2007 Nitto Tire King of the Street - Battle For The Throne

'03 Mach 1
Eastpointe, MI
Horsepower: 3
Ride and Drive: 10
Engineering: 9
Drag Race: 10
Fit and Finish: 8
Popular Vote: 8
otal Score: 63.6

Corey McComsey is also one of the Nitto Tire KOTS competitors who put his Mustang's street cred to the test by driving his '03 Mach 1 from his Eastpointe, Michigan, hometown to Bowling Green, Kentucky. Once we took Corey's Mach for a ride, we can see why it was able to make the trip, but let's step back before we get too far.

Corey bought the Mach 1 new with plans to add a blower right away. He wanted an automatic because he felt that would be the easiest route to go in his quest for driveability and straight-line speed. "I wanted to go as fast as possible with the least amount of parts," Corey says. His first supercharger was a ProCharger P-1SC, and that addition got the Mach into the 11s. A step up to a D-1SC netted him 10s. As of the KOTS, the Mach boasts a ProCharger F-1A for a run at the 9-second zone. However, he knew a built engine was in order, so he summoned Livernois Motorsports for a 298ci modular engine using an iron block, a pair of its Stage 3 ported heads, Ford GT Supercar camshafts, and a stock intake.

All along, Corey wanted the car to retain its stock looks. So far he's remained true to that idea, save for the aftermarket wheels. However, they resemble factory Mach 1 wheels, so he gets a bye on that one. The product of such work took two years to complete, and the finished product speaks of the quality of work we've become accustomed from Livernois Motorsports.

Corey's Mach may have surpassed the driveability of Dale Hawkins' S197 GT from last year's event. The only difference between the two was Corey's ProCharger-equipped machine boasted an ever-present blower whine, which we didn't mind since it wasn't overpowering. Dale's car had a hint of rearend noise, but Corey's was whisper quiet. With this Mach, you could throw anyone the keys, and they would be able to drive the car--and fast. A simple turn of the key results in an easy start with no cold-start issues.

This is the cockpit of Corey... 

   

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This is the cockpit of Corey McComsey's '03 Mach 1. Not only did it place at the top of the Ride and Drive category, but Corey was also the quickest in the Drag Race category by running a 10.46 at 135 mph. When we saw the way the Mach performed on the track and on the street, we weren't surprised to find out that Livernois Motorsports primarily built the car. It's rare in the KOTS competition to have the same car place at the top of the Ride and Drive and the Drag Race categories--doing so was quite a feat.

Drop the stock shifter into Drive, and you're down the road. Under power, the transmission features set shift points, but when cruising, it's a normal automatic. Everything worked in Corey's Mach. It had cold A/C, while a stock stereo, gauges, and seats spelled minimal trouble navigating the surroundings. Corey's Mach was the quietest car next to Michael Kidd's Mystichrome Cobra, but it was also easier to drive. Want the windows down? Simply hit both buttons once, and both of them roll down in automatic mode, a la S197 Mustangs. That was the icing on this Mach 1's interior cake.

One thing we wouldn't be hungry for in Corey's Mach is speed and power; it has plenty of both. Leave the shifter in Drive, hammer down on the gas, and it gets going in a hurry. The Mach feels as though it's going to rip the rearend out of the car thanks to the prodigious power delivery, but it was never herky-jerky--that's a technical term. The tune was spot-on with no hiccups, hesitations, or anything. If every KOTS competitor's car was like Corey's Mach, we wouldn't sleep for a month when deciding a winner.

As such, here's how Corey's Mach fared when it came to final scoring. We thought it had plenty of power for our tastes, but in this competition, the more power the better. In the end, Corey's Mach made 648 corrected horsepower, which was in the lower tier among this competition. Unfortunately, that relegated his Mach to score of 3 in the heavily weighted Horsepower category. There were several cars in the 700hp range, so an extra 50 horsepower would've greatly helped his cause. He scored a perfect 10 in the Ride and Drive category, a 9 in Engineering, and an 8 in both the Fit and Finish and Popular Vote categories.

When it came to the Saturday morning Drag Race portion, Corey's Mach sat still in the designated KOTS area. Did he oversleep? Was he out too late the night before; too many adult beverages, maybe? OK--it was all of the above, but when everyone was about to make their second passes, we finally saw Corey's Mach in the staging lanes. Since he only had one pass, it had to be a good one, and boy was it ever. How about a KOTS 2007 best 10.46/135-mph blast on the Nittos to score a 10 in the category. Corey definitely knew his way down the track, and we were impressed by his time, especially under the pressure of only getting one run in.

Corey's Mach was one categorical finish short of possibly taking the crown, but he showed the best use of the horsepower on board with his quarter-mile time, and his Mach also featured the best driveability of the bunch. If there was one car we wouldn't mind driving everyday, Corey's Mach is certainly at the top of the list.