IT’S THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

10th

RTR Ford Mustang Spitfire

“Just like the Supermarine Spitfire, it flies but takeoff is difficult.”
– Peter Palm

After a strong showing by the Mustang Bullitt in last year’s Shootout, a 500 kW/ 800 N.m supercharged widebody RTR version of America’s favourite muscle car had testers clamouring for the keys. Our technical adviser, Nicol – a man well versed in potent pony cars, having driven a bona fide GT500 in the US last year – immediately took it to Koos Swanepoel Developments to verify those lofty power claims. When a figure of 466 kW/807 N.m popped up on the dyno screen, it looked like we were in for one heck of a week.

Unfortunately, this was as good as it got for the Spitfire … the anticipation proved more enticing than the finished product. By adding such vast reserves of power without upgrading the vehicle’s cooling capacity, it regularly defaulted to limp mode and cut power to protect the engine. In its current configuration, it’s built for turning heads, not hot laps. It sounded great, drew attention wherever it went like the circus was in town and for the portion of the hot lap it managed to complete at Killarney, Deon Joubert said he saw great potential in the vehicle. We’ll have to get it back to complete