Sorry, I didn't see Jesus Christ post anywhere in this thread Anyway, I try to ignore Al as much as possible, one reason why I haven't responded much to him lately. He's just ignorant, biased beyond reason and likes to make stupid posts to make people mad. The only people that will agree with him are ones that are pretty much the same, even if they don't show it as much.

Now, back to topic. I'd like to see GM do something like SVT, but I don't think it'll happen for awhile (long while). Ford and GM just don't think a like in this arena. Dodge however, has seen the light and is following Ford down the trail of historic cars that will create legends (and myths). They are creating a fan base that will drive sales of all their products. Sponsoring events that will attract people and make them loyal regardless if their car is the best performing or not. Yes, there will even be people like Al in that group, but we can look past them.

 

Al's entitled to an opinion and so are you. I'd rather see a well constructed arguement instead of a few guys jumping down one gearhead's back. Come strong with facts without all the fluff and bad blood, fellas. At the end of the day, he's on our side.

 

Gotta throw my $.o2 in here.

I am a GM guy and hopefully will be if GM can build something with excitement that doesn't cost an absolute fortune... I don't really like the Fords all that much but honestly, I like what they are doing with their cars.

They are seeing the want/need for the performance cars, both RWD and FWD and its showing in the SVT products...

I do think they need a strong lesson on interior design (less the new F150's) but overall, they are at least producing some of the cars they promise.

 

I agree. Let's find the "well constructed arguements" and "facts without all the fluff" in the following quotes:

Constructive facts with no fluff. All from this thread.

Humble apologies for contributing to the ruining of this thread.

 

Please, whenever someone bad mouths anything from Ford on this site, there is a royal beat down on anyone who speaks up. God forbid they have an opinion. But when Its Anti-GM, its a band wagon of fun.
I said my piece with out any attacts on anyone personaly. I stated my opinion, which in the United States, I am allowed to have. Having the head of the performance divison get out from behind his desk and drive a race-preped car that is 75% of what he worked on and built for production shows dedication that no one at Ford has shown. That is dedication to me. Not paying a few thousand to some guy at a race track.
Having performance engineers actualy RACE in a car they built was praised at one time, now its over-looked and who gives. GMPD has just started, so its name isnt as big as SVT, but the dedication of GM not only to put these cars in racing, but to have the head engineer drive one of them, that shows that GMPD is a bit more dedicated then SVT is.
If you want to keep your Ford-Biased opinion on this site, I get to keep my Anti-Ford opinions.

 

Let's take the fight to the playground, shall we kiddies?

 

Of course you are entitled to an opinion Al, but when you say that you wish SVT was gone, you must have some logical reason for saying that.

If you don't have a reason.....and you say that because you simply don't like Ford, that's ok too.

But know this, get rid of SVT, Ford, Mustang, DCX LX cars....and pretty much all other competition.......and you'll be driving a 68 hp, $40,000, Aveo SS.

 

LOL. You are, of course, quite correct. Perhaps we can take this to a more appropriate Forum, such as the Lounge? That way I won't have to resist the urge to tear into his response line by line. Such fun.

Sorry - I'll drop it here.

 

Just tell me what car GMPD and it's racing leader have produced for me to buy at the dealership?

 

CTSv. I asked the same question a little while back and the response I got was that although GM does not put GMPD on the car or in its' title, they have their hands in the development in the hi-po version of cars. Id assume they were behind the Redline cars of Saturn and also the upcomming Cobalt SS S/C.

 

I am shocked with how little knowledge AL has about SVT. The "WHOLE" engineering staff drove the prototype Ford GT's. They do this with ALL of SVT's test bed's. Cobra,Lightning and Focus.
I would'nt call this forum "Ford Biased" (I am a TRUE Ford man myself! ) the people who post here are "CAR guys" which give respect where respect is due.... I for one love the C6 now, But hated it when I first saw it.

Now I could say the Corvette is the worst car EVER built because you can't carry more then 2 people, But that would be "biased"-But of the "anti-Chevy" variety.

