Bondurant School Mustang - History Of

Engines in the Bondurant Mustangs are basically stock. The few mods to the base GT single-overhead cam 4.6L modular motors include removing the catalytic converters, richening the air/fuel ratio, lowering the rev limiter from 7,200 rpm to 6,800 to reduce wear and tear from students who insist on driving on the limiter, and disabling the wide-open throttle cutout on the air-conditioning compressor. Yes, you can enjoy freezing cold air while you’re driving flat-out at the Bondurant school. And yes, they go through a lot of compressors!
Engines in the Bondurant Mustangs are basically stock. The few mods to the base GT single-

A Roush-built six-point rollcage (minus door bars) strengthens the chassis and provides rollover protection in the event of a rare mishap. There’s an onboard Halon fire system in each car as well as functional factory airbags. A Recaro seat and Simpson harness secure the driver, and window nets are used during hot-lap sessions. We felt like Mark Martin after we suited up and strapped in!
A Roush-built six-point rollcage (minus door bars) strengthens the chassis and provides ro
The Bondurant GTs roll on factory 17x8 GT wheels wrapped with P245/45ZR17 Goodyear Eagle rubber.
The Bondurant GTs roll on factory 17x8 GT wheels wrapped with P245/45ZR17 Goodyear Eagle r

The most radical deviation from stock hardware is found under the rearend, where the factory four-link suspension has been supplanted by a Roush-designed three-link suspension consisting of stock lower control arms, a tubular torque arm, and a Panhard rod to plant the rear tires and prevent wheel hop under acceleration. The aluminum housing cover is braced to prevent leaks and fitted with a drain plug to ease oil changes, and a breather overflow reservoir catches vaporized gear oil. The rear sway bar is stock.
The most radical deviation from stock hardware is found under the rearend, where the facto
Brake components are commodity goods at Bondurant, where a set of pads lasts for about two classes’ worth of student drivers, and rotors waiting to be turned stack up like cordwood.
Brake components are commodity goods at Bondurant, where a set of pads lasts for about two

Outside air ducted from the foglight openings in the front fascia cools the upgraded Cobra 13-inch rotors (arrow).
Outside air ducted from the foglight openings in the front fascia cools the upgraded Cobra
A competition-style Fuel Safe fuel cell with an internal rubber bladder is protected by a frame-mounted nerf bar. The stock fuel pump is retained, but fuel lines are replaced with braided stainless for durability.
A competition-style Fuel Safe fuel cell with an internal rubber bladder is protected by a

An external oil cooler fitted into the front air dam helps expel heat from the engine. Note the added bracing that bridges the core support to the engine crossmember.
An external oil cooler fitted into the front air dam helps expel heat from the engine. Not
To tame the sweltering desert heat, the Mustangs’ cooling systems are cleverly upgraded using off-the-shelf factory parts including a larger-capacity aluminum radiator from a Cobra R, a larger overflow (installed in the space left by the trunk-mounted battery), a clutch-driven mechanical fan to augment the Spahl electric puller fan, and a higher-capacity water pump from a V-10 Triton truck engine.
To tame the sweltering desert heat, the Mustangs’ cooling systems are cleverly upgrad

Hour meters in the trunk of each car keep track of scheduled maintenance intervals. The GTs get a full check-up after every 50 hours of track time.
Hour meters in the trunk of each car keep track of scheduled maintenance intervals. The GT
Up front, the stock sway bar is replaced with a narrower 1-inch bar from an automatic-equipped V-6 Mustang. Steel spacers and urethane bushings firm up the endlinks.
Up front, the stock sway bar is replaced with a narrower 1-inch bar from an automatic-equi

With the exception of lettering and sponsor decals, Bondurant’s GTs deviate little from the appearance of a stock ’01 Mustang GT. Their drivetrains remain essentially stock too, but each Bondurant car is extensively modified to improve durability, safety, and performance using a combination of off-the-shelf parts and custom- fabricated parts.
With the exception of lettering and sponsor decals, Bondurant’s GTs deviate little

So you think youre hard on a car? Imagine the abuse a car would get being flogged day in and day out at the hands of students in a high-performance driving school. Then imagine that that driving school was located in the stifling heat of Phoenix, Arizona, where summer temperatures regularly peg the thermometer above 100-degrees F. That should give you a glimpse into the hardships suffered by the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Drivings fleet of race-prepped Ford Mustang GTs.

The renowned school operates a fleet of about 50 94 and 95 Mustang GTs, powered by the last of the venerable pushrod 5.0L V-8s and was in the process of upgrading to 99 and 2000 GTs with 4.6L modular V-8s when we attended a three-day high-performance driving course last fall. The school also maintains a fleet of about 53 four-valve, 97-99 Cobras that are used by students in advanced road racing courses. All of these cars, which are provided by Ford Motor Company, are prepped by Roush Industries in Livonia, Michigan, before being delivered to the school. While other students took a long lunch, we hung out in the garage, where a team of 26 mechanics works seven days a week keeping the fleet in tip-top shape.

The first thing we noticed when we saw the fleet of orange Mustangs lined up in the paddock was their funky wheel alignment, with the tops of the tires tilted inward and slightly toed out. We thought this knock-kneed look went out when the era of skinny bias-play rubber ended, but we learned from our instructors that the wacky specs substantially improve the handling characteristics of the cars by keeping more of the tires contact patch on the ground when the suspension is compressed in a turn. Aligning your daily driver like this would eat through a set of front tires in short order on the street, but tire wear is kept to a minimum because the straightaways on the schools tracks are relatively short, so tire scrub isnt a big problem. Besides, we did more damage to our tires making brutal oversteer slides through corners than any alignment specs could ever cause!

The bulk of the rest of the modifications are aimed at ensuring the safety of the students in the case of an accident (a rare but dangerous possibility during wheel-to-wheel hot-lapping sessions) and enhancing durability in the face of the harsh climate and driving conditions. Considering that these cars spend almost every operating moment at wide-open throttle, the fact that we never saw a temp gauge move past the halfway point is a testimonial to the cooling systems, which are beefed up using off-the-shelf factory parts. Brakes are the other major issue at a driving school, and the Bondurant Mustangs are updated with current-issue Cobra binders. The only upgrades are the addition of cooling ducts in the front air dam and racing compound carbon-metallic Performance Friction pads. Still, brake life is short, with pad changes coming after every other three-day class and rotors being replaced about once a month.

Suiting up with a helmet and firesuit, and strapping into a car with a full cage, window nets, a fire system, and a racing seat is a manly experience, and we had a blast driving these virtual race cars up to the limits of our ability, which of course was nowhere near theirs. So what happens to these hardened warriors when the school is finished with them? We were dying to take one home with us, but to our dismay, the Bondurant staff told us that Ford mandates that each car be crushed at the end of its service life. Bummer.