Ford Mustang FR500S History

Like all great racing cars, the FR500S grew out of a brainstorming session among enthusiasts. Larry H. Miller opened the world-class Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, in 2006, and with it a high-performance driving school. A fleet of 30 Mustang GTs was assembled for use in the school. Eventually, the question was asked, “I wonder what would happen if we turned one of these Mustangs into a real race car?”

What happened was a Mustang that was 330 lb lighter, with better safety (full roll cage and Sparco safety system), better brakes (from the Grand-Am Continental Sports Car Challenge Mustang FR500C), more power (Ford Racing cold-air intake, Ford Racing/Borla headers and x-pipe), slick tires (BFGoodrich g-Force R1s), an AIM MXL data acquisition system and a seven-seconds-per-lap-faster lap time around Miller Motorsports Park.

Thirteen of these “Mustang Challenge” cars were built and pressed into service as a second-tier school car for the Ford Racing High Performance Driving School, and a Mustang Challenge class was added to the locally-based Miller Park Racing Association. When executives from Ford Motor Company saw what the team at MMP had created, they were impressed. So impressed, in fact, that they proposed a spec racing series based on this “Mustang Challenge” car.

As a result, the Mustang assembly line at AAI in Flat Rock, Michigan, was shut down to build a special run of 77 Mustangs wearing a new badge, the FR500S. It was the first time in the history of Ford Motor Company that a racing car was built on a production line. The cars were shipped from AAI to Watson Engineering in Taylor, Michigan, to have a full roll cage installed, and then on to MMP for final prep (racing seat, data acquisition system, removable steering wheel, adjustable rear shocks, special grille, window net, wing, Plexiglas rear window and graphics).

The Grand-American Road Racing Association agreed to sanction a nationwide professional series, the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge, and a new Mustang legend was born.