Pantera

Alejandro De Tomaso hoped to emulate Ferrari and build road cars that would embody the spirit of his racing cars. His philosophy was to feature exotic styling on the outside, but use an off-the-shelf, easy to maintain/tune engine on the inside. In 1969, Ford had just been snubbed by Ferrari. So instead of Ferrari, Ford decided to buy another exotic Italian car maker, and De Tomaso was the willing partner. With a timeless wedge shaped exterior, the Pantera was fitted with Ford's most reliable engine, the 351 Cleveland V8. The engine was mid-mounted, but the car had a slight rear weight bias. Its low wide stance gives it good handling characteristics, and the big powerful V8 gives it good power coming out of corners. The factory Pantera features extensive aerodynamic improvements over the road car, and gives you a chance to win at any track. Drive it clean and tidy, getting the braking and shifting done before turn in. Getting the corner exit right is imperative, as it is the strength of this car. Note that the #86 car is a privateer entry, and does not feature the aerodynamics, weight reduction, or the horsepower of the factory car. Thus, it is much slower, and requires more sliding and drifting to get it to hustle through corners. - Jerry Chen