British HSR competitor John Spiers admits he has a “love affair with Mustangs,” and an early example of Ford’s famous pony car in his stable of U.S.-based race cars is an accomplished 1967 Ford Mustang Coupe with a winning history.
“I first came over to Sebring and rented a Camaro and sort of felt, ‘yeah, I want to do more of this,'” Spiers said. “I wanted to have my own car, and I have a Mustang back home I race and have always had a love affair with Mustangs. It’s a coupe like my HSR car. When I first started in motorsport I did the London to Mexico Rally in a Mustang fastback. So, I’ve always had an attachment to Mustangs.”
Spiers purchased his car through Scotty Hackenson, who now works with Dennis Olthoff and Olthoff Racing, Spiers’ racing team in HSR. Hackenson built the coupe into a race car nearly 20 years ago when he was with Cobra Automotive.
“We bought the car in California in May of 2008, and it has since become one of the most winning cars in historic racing with about 150 podiums,” Hackenson said. “It was originally fitted with a six-cylinder engine as a street car, but it was in sort of pseudo-race car condition when we got it and suitable more for track days. We made a proper race car out of it, upgraded the 289 engine to produce over 500 horsepower and fitted it with a four-speed Jerico transmission.”
Spiers, who became a winning force in HSR soon after his arrival a few years ago, now has a Mustang on each side of the Atlantic.
“My car back home is a 1965 and over there we’re very strict on keeping them to the ’60s era regulations,” Spiers said. “So, my Mustang in the U.S. is very different and has more power, much more rubber and much better brakes. I love it in HSR, it’s a little different to the UK. One thing that is just fantastic is the event just keeps moving on all of the time. Back home we have a lot of downtime while they clear the track up. Here, they just get on with it during the race. Now, there’s no gravel here either, so that helps, but they pack a lot of track time in. That is really good and generally the driving standards are very good.”
Hackenson, who has twice stripped down and rebuilt the Mustang, feels fortunate to be able to work on a favorite car again.
“I like that it is back in the camp,” Hackenson said. “I get to look at it every day.”
Next up on the HSR schedule is the 48th HSR The Mitty presented by Hagerty, April 23 – 26, at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. For complete information on the 48th annual HSR The Mitty Presented by Hagerty race weekend, including the event schedule, entry lists and ticket information, visit: https://www.hsrrace.com/the-mitty/. Tickets can be purchased directly online through Michelin Raceway at: https://am.ticketmaster.com/ral/buy/Mitty2026.
