Sometimes people get the idea that all Mustang convertibles are just driven by cruisers or posers, or people who want to just feel the wind in their hair as they roll along gently listening to their rumbling V8s.
We know at Steeda that "Speed Matters" to the vert crowd just as much as those with a tin top! In fact our first European customer with a competition Mustang was a vert, the "Black Sun Racing" S197 vert of Alex Peters... and we took him to his local championship win!
So when Silviu in Romania got in touch we helped him along the road he wanted to go down, to bring that Whipple touch and the increase in power and smiles that come with it. Unlike Alex, Silviu was more about that straight line 1320 lifestyle, living life 10 seconds at a time..... so his focus was the Christmas tree.... Or to those who have no idea what I'm talking about, drag racing....
Luckily Steeda know how to go fast straight, just as well as we know how to go fast round corners, so we set about helping Silviu achieve his goals..
His starting point was his 2023 A10 Convertible, equipped with MagneRide, and Silviu's chosen arena was the Romanian Drag Championship:
https://www.rodrag.ro/ based at the Arad International Airfield.
He set out for his first taster in April 2024, still all stock to see what he can do and to get a feel for the base car, and he achieved a respectable 13.4 ET with a 111 Mph terminal speed. Now he had a baseline next came the mods!
We brought in a Whipple stage 1 3.0 litre twin screw supercharger with the HD cooling upgrade as well as our always recommended 10 rib belt, which is extra important for drag racing.. If the belt is slipping you aren't making power!
To help the air flow and the car evacuate that hot boosted air, Silviu had a custom exhaust setup made.
To protect the engine from repeated full power launches, Silviu chose to upgrade with the MMR Crank Sprocket and Oil Pump Gears upgrades to replace the powered metal stock parts with billet items giving much more strength and peace of mind. He also added an oil breather and oil cooler for further protection.
To enhance both reliability and rotating drivetrain efficiency he fitted an aluminium one piece driveshaft, to lower rotating mass and help deal with any stresses on the drivetrain caused by those drag launches at the lights. He also added the Ford Performance "High Power" half shafts which are rated to 1500hp and are the fix for one of the major weak spots on the S550 drivetrain when dealing with drag launches. As soon as those tyres start to hook up and dig in, and you have sufficient power, then watch out for those half shafts! That's no longer an issue with the super beefy Ford Performance shafts.
Of course power without a handling upgrade to help put it down is pointless, so Silviu fitted our legendary Steeda Dual Rate MagneRide springs, plus our equally famous Steeda Stop The Hop Ultimate IRS kit, as used by drag racers all round the world and in our own World Record breaking Silver Bullet 1 and 2! (Silver Bullet 1 pictured below)
Now he was ready for 2025! Silviu's only plan before a lot more time on track is to get a set of slicks to replace his stock tyres.... we can't wait to see what happens next!
Silviu told us that so far his favourite change was the Whipple and custom exhaust combo. He loves the unleashed sound and the feeling of power under his right foot now!
If you have hit the drag strip, post up your time on our EU Drag Board:
You can also check in to see what times Silviu gets in 2025!
People often think Motorsports is super expensive, or very hard to get into, but if you look at Silviu above or a previous feature car,
هجوم الوقت كريستوفورس 2017 جي تي then you will see that both Silviu and Hristofor started with totally stock cars and hit the track straight away. You don't need to invest hugely in your car to start having fun, just get out there and give it a go! We are here to help you get better and better, whether you choose to go straight OR round corners. We know...Speed Matters!
هل تعتقد أن سيارتك السريعة من Ford Steeda تستحق بعض التقدير وميزة سيارة مميزة خاصة بها؟ حسنا اتصل بنا وإذا اتفقنا ، يمكننا تحقيق ذلك!