Mustang Week Put Pony Car Power To The Pavement At Charlotte Motor Speedway

After three days of meets, karting, and games, Mustang Week presented by Monster Energy and Roush Performance finally put its performance cars on the racetrack. Thursday’s Mustang Week Track Day, presented by Shelby American, brought the action to Charlotte Motor Speedway from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Wheelhouse Racing School operating the event and Mustang owners taking to the ROVAL for HPDE sessions, track experiences, parade laps, and ride-alongs.

The HPDE sessions were the heart of the day, with novice, intermediate, and advanced groups putting their own Mustangs on the road course. The ROVAL demands considerably more from a car and driver than a straight-line blast. Braking, turn-in, line selection, throttle control, and consistency all matter, while tires, brakes, and cooling get a much harder workout than they do on the street.

For experienced drivers, the track offered room to push harder. For newcomers, it provided a controlled environment to learn the fundamentals without dealing with public-road traffic. Either way, the ROVAL gave Mustang owners a legal, high-speed workout.

Those who weren’t ready to drive their own cars had options, too. The Track Experience included parade laps on both the Charlotte Motor Speedway superspeedway and the ROVAL, while professional ride-alongs in Dark Horse Mustangs gave passengers a taste of what the circuit could deliver at a much quicker pace.

With the track action complete, Mustang Week Charlotte heads into its busiest stretch today at zMAX Dragway. The Mustang Week All-Ford Meet-Up, presented by Roush Performance, runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and brings more than 500 Fords and more than 50 vendors together with roll racing, drag racing, True Street competition, drifting, autocross, the Dyno Challenge, and Cobra Sam’s street burnout competition.

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Coffee & Camshafts

Thursday morning kicked off with another unofficial gathering as Coffee & Camshafts rolled into the Carolina Ale House during Mustang Week. Presented by MAZ Muscle, the event ran from 8 to 11 a.m. with hundreds of Mustangs, breakfast, coffee, a DJ, aftermarket vendors, and more than $20,000 in performance parts, products, and experiences up for grabs.

Hundreds of cars filled the lot as attendees moved between the show field, vendors, food, and the giveaway action. The giveaways were a major draw, but the event also featured the reveal of the MAZ Muscle widebody S650 before the raffles began.

Coffee & Camshafts also supported Make-A-Wish Central & Western NC, adding a charitable component to the gathering. When Coffee & Camshafts wrapped, we headed to the Mustang Week Track Day at Charlotte Motor Speedway.