Road and Driver

Putting a Track pack on the popular pony.

BY AARON ROBINSON

A Mustang with a Track pack? Corvettes and Vipers grab the glory for Old Glory at temples of speed such as Le Mans. The lumbering, log-axle Mustang is just a quarter-miler for the tattoo-and-tobacco crowd, right?

Actually,mes amis, the Mustang is America’s other road-racing workhorse. It has its own pro series, the eight-race Mustang Challenge. And there were more than a dozen Mustangs on the grid at Daytona this past January when a Roush-prepared Mustang finished second in the three-hour Koni Challenge race. It made all its rights and lefts better than Porsche 911s and BMW M3s. [Turnkey Mustang drag cars are featured in this month’s Sport, page 110].

No, we wouldn’t expect that hierarchy to hold on the street, even if the 2010 Track-pack Mustang GT is billed as the hairpin-and-carousel king of the newly reskinned Mustang lineup. Still, Ford’s old pony has a long history of making incremental improvements as it ages, and the Track package shows that the late-night lights still burn in some windows at Ford.

Building a Track-pack Mustang on the order form starts with a GT Premium and its 315-hp, 4.6-liter V-8 and five-speed manual, for $31,845. The $1495 Track package swaps out the 3.31 or 3.55 axle for a 3.73 limited-slip rear end with carbon friction plates. The shocks are less forgiving in both compression and rebound, the anti-roll bars are thicker, and dual-piston front brake calipers with performance pads from the 2009 Bullitt model do the stopping. Also, the stability-control system is retuned to tolerate more sideways play.

The world’s cheapest car aims to bring vehicle ownership to the masses.

BY RAY HUTTON

You need to be re-programmed to test the Tata Nano. Normal references do not apply. For the moment, disregard the Nano Europa that appeared at the recent Geneva auto show, as well as the possibility of a U.S. version. Instead, it is the simplest, most basic model that counts: available for as little as $2200, it’s the cheapest new car available anywhere in the world.

We must not forget that the Nano is first and foremost a car for India, a country of about one billion people where fewer than two percent own a car. It was instigated by Ratan Tata, the chairman of the Tata conglomerate, India’s biggest corporation, in a gesture that looks as much philanthropic as business savvy. Watching the way whole families travel on motorcycles—rider, pillion passenger, and two children hanging on—and noting the terrible toll in road deaths involving two-wheelers, Tata called for a safer four-wheeled vehicle that bike riders could afford.

Small Car, Big Ambitions

Everyone knows that small, cheap cars mean small profits, and for Tata the margin on the Nano at its entry price is, well, marginal. But look at the big picture and perhaps we can see the Ford Model T or the Volkswagen Beetle for the 21st century. Through the Nano, Tata of India hopes to become one of the biggest players on the global automotive stage.

The “people’s car” of today primarily has to be for first-time buyers with average incomes way below those of the industrialized Western countries. Ratan Tata’s brief for the Nano was that, apart from being cheap to buy, it must be a “proper” car capable of accommodating five people, exceed Indian safety and emissions requirements, and be economical to run. One look at the Indian market told the Tata engineers that the cost objectives could not be met by stripping out an existing conventional car. The cheapest car on the Indian market, the Maruti 800, is based on an age-old Suzuki minicar and costs twice as much as the Nano.

Keep Reading: 2009 Tata Nano - First Drive Review

New “baby Phantom” will get a 500-plus-hp turbo V-12 and an eight-speed transmission.

BY STEVE SILER

Rolls-Royce has let us in on a few more details about its upcoming RR4, the so-called “baby Phantom” previewed as the fetching 200EX concept at the 2009 Geneva auto show. While showing the car to potential customers in New York, Rolls-Royce CEO Tom Purves announced that the crisply styled RR4 (which won’t be its final name) will be powered by an all-new 6.6-liter V-12 with twin turbochargers and an output of more than 500 hp. A ZF eight-speed transmission will transfer the power to the wheels.

Keep Reading: More Details Released On 2010 Rolls-Royce RR4 - Official Info