Ford would call its Mustang a finished product, yet to others, it is merely a blank canvas. America’s RTR – which stands for Ready to Rock – began modifying the brand’s muscle car in 2009, before expanding its portfolio to include the Bronco in more recent years.
RTR is the brainchild of professional drifter and off road racer Vaughn Gittin Jnr and the company has built an increasingly close relationship with the Blue Oval, culminating in select vehicles actually being built on the Ford production line. This is no mere aftermarket tuner.
Their Australian partner is Melbourne-based Mustang Motorsport, who extended an invite to come and sample a pair of Spec 3s, a supercharged duo that boast around 1200kW/1650Nm between them.
Before we get to the headline act under the bonnet, let’s deal with the basics. Starting with a Mustang GT in auto or manual, the Spec 3 uses Spec 2 styling and chassis upgrades. This includes new grilles, and RTR’s signature LED lighting.
Various splitters and spoilers at the front and rear are added, along with badging that proves the car is the real deal. Given the various adornments don’t actually require any alterations to the bodywork, it’s remarkable what a difference it makes to the looks of the car.
A ride height drop courtesy of the lowered springs helps the stance, as do staggered rims, with the 20 x 9.5-inch fronts wearing 275/35 tyres (the size you’ll usually find on the rear of a Mustang) while at the back there are 20 x 10.5s with 305/30s.
Adjustable anti-roll bars at both ends round out the standard chassis upgrades. From there buyers can choose from a pair of optional damper packages, the silver automatic car in these photos using the ‘Tactical’ adjustable shocks front and rear.
The black manual uses RTR’s coilover kit – both cost an extra $2500. Providing the firepower is a 3.0-litre Whipple supercharger developing 12psi of boost, along with new Bosch injectors, a dual-core intercooler and a 90mm twin-to-single intake throttle body.
The result is an increase in outputs from 345kW/550Nm to 595kW/833Nm. All in, the Spec 3 package costs $46,500 on top of the base vehicle, including GST and fitment, is ADR compliant and has a three-year or 60,000km driveline warranty.
What’s it like to drive? In a sense, quite uneventful, which is about the biggest compliment you can pay a modified car. Extracting huge power is one thing, but it’s the part-throttle calibration that you use 99 per cent of the time that trips up many aftermarket outfits.
The power is delivered smoothly and progressively, to the point that these mega-powerful, rear-wheel drive muscle cars could still be driven quite quickly and with confidence, even in the freezing temperatures and pouring rain of our first exposure.
Happily, a second drive in warm sunshine allowed them to show more of their ultimate potential. Make no mistake, these cars are absurdly rapid, the auto snatching gears as fast as you can count and the manual finally making sense of the standard GT’s absurdly long ratios.
With this amount of horsepower the gearing feels about right! Either way, acceleration is ferocious and the crisp soundtrack is an appropriate accompaniment.
What’s more, the cooling issues that plagued the previous iteration of this engine (the S550 facelift) are a distant memory.
I suspect the automatic will be more popular, but personally I’d choose the manual as the Getrag has a very nice shift and the longer gearing makes for a greater sense of control. You could, of course, add the modifications to a Tremec-equipped Dark Horse.
That though would be a wild ride with the short-ratio ’box. Despite the differing suspension setups – adjustable shocks versus coilovers – the two cars display similar traits. Impressive ones, at that.
RTR develops its suspension on the road as there’s a compliance often lacking in aftermarket setups that prioritise control over all else. Combined with the lowered ride height, the softer setup can result in the odd scrape between tyre and wheelarch when cornering hard.
It’s a worthwhile compromise for the ride quality. It feels very similar to a standard Mustang, which when you consider the car has been lowered and stiffened is no mean feat, and sacrificing the stance slightly would help the clearance issue.
The RTR setup also improves traction and while it’s no doubt possible to give a Mustang more outright grip and sharper responses, the Spec 3 is more predictable than the standard car when approaching or breaching the limits.
It doesn’t remove the intimidation factor of more than 800 horsepower, but it certainly reduces it. To some the idea of dropping an extra $50,000 on a car will seem like madness, as it lifts the on-road price of an RTR Spec 3 to around $150,000.
That said, it’s competitive with similarly priced rivals. A BMW M2 is certainly sharper and more capable, but the Spec 3 offers just as much attitude in a different way.
If you miss out on a new Mustang Dark Horse T8 or prefer straight-line grunt to track precision, the RTR is a worthwhile alternative.
The power figures might grab your initial attention, but it’s the lack of compromise over the standard car and polish of the overall package that makes the RTR Spec 3 one of the best modified Mustangs we’ve sampled.
You can find out more on Mustang Motorsport’s website. To get a low rate finance quote, talk to Australia’s best reviewed car finance broker; Credit One. To see a great range of vehicles for sale, check out OnlyCars.com.au.
Our test vehicle was provided by Mustang Motorsport for independent review purposes. Exhaust Notes Australia has not been paid to review this vehicle.
