Classic American muscle

PH gets behind the wheel of some proper V8 muscle cars at Brands Hatch - and you can too!

By Cjhubbard / Thursday, 18 July 2013 / Loading comments

We’ve all heard of those supercar driving experiences – bung an events team some hard-earned, and get what is often an all-too brief encounter with the exotic rocketship of your dreams. Just mind you don’t get too close to the rev limiter, or try any funny business in the corners.

Speed defers to V8 thunder; PH is happy

So how’s this for an alternative: starting next month, new venture Classic American Muscle is running three-hour sessions focused on the 1965 Ford Mustang. If that hasn’t got your high-octane receptors twitching already, we fear you’d better check that pulse…

Feel the noise
Sat in the Brands Hatch pitlane, strapped into a stripped back but not quite bare-metal ’stang nicknamed Hercules, fear has actually got quite a bit to do with it.

This car is so loud, the CAM team has been forced to weld tips over the tailpipes to pass the drive-by noise limit; the helmets have an intercom system, otherwise I’d stand no chance of hearing the remarkably relaxed-looking instructor to my right. The whole car is shimmying with vibrations, and the cabin is gradually filling up with glorious hydrocarbons. I tentatively shuffle the gearlever around the four-speed manual ’box – there’s a heavy bend in the wand, and it moves a long way.

Want to rent one of these? Of course you do!

None of this in and of itself is a problem. Nor am I particularly worried about the Windsor 305 V8, which is making – they estimate – about 260hp in its current configuration. But the combination of this car and an open MSV track day is giving me pause; you’ve seen American iron being harried round corners by Minis in period racing, right? Now imagine that instead of Minis we’re talking Caterhams and Radicals. Exactly.

Anyway, at the instructor’s behest we nose away from the garage. The lengthy ratios means first needs plenty of right foot to avoid stalling the competition clutch, and immediately I’m grinning. The racket from the V8 is like the machine equivalent of a Pan Galactic GargleBlaster. Bloody marvellous.

First challenge: the cones at the end of the pitlane. The ’65 Mustang is hardly massive by American standards, but from the low-set racing bucket, the bonnet stretches far into the distance, and I can’t help noticing the way it bobs about. Yes, like a boat. Brain duly reconfigured, I thread my way through, and thunder up the exit to join the circuit proper. Fear? It’s adrenaline.

Driving? You call that driving? This is driving…
Brands is in Indy configuration, so there’s basically no getting away from the Radihams, but this does absolutely nothing to dilute the Mustang experience. And it is first and foremost an experience. The sudden, immersive, dislocation from modern motoring is precisely what Classic American Muscle is all about.

Mustang is a physical driving experience

This Mustang has been specifically built for the job, but is by no means a racecar. There’s no cage, the brakes require a firm but modulated shove and it takes some effort to haul it into the corners. Fail to get the engine speed right, and it will lock the rear wheels on downshifts, too, as I discovered on the way into Paddock Hill Bend on more than one occasion; heel and toe is possible, but you may require a double-jointed hip. Oh, and it’s on mud and snow tyres, in an effort to keep speeds sensible by quickly letting the punters know the back end will move around. Which is pretty authentic, come to think of it.

Yet for all that, it feels quite sweetly balanced. Driving it is a physical activity, for sure, but given only a little time to acclimatise you can sense it wanting to work with you rather than against you. I far preferred it to the SN95 Mustang also on hand, which flatters to deceive with its power steering, and is much less transparent in its intentions.

Shifting up at flat chat along the main straight in the ’65, I defy anyone not to imagine they’re re-enacting a scene from Bullitt. Oh the noise!

Frustrated Radical driver just out of shot...

How much, and when?

Which, again, is exactly the point.

Better yet, if you’re an actual punter you’ll have the entire circuit to yourself, as CAM has exclusive use at every one of its public events. The first is on August 7 at Brands Hatch. For £249 you’ll get approximately 16 laps with an ARDS instructor in the passenger seat, so you can even brush up on your technique. Sounds like great value to us.

What’s more, the first 150 people to register on the Classic American Muscle website before the end of the July will get a free hot passenger lap, no purchase required.

Still want to drive that supercar?