The Ford Mustang maybe the hero model now for the Australian market, but 20 years ago a local team built a halo version to contest the Australian GT-Production Car Championship.
Prancing Horse Racing was known for its importation and race support of Ferrari 360 Challenges in the Nations Cup, part of the then growing Procar Champ Series.
Procar’s foundation category was the Australian GT-Production Championship where the likes of Mitsubishi Lancer Evos took on rally rival Subaru in its Impreza WRX STI and HSV GTSs forming a true showroom showdown attracting more than 40 entries a round.
Ford Australia imported the fourth generation to sell in Australia during 2001, which provided the basis of PHR’s Mustang Cobra RA.
A very limited production of 20 Mustang Cobra RAs were planned in addition to two race versions to contest the Australian GT-Production Car Championship.
Using the 4.6-litre V8 used in the Mustang Cobra, the RA featured many different components most of which including the Harrop brakes were locally sourced.
Aimed to rival the HSV GTS, the Mustang RA also featured an extensive aero kit to match the likes of the four-wheel-drive rivals.
John Bowe was entrusted to debut the Mustang Cobra RA at Wakefield Park, a circuit not suited to the big V8s.
Bogging down at the start of each race, the new package performed admirably and at its next round at Queensland Raceway, the Mustang Cobra RA scored its first victory.
After this round, Procar began to penalise the Mustang Cobra RA by putting ballast and rising the ride height before it was moved into Nations Cup’s Group 2 for 2002.
It proved controversial due to its limited production compared to the other major players in GT-Production.
Competing in various iterations for the next five years, the racing Mustangs changed hands two years ago to an owner currently restoring the two chassis built by PHR.
Now, does anyone own a road going version?