Sneak Peek: A Look Inside Brandon Davis' ACS Express Ford Mustang Cobra
By Mike Kojima
If you were at the Long Beach Grand Prix this last weekend, you would have seen Brandon Davis win the World Challenge Race in his GT class ACS Express Ford Mustang Cobra. Brandon, the 2009 WC GT Champion, drove a controlled race and careful drive to victory. We were lucky enough to be able to get a close look at the car during last year's Sonoma segment of the Redline Time Attack series and can now share some of the car's details with you. A lot about the car is secret but we gleaned a lot from looking closely at what we were allowed to see.
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| We know a little bit about the ACS Mustang's engine. It is a package homologated by the SCCA that is unique to the Mustang. In World Challenge Racing the SCCA will homologate requested modifications if it deems that it will make the car competitive with other cars in the class. For a car like a Mustang, the homologation is very generous with the SCCA allowing a lot more trickness than say a Porsche GT3 RS. |
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| We believe that the base engine of the ACS Mustang starts with a Ford Racing crate motor, part number M-6007-M54. This is a 5.4 liter modular architecture variant that powered the SVT Cobra R. It has the DOHC 4 valve Romeo heads paired with the Windsor bottom end. It comes with a supercharger. This is the same engine that powered Vaughn Gittin Jr.'s Team Falken drift car as well. The all aluminum engine uses plasma iron sprayed cylinder liners, like the Nissan GTR. |
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| Huffaker Engineering is contracted to turn the crate motor into WC homologated spec. Huffaker also builds the engines that ASD uses for the Team Falken Mustangs. Huffaker removes the supercharger and bores and strokes the engine to 6 liters. This custom intake manifold with a large plenum is used as the SCCA only homologated a single throttle body. The engine's exact specs are secret. The SCCA target power for the GT class is 425-525 hp so we suspect that the engine's level of tune is on the mild side. The SCCA mandates an inlet restrictor on this engine as well. |
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| The engine uses a ram air box feeding cold air from the front of the car to a large plenum containing the filter before directing it to the single throttle body. Gold kapton tape helps prevent heat transfer from the radiator air to the intake. |
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| The DOHC Modular motor is a large bulky 90 degree V8. It is a physically big and heavy engine weighing over 600 lbs. The twin cam head adds to the engine's height and bulk. An LS is svelte compared to the Ford. The engine is dry sumped so it can be mounted lower and moved back a bit for lower cg and better weight distribution. |
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| Dry sump belt driven pump on side of the engine. |