 

AMEN to that. Having been at the receiving end of a few such beatings, I can attest to it

Last time I checked, members here were allowed to express their opinions and provide as much or as little justification as they want to. I don't feel the entire or majority membership is biased towards Ford... but there are definitely a few highly vocal Ford fans posting here who, while within their rights, seem to be on a mission to dispute and suppress anyone posting criticism of Ford and its products. There are also many others who IMHO are preoccupied with what I'll call 'auto enthusiast political correctness', a philosophy that all performance cars are supposed to be uniformly praised whether one likes them or not. I'm not surprised therefore, to see this kind of reaction when someone gripes about Ford...

 

You SHOULD be able to tell such things...

Congrats on winning Factory Stock at Bradenton this year!
The 99 Cobra looks great!
Best of luck for a strong run this year.

I don't think there's a chance that Mopar or GM will ever have a single car that can spawn it's own racing league the way the NMRA has developed. But I sure think that the factory-sponsored events are the right way to get into the fray.

I was just looking at the Ford Racing catalog tonight for a crate engine to go in a '92 GT I recently scored (for $450 no less), and I was taken aback by the amount of support in the back of the catalog for everything from Whipple superchargers to APC Euro taillights - in the FRPP catalog!!!
My initial thought was, "Why do they put all this stuff in a catalog that FoMoCo prints and sell over the counter for $5?". But then I realized why... Cha-ching - another Mustang sold somewhere.

Times are changing in our automotive world, aren't they guys?

 

I'm not gonna bend this all up, but I want to QUICKLY throw out a few facts...

Coletti does not actively race in any series for points or championships that I am aware of. BUT HE DID.
He actually has quite the racing past - heavy in drag racing but fluent in road courses as well. I'm not searching/linking - if anyone here cares, ask Jeeves.

He concentrates on corporate politics and development nowadays, and is doing apretty d@mn good job if you ask me. He does show up at FFW events and Mustang shows from time to time, and yes, he can do a helluva one-handed burnout (drifting I guess was more like it) while grinning and whooping it up.

As for SVT feilding a race team - no they don't directly feild a team. they DO however have their stuff in just about every Ford out there from SCCA to Trans AM to NHRA. What SVT markets are RACE PARTS - the same ones in the race cars are the ones you can get at the local Ford dealer and KNOW they will fit your car and work right.

Lastly, many of the peices in FRPP catalogs and used on SVT Cobras and Lightnings are actually developed by race teams we all know well, including Jack Roush, Robert Yates, Dario Orlando, and others.
Yates racing heads for the 5.0 are Ford FRPP # M-6049-C35 $1195/set
Holman-Moody dual plane intake is Ford FRPP # C4HM-9425-SA $649
Steeda Q400R high perf heads are Ford FRPP # 6049-D46 $895/set
All of these parts are on race-winning cars. Popular cars.

So NO, SVT doesn't feild a race team - but they develop and distribute parts and cars to consumers. Personally, I'm glad they don't dump $-millions of their scarce budget into commercializing what they already have - I'd much rather they put the corporate dollars into developing better rides for me at great prices, and let the commercialization of race sponsorship go to the laundry detergent, oil, gas, and beer companies.

No flames, no foul, no harm to anyone...
Just gimme the parts and fast cars!

 

Actually, if you all would think about this, it is the cheapest form of R&D a single company could do for their cars and products!!! what better way to see how your design works in real world environments, uncontrolled circumstances, different drivers, different style and ages, etc etc.. and see what happens. You also get all of your mkt research done in one spot. You see what people like and dislike in their cars, you can observe patterns and car behaviors on the race track, etc and in the end build a better and superior product.

SVT is first rate in their R&D sector, if something breaks, you bet they damn well want to know why and how. Sometimes if the issue is strange enough, they literally send the engineer(s) out to the shop that has the car to figure things out, do a report, and plan of action for future cars. SVT builds race cars, they set up races, they cannot void your whole warranty for racing, especially races they sanctioned. If parts break, they rip it apart, research it, determine if something was defective, and replace. SVT knows what defective and whats abused.

Just food for thought is all this is