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Years ago I had a factory five with 351W and 3-link rear. 415-420 engine HP, which I could live with, but the rear suspension left much to be desired, and braking was atrocious (easily locked the front). It had power steering which was too quick as well- easy to turn but twitchy as anything on the highway.
After I sold it, I missed having one- and found a used superformance with 38K miles.
After spending a lot of time sorting this one (mostly chasing little leaks, fixing things that bugged me), it's almost there- the RT suspension upgrades and better tires are a MUST. I'm down to one
oil leak- pretty sure it's still the
oil pan gasket, unless I got lucky and it was the fuel pump gasket.
The superformance is a well sorted car, the brakes work well, steering isn't twitchy/scary, but as I found out on a tight track, it's very tiring to fight the unpowered steering. On a road course you'll probably be fine.
Everything is manual and stiff- stiff clutch, shifter, wheel, good lap times will feel like a victory, you worked for it!
I still enjoy working on these cars more than any other car- I don't know why, they're just fun to wrench on.
Only car that could tempt me now is a Kirkham. Rodney's car was beautiful- body, sure, but the suspension bits and mechanicals are what draws my eye
Also, going from low 400s to mid 500s in HP (Roush 427R), mid 400s is probably optimal for the track. Even with sticky rubber. With the sticky Avon tires, I still can't floor it in the first 2 gears, it'll just spin. A hard 2-3 shift will spin.
-Dave