Misha Charoudin & Vulcan Alpha / Nankang Tyres Steeda Q767R Dark Horse Project Car

We have been privileged to tour the Nürburgring with the original "Wizard of Nur"; Misha Charoudin, a few times as he tried out first our Q767 Mach 1 and then our launch editions of the new 2024 Q767 Dark Horse. So we were really excited when he and his company Vulcan Alpha decided to choose a Ford Dark Horse as the base car of their new joint project car with Nankang Tyre. The base car was a "Carbon grey" manual with standard bucket seats as proper race seats would be going in later so no need for Recaros option.

Misha collected his Dark Horse from Ford to get some performance baselines and as you know the Dark Horse already arrives with serious intent straight from the factory. As Ford’s most track-capable S650 out of the box, it gives us a solid foundation: the Gen-4 Coyote, Tremec 6-speed, huge 2 piece brakes, and MagneRide adaptive damping, as well as enhanced cooling and aero.. It's a car that wants to be pushed.

So that’s exactly what Misha and VA did. They started at both Zandvoort and the Nürburgring to establish a proper baseline. Tyre pressures, alignment options, and data logging.  The only mods made at this stage was a change from the stock Pirelli tyres to the new Nankang semi slick tyre CR-S in a slightly wider than OEM setup, from 255/40/19 front and 275/40/19 rear to 265-35-19 and 285-35-19. The only other "mod" was a full install of a Racelogic V-Box sensor suite to track all the data accurately.

LAP TIMES SO FAR:
1. Stock Pirellis lap at Zandvoort: 2.02.92
2. Nankang CR-S lap: 1.55.98 (!)
3. Steeda Q767R lap: 1.53.79  (Super hot day, overheating and fuel starvation due to high Gs)

First video showing the tyre swap base and V-Box info.

The tyres made a huge leap forward but it was shown that the lack of possibility for negative camber was killing both performance and the tyres. It's why the addition of Steeda camber plates is a money saving move. Give yourself performance, but more importantly preserve your expensive high performance tyres. There is no point having to change tyres just because you have worn out the very edge of your tyre by rolling them over all the time. 

Then it was time to get to work. 

Stage 1 Changes: Standard Q767 Dark Horse spec:

The base car was then delivered to Steeda Germany in order to begin the change to a Steeda Q767 Dark Horse in time for the launch party at Vulcan Alphas new HQ in the Nürburgring industry park. The mods went on and Steeda 2025-2005 was born.

Stock Q767 Dark Horse Package:

Chassis / Suspension:
Steeda Adjustable Front & Rear Adjustable Anti Roll Bars with Billet HD Mounts
Steeda Ultimate Handling Dual Rate MagneRide Springs
Steeda Strut Tower Brace
Steeda IRS Subframe Bushing Support System
Steeda IRS Subframe Alignment Kit
Steeda Rear IRS Subframe Support Brace
Steeda Camber plates
Steeda Front Ride Height Adjustment System
Steeda Jacking Rails
Steeda 2 point G-Trac Brace
Steeda Rear Camber Adjust Kit
Steeda Performance Wheel Alignment

Miscellaneous Upgrades:
Steeda Engine Bay Serialization Plate
Steeda Interior Plate
Steeda Illuminated Door Sill Plates
Steeda Clutch Spring (Manual only)

Because we were building a track only car we added some great optional extras as well. First we dealt with exhaust flow and an awesome sound track plus losing a little weight by installing a full Milltek 70mm / 2.76" catback system with brushed titanium tips, and then for added grip capacity to make maximum use of the Nankang CR-S tyres we swapped the OEM wheels for some Steeda Trident  "Gloss Titanium" finish 19x11" wheels front and rear, with a 25mm front spacer to clear the brakes. This mean we could fit 305/30/19 tyres front and rear AND offer sufficient camber to really dial them in! For a little more breathing to balance the Milltek catback we also added a Steeda full 555-3234 cold air intake up front. To further enhance setup possibility and add more strength to the rear end we also added a set of the Steeda 555-4120 Rear Adjustable Toe Links.

Steeda Q767R Build Video Teaser:

First laps in the Steeda Q767 Dark Horse with Misha and Aziz from Aziz Drives

Stage 2: Further Upgrades:

To get more serious, and we know that when Misha chases speed he is definitely someone who knows #SpeedMatters! , the mainstay suspension, even with the awesome Steeda Dual rate springs would not be enough, as the MagneRide shocks do not give enough adjustability and control for a full race car / track weapon build. So a call was made to Netherlands based JRZ Suspension to develop and install a set of their awesome PRO 3 triple adjustable race coilovers, featuring full independent reservoirs, full coilover setup front and rear and state of the art materials and tech, to allow maximum adjustability and full control of compression, rebound, corner weighting and more. They also installed a MagneRide delete loom so the car knew what was happening and didn't panic! 

