Latest news with #FactoryFiveRacing
Car and Driver
26-07-2025
- Automotive
- Car and Driver
New Factory Five XTF Stage 1 Is a Less Complicated Desert Racer
Factory Five Racing now offers a simpler Stage 1 version of its XTF truck kit for the 2015–2020 Ford F-150. By retaining the original frame, the $9990 Stage 1 kit cuts build time and keeps the stock full-sized bed. Carbon body panels are a $6999 option, but that price might double once in-stock supplies run out and tariffs affect future orders. If the Factory Five Racing XTF truck caught your eye but seemed like a little much—both financially and mechanically—there's now a new, simplified version called the XTF Stage 1. It keeps the original version's massively flared desert-racer bodywork but eschews the full frame replacement in favor of a more traditional bolt-on suspension swap. The result looks much the same but costs $9990 instead of $24,990. And, perhaps more important for the not so mechanically inclined, the new kit should require 50 to 60 hours of installation labor (not including paint) versus the original's 200-plus hours. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver The carbon body is currently a $6999 option. Like the full-strength XTF, the Stage 1 is 90 inches wide and accommodates 37-inch-tall tires. It's also designed for 2015–2020 Ford F-150s with either the 5.0-liter V-8 or the turbocharged 3.5-liter V-6. But you won't need to pull the cab off and ditch the frame, instead bolting on new upper and lower control arms and Fox dampers up front, and fitting new long-travel progressive-rate leaf springs and Fox dampers at the rear. Ezra Dyer< | Car and Driver Since it retains the original frame, the Stage 1 also keeps a full-size bed. The Stage 1 front suspension delivers 14 inches of travel, only two inches less than that of the version with the custom frame. The rear isn't going to touch the 20 inches of travel offered by the XTF custom four-link design, but the leaf-spring rear end is the better ticket for towing, if that's part of your truckin' habits. The Stage 1 also retains a full-depth pickup bed, unlike its forebear. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver The flared fenders and upgraded suspension make room for 37-inch-tall tires. The kit comes with everything you need, including longer front brake hoses, heavy-duty ball joints, longer front CV axles, and a new fuel fill tube. But carbon-fiber aficionados—and aren't we all?—can specify carbon body panels for an additional $6999. However, that price will remain in effect only as long as the company has panels in stock, which it estimates will be the case roughly until the end of the year. After that, the price could double thanks to tariffs. (While the fiberglass panels are made in Massachusetts, the carbon ones are sourced from China, which has become a go-to for carbon-fiber expertise.) The price of the kit itself is also slated to rise to $12,490, probably toward the end of the year or beginning of 2026. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver The kit's A-arms and Fox dampers deliver 14 inches of front suspension travel. We had a great time with the original XTF on Silver Lake Dunes and at the Team O'Neil Rally School, but the Stage 1 offers the same look and much of the capability for less than half the price. So if pulling the cab off a truck is not exactly part of your mechanical skill set and you don't regularly see two feet of daylight under your tires, maybe the Stage 1 is all the XTF you need. Ezra Dyer | Car and Driver Ezra Dyer Senior Editor Ezra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He's now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive.
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Factory Five Begins Production of the Mk5
Factory Five Racing is rolling out a new version of its Cobra replica called the Mk5 Roadster. The Mk5 has room for larger drivers and an optional removable hardtop that includes the windshield. Prices start at $24,990 and the car is in production now—assembly not included. In an alternate reality, the original Shelby Cobra never died. It stayed in production and, over the decades, was refined and perfected while retaining its essential animalistic character. While we'd argue that Massachusetts doesn't exist in a parallel universe—not entirely—that timeline with more and better Cobras did take shape there, at Factory Five Racing in Wareham. Factory Five got started building Cobra replica kits in 1995, and now 30 years later they're rolling out the fifth generation of their kit, dubbed the Mk5 Roadster. It's still got two seats, a V-8 and DIY instructions, but the Mk5 is a long way from both the car that inspired it and its own immediate predecessor, the Mk4. In its biggest departure from tradition, the Mk5 uses a rectangular spaceframe instead of a round tube frame. The new frame weighs 55 pounds more than the Mk4 frame, but Factory Five says it delivers a 400 percent increase in rigidity. It's also designed with a more capacious cockpit, accommodating a driver who is 6'5", 330 pounds, and wears size 14 shoes. NFL offensive tackles who are handy with a wrench, step right up. The roll bar is two inches shorter than before and canted three degrees rearward, but because the floor is 2.5 inches lower, there's actually a half-inch more coverage relative to the driver. (A passenger's-side roll bar is optional.) The shorter roll bar enables the Mk5's most striking visual change: a one-piece removable carbon fiber hard top. Unlike hard tops that are designed to fit over a tall roll bar, this one doesn't have the profile of a freshly bought trucker cap. In fact, it doesn't even look like a convertible top, since it includes its own windshield. Yes, you'll need to remove the standard windshield to fit the hardtop, but that kind of project probably won't daunt a customer who built the whole car. The Mk5's composite body is delivered with a blue gel coat that doesn't look half bad on its own, with the goal of lowering prices for subsequent paint and bodywork. Factory Five says that one reason the Mk5 costs more than the Mk4 is that its body molds will be discarded more than twice as frequently, to keep panel gaps tight and minimize paint prep time. On the handling front, the lower front control arms are now forged aluminum, and at the rear both upper and lower control arms are forged aluminum. The frame has two sets of mounting holes, to adjust ride height between street and track setups. Between those front control arms, you can fit the usual assortment of Ford V-8s (or, heresy, a GM LS engine) along with a new option: Ford's 7.3-liter Godzilla crate engine. Derived from the heavy-duty truck powerplants, that monster has an iron block and will doubtlessly impact the car's 2250-pound baseline weight, but it'll fit for those looking for the 427 Cobra brand of overkill. Factory Five president Dave Smith acknowledges that it doesn't really make sense to develop an all-new car, but he wanted to keep the company's signature product moving forward, so that's what happened. Factory Five will keep building the less expensive Mk4 ($20,990) for traditionalists and more budget-conscious thrill seekers, but the Mk5 is the new flagship in a class of one. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
