Stinger1982
Stinger1982 is the Stig
First and foremost I would like to thank Ralph Arning (Vehicle Program Manager) for giving a great tour, Dave Pericak (Mustang Chief Engineer) for one hell of a ride on the test track and introducing to me to my new car.
We were asked to come down to AAI to tour the plant after they tracked my Mom down for having the first public 2011 Mustang. Today was the day.
After watching a brief safety video we headed into the stamping area, while talking about the history of AAI they had pulled my car (which hadn’t shipped yet) outside of the stamping dept. We approach the door and Mr. Arning says "over here you'll find something you might recognize" and outside the door is my brand new 2011 5.0. At which point I am introduced to Mr. Pericak. He starts to go over some of the finer points of the car (which I was trying to listen to but I got kinda lost in the moment) and I want to apologize to him for the unexpected hug LOL.
At this point he asks if I would like to go for a ride on the test track. How do you say no to that?!?!?!?!?
As we get into the car they remind him that the speed limit is 25mph, to which he responds 25 eh?
any way he asks how he wants me to treat the car, to which I respond "your not going to anything I am not going to"
This car pulls to the redline with no fall off. The only thing that stops the pull is the rev limiter. Before I know it we are at speeds that are approaching double some highway limits. 40% banked corners on each end did not allow me to tell anything about the handling but the brakes work well (Brembos) when we got back to where we had left my family all four corners brakes were smoking
.
My car will be on a truck tomorrow to the dealer, after which it is on to Rehagen Racing for all the suspension mods and then Roush for the new fascia to be installed. (RTR wheels are being installed at the dealer).
After I had both Mr. Arning and Mr. Pericak sign my car (strut tower brace). we resumed the plant tower.
Following from stamping to final assembly. This facility is incredibly clean (nothing like so of the other FoMoCo plants I have been in). Seeing Mazda 6's and Mustangs go down the together is beyond weird.
anyway, enough rambling here are some pictures from today.
on the left is Ralph Arning (Vehicle Program Manager), myself, Dave Pericak (Mustang Chief Engineer)
We were asked to come down to AAI to tour the plant after they tracked my Mom down for having the first public 2011 Mustang. Today was the day.
After watching a brief safety video we headed into the stamping area, while talking about the history of AAI they had pulled my car (which hadn’t shipped yet) outside of the stamping dept. We approach the door and Mr. Arning says "over here you'll find something you might recognize" and outside the door is my brand new 2011 5.0. At which point I am introduced to Mr. Pericak. He starts to go over some of the finer points of the car (which I was trying to listen to but I got kinda lost in the moment) and I want to apologize to him for the unexpected hug LOL.
At this point he asks if I would like to go for a ride on the test track. How do you say no to that?!?!?!?!?
As we get into the car they remind him that the speed limit is 25mph, to which he responds 25 eh?
any way he asks how he wants me to treat the car, to which I respond "your not going to anything I am not going to"
This car pulls to the redline with no fall off. The only thing that stops the pull is the rev limiter. Before I know it we are at speeds that are approaching double some highway limits. 40% banked corners on each end did not allow me to tell anything about the handling but the brakes work well (Brembos) when we got back to where we had left my family all four corners brakes were smoking

My car will be on a truck tomorrow to the dealer, after which it is on to Rehagen Racing for all the suspension mods and then Roush for the new fascia to be installed. (RTR wheels are being installed at the dealer).
After I had both Mr. Arning and Mr. Pericak sign my car (strut tower brace). we resumed the plant tower.
Following from stamping to final assembly. This facility is incredibly clean (nothing like so of the other FoMoCo plants I have been in). Seeing Mazda 6's and Mustangs go down the together is beyond weird.
anyway, enough rambling here are some pictures from today.
on the left is Ralph Arning (Vehicle Program Manager), myself, Dave Pericak (Mustang Chief Engineer)
Last edited: