Fast Fords Blast Down The Half-Mile In Georgia

Since the second automobile was created way back when, man has been trying to find away to test those automobiles against against each other and the clock. From the beaches and salt flats to road courses and drag strips, they have all seen races. Now, there is a hot and growing trend in man’s test of machine — the half-mile airport runway. The leader of this new trend is Wanna Go Fast.

WGF is the group that organizes many of these half-mile speed trials on various private airports across the country. Its first event was held in 2012 in Florida. The company held three events that year, all in Florida. The fastest time of the inaugural year was 190.9 miles per hour.

In 2013 WGF held four events in Florida, Georgia, and Illinois. Five events by 2015. Six in 2016. For 2017, there are nine events planned over six different states and the current half-mile record is 238.6 mph. Time certainly does fly.

We were on hand in Clayton, Georgia, at the breathtaking Heaven’s Landing airpark for Wanna Go Fast’s second event of the 2017 season. The facility’s 5,069-foot concrete runway tucked away in the mountains of North Georgia is the perfect location to push machines to the limit on the half mile. While the event draws plenty of exotics and cars from Chevy and Mopar, we were there to watch our beloved Ford’s scream down the track at wide open throttle, and scream they did

One of our favorite cars from the event was the nasty black Coyote powered Mustang. We saw the car in line early Saturday morning and it kept making passes down the half mile throughout the day. The owner told us the car made a little over 850 horsepower at the tire on boost, and over 900 once the Nitrous Outlet kit was engaged. That’s all on E85 of course, he says its capable of over 1,000 horsepower on race gas, but it’s his daily driver so he tries to keep it on E85 as much as possible.

With traction being a key element to launching these high-horsepower monsters on what is basically a no-prep track, we watched a Shelby owner traded in his factory rear wheel and tire combo for a set of Welds and some drag radials. The added traction seemed to help as ran 165.68 all while leaving a Chevrolet Corvette in his mirror.

With match-ups being somewhat random, you never know what you are going to get. Technically, it’s not a “race” against the other car, just a race to set the fastest time. It’s still cool to watch the pairings though. One particular matchup pitted two Mustang icons against one another — Terminator vs. Coyote.

Like most forms of racing, participants in Wanna Go Fast take this seriously. Aerodynamics play a huge role. The owner of the black Cobra convertible had all the cracks that air might get into taped over to give him the extra edge. We are told “tape mods” like this can help a car pick up several miles per hour on the top end!

With seven more events planned in 2017 in North Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Indiana, Florida and Texas, there are plenty of chances for you to get out an experience this new style of racing! Visit the official site here for all the details!