On a totally unrelated topic: I googled Larina Hintze since you specifically mentioned her in the blurb about the track.
The first thing that comes up is that she was arrested for perjury a while back regarding fraudulent statements regarding how they conducted transactions for a tutoring business. Managing a race track does seem like a natural progression from that....
Just read the article in the issue I recently got. Got some thoughts...
About the suspension- I'm going to give that one to the marketing people who know who they are selling to. Sometime during my career, they figured out that the Mustang has some irrational collectors. They spend a huge amount of money on even some simple cosmetic changes. So keeping a car that has so much but is still really comfortable on the street is just knowing who you are selling to. And the others who do go racing kind of thing that way, but can tailor their suspension to what they really want to do. So I'd give that a pass.
But the transmission, I do find real fault with Ford on that. Multiple times over the 30 years, I've drive cars that have had amazing transmissions- incredible clutch feel, quick shifters, or for an automatic- really crisp shifts and really well timed ones. On one, it was easy to get it into "hill mode" and it would shift incredibly correctly as you approached a corner aggressively. So the ability to make a great transmission whether manual or auto is there. Or at least was there. That's the risk of cutting people who have been there for a while and assuming that their replacements can do the same thing. But the reality is knowing how to set up an transmission so that it fits the corporate guidelines AND can be great, or you kind of brush off the guidelines to make it great (as the guidelines are to satisfy the 99% street driver). The people and managers who know when to push the guides or ignore them may have been part of the forced retirements or buyouts which is why you can't just cut people for the sake of cutting people.
It's possible that over the next model years, those people can re-emerge, but the time it takes to get that back really takes away from a great product.
In reply to confuZion3 :
Good luck. Let us know if it works.
Yes, I don't understand why Ford wouldn't have sent the track ready version of the Darkhorse? This would seem to risk degrading what other publications have raved about? 
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I'm assuming the tires are actually 255/275, but one of the captions for a photo says 235/275.
My Dark Horse with handling pack came with 305-30-19 up front on 10.5" wheels and 315-30-19 on 11" wheels out back. This avoids needing spacers up front. Tires are Pirelli Trofeo RS that have maybe 4-5mm of tread depth.
Everything works as it should for a track day car. It has a full suite of driveline coolers as delivered. This is the 4th track day Mustang I have owned since 2016 and, except for the considerable weight it's carrying, it is the best set up track day car of the lot.
I just wish they'd have put it on a diet. I will be removing everything I can, like the rear seats to try and get some of the lard out.
In reply to alfadriver :
I take it you never had to do battle with with the MT82. Any Tremec is better than an MT82. You need to spend 4K on an MT82 to get it to live in a track day car. I learned that the expensive way. The ratios are better in the MT82 at some tracks but that's not enough to make it a better choice. It will die and die often.
I would love to see a comparison with a last generation Camaro SS with the 1 LE package on it. From the review it seemed like less of a car for more money. I am also curious if Ford has finally added a PDR. Corvette, Cadillac, and Camaro all had one and it's a wonderful turn key tool especially with the Cosworth app. I find it shocking Ford hasn't tried to match for track focused editions.
Steve
PS - Still in mourning for trading in my 2019 Camaro SS 1 LE with the 6spd. It had over 70k trouble free miles but I was getting worried about what happens when all the bells and whistles start to break.
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