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Mustang ergonomics no different to Falcon

19 Nov 2018
"I said to the guys, 'if I didn't know what the car looked like on the outside, I wouldn't know that I'm driving a Mustang'"
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Mustang tests at Phillip Island

Scott McLaughlin and Fabian Coulthard say the first two-door in Supercars, Ford's incoming Mustang, feels no different inside to the Falcon sedan it is replacing.

The highly-anticipated Mustang broke earlier this month, with Shell V-Power Racing pair McLaughlin and Coulthard splitting two days of testing before its homologation.

  • DJRTP pair encouraged by early Mustang running

While still based on Supercars' control chassis, the Mustang marks a major departure from the four-door sedans that have monopolised the category.

Relative to the body's B-pillar, the standardised driver's seat position is further forward, while the coupe's roof is more rounded front-to-back than any of the existing models.

Late last year, Craig Lowndes noted the visibility from the rear of Holden's new ZB Commodore – the first hatch in Supercars – initially felt "completely different".

McLaughlin said he did not experience anything along those lines during his first two days in the car, despite the key external differences.

"For me, ergonomically, I said to the guys, 'if I didn't know what the car looked like on the outside, I wouldn't know that I'm driving a Mustang from the inside'," McLaughlin told Supercars.com.

"Really, for me, nothing has changed. Maybe a little bit with the rear view, the wing's a little bit different and whatever, but I wouldn't say it's a tonne.

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"From that standpoint, it's nice, because you sort of get in and it still feels like home sooner rather than later, which is good.

"I think we're running the same dash, the steering wheel's all the same.

"Everything inside the car and what we want to use is exactly the same. If anything, the mirrors are a little bit different."

The Mustang test mule is a converted Falcon, DJRTP 02 last raced by Coulthard in 2016, and will become a spare chassis next year.

It was shared by McLaughlin and Coulthard at Queensland Raceway on November 7 and then Phillip Island on the 10th.

Three days of straight-line tests were then held at Temora Airstrip last week, where DJRTP mechanic Aaron Seton took to the wheel.

When asked if he felt anything different from inside the car, Coulthard said: "Not really.

"I would say it feels pretty similar to what we currently have.

"Obviously it looks very different from the outside, but as a driver in the cabin, it doesn't look too much different from the inside looking out."

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