JRZ Suspension Race Coilovers

Installed on the VA Q767R showing easily accessible adjustment and registration plate:

You can read more about what and why on our "Coilovers Suspension Blog Post here: https://steeda.eu.com/blogs/news/coilovers-the-ultimate-suspension-solution-is-this-all-my-mustang-needs-to-become-a-track-god

Of course now the speeds were going up and the grip levels were sky-rocketing, Misha was being flung all over the place in the car in its stock bucket seats, so a full set of Sparco bucket seats were installed along with a race harness and the rear seats were deleted. It was starting to really look like a race car now! 

Misha putting the VA / Nankang Q767R through its paces on the ring! 

After the seats and coilovers had made the first steps to "Race Car Mode" there were more steps to be made. Misha experimented with various G-LOC brake pad compounds to try and work out which suited the car best for the track he was using it on, and to try and avoid to much ABS interference. The R-10 compound came out on top after the higher compounds proved too aggressive initially.

Return to Zandvoort!:


The return to Zandvoort was a great learning experience as though the car had all the mods now, it learned the hard way that my favourite subject, HEAT, is a time killer, as the day was super hot and heavy and the oil started over heating almost straight away. Also the G-LOC compounds initially used were too aggressive for the set up and super heavy pro-braking that Misha deploys, and its was triggering the ABS too early and hard, so we have now set in the R10 compounds to see if it performs better.

To add to all that the super grip now on offer from the combo of Steeda chassis, JRZ Coilovers and massive Nankang CR-S semi slicks meant the high G's through the corners were causing massive fuel slosh and resulting in fuel starvation issues due to the Mustangs "Saddle bag" style petrol tank, where the pickup was being starved of fuel resulting in spluttering and dying just when fuel was required to power out of the bends!  So the next steps will mean improved cooling with at least an uprated oil cooling system and possibly radiator, and also a more race focussed fuelling system... so stay tuned! 

Crazy Corner Speeds - Achieved! 

After the first return to Zandvoort Misha also installed a Steeda Front Race spec K-Member to add front rigidity and set up options and bracing, plus "add lightness" as Colin Chapman of Lotus so famously said.

Alongside the K-Member he also installed a Steeda Tri-Ax Short Shifter for the Tremec boxes found in the Dark Horse and Mach 1 (555-3719), offering a 20% shorter throw and more precision for cleaner shifts. 

Stay tuned to our social media and to Misha's to follow the car and watch more updates and cool videos and see more cool builds. Lets see what the time at Zandvoort Misha can get to! #Speedmatters! 

Current Full Spec: (as of July 2025)

Suspension and Chassis
Steeda Adjustable Front & Rear Adjustable Anti Roll Bars with Billet HD Mounts 555-1015 +555-1034 +555-8149
JRZ Suspension RS PRO 3 Coilovers + MagneRide Delete Harness
Steeda Strut Tower Brace                                     555-5731
Steeda IRS Subframe Bushing Support System   555-4437
Steeda IRS Subframe Alignment Kit                    555-4438
Steeda Rear IRS Subframe Support Brace            555-5754
Steeda Jacking Rails                             555-5212
Steeda "Race" K-Member                    555-5061
Steeda Rear Camber Adjust Kit            555-4126
Steeda Rear Adjustable Toe Links        555-4120

Power and Drivetrain:
Steeda Cold Air Intake:                         555-3234
Milltek 70mm / 2.76" Catback Exhaust System (Titanium tips)
Steeda Tri Ax Tremec Short Shifter       555-3719
Steeda Clutch Spring                            555-7033

Miscellaneous Upgrades:
Steeda Trident "Gloss Titanium" 19 x 11" Wheels
Steeda 25mm Front Spacer
Nankang CR-S Tyres in 305-30-19 all round
McGard Wheel nuts
G-LOC R10 Compound Brake Pads Front & Rear
Steeda Engine Bay Serialization Plate
Steeda Interior Plate
Steeda Illuminated Door Sill Plates
Steeda Q Series Decals
Sparco Pole Position Race Buckets & Schroth harness
Race Logic Full suite 
"Wizard of Nur" Driver Upgrade.

Next Steps Planned:

Tuning is now available so car is developed at Unitesta in Czech republic to remove speed limiter, up the rev limit to around 8k and also give back some of the power the EU cars lost. Around 35 more ponies should now be added to the party! 

Also of course Vulcan Alpha is an aero specialist so they will be working on some aero magic to increase those cornering speeds even more!