of 14.074 at 96.46 mph versus the Grand National's 14.077 at 92.59.

The Buick's lackluster trap speed had us scratching our collective head. Hadn't we clocked 99.44 mph during our Fall test at Central Michigan Dragway? Yes, but that was on a drag strip sprayed its length with traction compound plus a crisp 38( ambient temperature. Thgen we realized the difference wasn't so much a factor of atmospheric or track conditions as it was power to weight. And therein lies the secret to the Mustang LX's performance edge.

Regardless of body style, the 5-liter Ford for 1987 is rated at 225 hp @ 4000 rpm and 300 ft/lbs torque @ 3200 rpm. The Turbo V6 Grand National comes in at 245 hp @ 4400 and 355 ft/lbs @ 2800, plus it has 14 psi of turbo boost. But the Mustang LX weighs just over 3200 pounds with a full tank of gas, the Buick an easy 3500 in comparable trim. Our test drivers also contributed to the equation. The Mustang driver weighed 150, the Buick's 260. So now we're talking about relative total vehicle weights of 3350 for Mr. Mustang and 3760 for the Turbo Beast.

That difference becomes most evident in each car's terrminal velocity, or trap speed at the end of the quarter-mile. It seems that the extra weight affects trap speed more than elapsed time, which accounts for the Mustang's faster mph. But on the ET end of things they were dead even. When racing each other, the winner was usually the first car to leave the starting line. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Another intersting note: each car would only turn an "ideal" ET about three out of every ten runs. The biggest variable obviously was traction. The Mustang had a tendency to bog off the starting line while the Buick wanted to blaze the tires. Again, in each case the result was a .3 loss in elapsed time. But we consider these numbers to be "real world". If the Mustang bogged and the Buick spun, they'd leave the line together and stay that way until the 3/4 mark, where the Mustang's lighter mass would make the difference and it would pull away ever so slightly. Remember, we're not exactly hookinghard and going straight here. These cars have to be finessed off the starting line. If the clutch wasn't released just right, of the rpm was too low, the Mustang would lunge about five feet and then fall on its face. In this mode it ran consistent 14.30s at 96.50. Only when the clutch release was achived would the car dip down to the 14.0s and pick up a mile an hour.

Due to ungodly torque and instant boost, the Grand National is equally difficult to drive off the starting line. Our most productive driving style was to heat the tires and leave the line with the trans selector in D, no OD. (You're musch better off letting the transmission shift automatically in Drive; things happen much too quickly with the Turbo Beast to trust manual gear changes.) We found the best compromise was to launch the car with the yellow boost gauge just peeking out, about 5 psi at 2000 rpm with the brake pedal depressed, then releasing the brake and nailing it. The "whooshmobile" would immediately flash to full boost, the rear tires would chirp in protest, and you'd be gone like a cool breeze. On the flip side, coming out under too much boost transforms the Buick into the "Chi-Town Hustler", only without fan approval.

Our original three out of five match race turned into a best of seven, so even were the contestants. In the first, the Mustang wasted a 14.23 via the redlight and the Buick scored the win at 14.38. The Ford evened the score in round 2 with another 14.23 to the Grand National's wheelspinning14.81. The Buick found the groove in round 3 with a 14.12 as the LX bogged and missed a gear change slowing it to 14.44. In round 4, Mr. Mustang clicked off a 14.26 to drive around a Buick holeshot with subsequently turned into a freewheeling 14.52. The Mustang bulbed again in round 5 despite a 14.25, and the Grand National took the win light in 14.45 seconds. In round 6 the Mustang bounced back with a 14.27 as the Buick slowed to a 14.74. The 7th and deciding round was also the Buick's best as it ran Low ET of the day at 14.05 at 92.93 mph to the Ford's 14.32 at 95.33 mph. The final score: Buick Grand National 4, Ford Mustang 3.

Depending on your allegiance the results are inconclusive. Mean Mr. Mustang consistently out-ET'd the Black Turbo Beast under drag race conditions, but tipped the scales in the Beast's favor by losing the decisive rounds to foul starts. There are those who would argue that no guard beams exist on the boulevard, in which case the Mustang LX was the clear-cut winner. And there are those who would cry foul at the excess baggage carried by the Buick GN during our tests (sorry, Richie). But the bottom line is that the Mustang more than held its own against the fastest production machine to come out of Detroit in 15 years. And that in itself is quite an accomplishment.

Source: Super Stock & Drag Illustrated, August 1987