The average North American may not realize it, but Ford has a rich history in the sport of performance rallying. In fact, Ford has been winning world championship rally events for at least 40 years and possibly longer. Most of these wins though have been with small British or European Fords like the Escort or Focus. Here in North America, the racing heritage has been with drag, oval and road racing. At the center of much of Ford’s competitive side has always been the Mustang.
Muscle cars in general, including the Mustang have always been known for going fast in a straight line. Mustang probably has more wins in road racing over the past 40 years than all the other muscle cars combined. One place we haven’t seen to many Mustangs is hauling butt down a gravel stage road. Sure there have been a few, but most were fox body cars that didn’t stand up too well to the pounding.
Today’s world is a bit different and as Ford is climbing their way back to the top, they are having to do some things a bit differently than they used to. They are already active on the extreme end of dirt sports, competing at X-Games and Pikes Peak with a pair of WRC spec Ford Focuses. Or should that be Foci?
Mark Utecht rallies one of those fox body Mustangs I mentioned. In fact, he’s pretty quick in it as he is a regular winner in the Rally America Group 5 class. Mark bought his car from Mike Hurst, who is the Technical Director of Rally America. In other words, these guys both know how to hustle a V8 powered, rear wheel drive rally car through the forest. Sounds like a good time for a grudge match! At the 2009 Ojibwe Forests Rally, the guys drove a 4 stage challenge to see who was the fastest in a rally prepped 2010 Ford Mustang. What follows is a thing of beauty.
Video after the break
Be sure to hit the HD button and turn the speakers up.
See more Mustang at 2010Mustang.com
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