I've had a lot of fun so far in my 2011 Mustang GT 5.0.  It's proven to be fun to drive, comfortable, attractive, and capable on the road course.  Up until now, I haven't taken it to the drag strip.  I simply haven't had the time for a track outing.  Plus, we're in Texas.  It's hotter than Lucifer's crotch in July down here, so I haven't been expecting stellar track times.

I decided last week, though, that in spite of the conditions and my workload, I needed to go.  So, Friday, the 16th, we installed the STEEDA rear sway bar relocation brackets, bolted on the 15x10 Race Stars with MT 26x10 ET drag slicks, and prepared to take the car to the track Saturday night.

Our closest track is Prairie Hill dragway.  Prairie Hill isn't the fanciest venue, but it's proven to have a good 1/4 mile track surface and functional timing equipment.

Conditions weren't the best for racing, to say the least.  We got to the track at about 9:30 pm.  It was 94 degrees when we got there, and 88 degrees when we made our last pass at about 12:30 am.  DA was a miserable +2900.

As soon as I got the car to the track, and got unloaded, I headed to the left lane, which was used for all my passes.  I did a generous burnout, and staged.  This was the first pass I'd made in the car, and, I'll have to admit, I was a bit nervous.  Nerves planted my right foot to the floor.  The 5.0 ramped up and hit the rev limiter (7300 now with the tuner!) before the last yellow lit and I dumped the clutch.  The car spun, but still made it to the 60' mark in 1.69 seconds.  Second gear came quick, and resulted in the car swimming around because of my wheel and tire combination.  The responsiveness of the 19" fronts caused the bias rear slicks to change direction with the only the slightest steering input.  Clean shifts into 3 and 4th at 7000rpm finished out the pass.  The resulting et was a 12.54 at 109.69.  Not bad, but I knew the car had a lot more in it with better hook and a cleaner pass.  When I came back to the pits, I checked tire pressure and it was 14psi hot.  I adjusted pressure down to 12 hot and waited a bit for the car to cool off.

After an hour or so wait, I headed to the line to try it again.  I had my wits about me on this pass, and left the line at a more reasonable 6000 rpm.  The car bit harder, and caught a 1.65 short time.  I still had to steer it down the track, but this pass was a much-improved 12.33 at 111 and some change.

For my third pass, I let the car cool even longer due to an accident and clean up on the track.  Air temp had come down a little because it was now around 12:30 in the morning.  I used the same technique of a generous burnout, 6000 rpm launch, and 7000 rpm shifts.  The car bit even harder this time.  My guess is the new slicks finally got broken in.  The car grunted out of the hole to a 1.59 60' time.  1/8 mile times came in a 7.77 @ 89.02, and the 1/4 finished out at 12.22 @ 111.55.

There you have it.  The hype about how well the new 5.0 runs?  It's not hype.  My car ran low 12's with nothing more than an SCT programmer and a pair of slicks.  Good air would have easily had this car in the 11's.  I'm anxious to get it back to the track with more mods, some skinnies, and better weather conditions.  Long live the 5.0!