Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Autocross and Open Track Thus ends the Contour's autocross career.

Well, I went to divisionals to see how I'd hold up. I drove well, and turned in some decent times. It was a lot of fun. But, I still lost, and lost hard. I pax'd 93 out of 150 overall, but I ran in the rain on Saturday, while most classes got dry runs. The Contour is 600lbs heavier than similarly powerful cars. I was racing against a Neon with an engine that Daddio had build for his DSP car, and it was just so much faster through the corners. Plus the driver trophied at Nats last year in the same car with an older setup. 4 seconds back from him on a 75 second course ain't bad, but it's still a LOT.

A built Contour might be able to get a little closer in STX with lots-o-power, more weight loss, 245s and LSD, but it's still way, way off the pace.

So, I'm off to E Stock next year. I want to learn new techniques for a different car, and get used to r-comps. It's been fun, but now I want the only excuse between me and first place to be my driving. It's not a 94R with high-dollar shocks, but it's a 1.8L LSD Miata that'll have big fat r-comps, a FSB, and Konis, and that's pretty dang close.

I will miss the looks on people's faces when I whooped them in the Contour, though. Some of my favorites:

(Elise driver at Divisonals)
"What are you driving?"
"The Contour."
"The really ***** fast one?!"
"Um, the only one, so I guess so..."

(from a G35 coupe driver watching me swap my race exhaust back off at a Glen event)
"You know, that isn't going to do *** for you."
"I think the weight reduction is worth any loss in power from the short pipe."
"It's still a Taurus, dude."
"It's a Contour, and it was two seconds faster then you."
"Oh."

(Divisionals practice)"Holy crap, that thing took off like a bat out of hell!"

(At the drag strip)"And in the left lane, a shockingly fast Ford Contour driven by Phil Maynard..."

(Glen region) "And second place in STS is Philip Maynard in a ... umm, lemme check this... huh. In a Ford Contour. Wow."

(CPR Region)"And first place STS... Well, this is the first time I've ever said this. First place goes to the 1995 Ford Contour driven by Philip Maynard." (Turns to local Civic driver, laughing:) "What happened, man?"

So I'll now finish up the season (I want to win PAX locally once, please please please) and do a track day, and then de-mod. I will miss one thing terribly, though: the Duratec. The power delivery is absolutely killer for autocross. Having that kind of torque at 3-4k means I spend less time bogging/shifting than the 4-banger cars, and makes botched corners less ciritcal. It's a bit heavy to be a competitve engine, but if I bet a focus with the 3.0L in SM would be a hoot, as well as very fast. Or a 3L locost...


I learned a lot about driving and picked up some good habits whipping a ton and a half through the cones. I still very highly reccomend taking your Contour out and flogging it! Even stock it handles really well and rewards good driving. Do it!

The goofy remarks are almost better than trophies. But, if you want to be divisionally/nationally competitive, you just about have to drive something else. Miatas are great (I've heard) because they are easy to be great in. Easy to drive. Great visibility. Small, nimble, light. Etc. MINIs, too.

I'm not as much of an oddity around here, as people are used to seeing an SVT whip up in STS. But I have been mistaken for a SHO before.

I used to race alot in STS in the KC region with my SVT

She served you well. LOL and indeed those remarks are classics.

Why not bring it out to Harrisburg for States for your last run. I'll be there but the 'Tour won't. I'll be in a SVO Mustang. Go to myautoevents.com to see if you can still get in.

My best comment was when I ran with the Porsche Club at Hershey. After beating a GT3, the owner came up and asked "How many of them can I buy for the price of mine?"

i hear a 95 tour' is crap as far as chassis goes compared to a SVT. there's nothing on the street that'll try to stay with me on some corners, i have a buddy with a del sol with alot of suspension mods but even in some of the roads we run around on, he just doesnt have enough power to stay there. put some focus RS wheels on, fatter tires (245-255s?), ST220 flares (to cover up those wide arse wheels!) and roll it, IMO~!

Never look back. Now that you've driven a huge honking pig, a Miata will be a delight. I took the 3L SVT out a couple of months ago, and I think that I threw up in my mouth a little bit after the first run, wishing that my Miata was there in its stead. You have chosen wisely; my only suggestion is that you do a couple of events on street tires so that you can get the feel of the car under your belt without relying on the poor techniques that race tires can give you right out of the box. If you can stand it, do Azenis for a whole season. You'll learn a LOT about what the car can and can't do.

Expect to be slower, figure out the low torque, low weight, wheels driven in the *right* place and relearn what momentum maintenence is. I fell into the trap of letting torque make up for momentum slowing and it absolutely killed me when I got into my Miata. But now, I have a third place medal in CSP from the Virginia Commonwealth autocross championship sitting on my wall. Suck it up for a year, trust me, you'll appreciate it.

Phil, gotta question for ya-
After seeing what the Contour can do (and what it can't do) are you glad you chose this car? or looking back do you wish you chose a Miata or soemthing like that to start with?

Went for a few rides in a miata about a month ago at my first autocross. I had some pretty respectable times, beat some higher power cars like mustangs but I must say, I enjoyed the miatas more than my own car!