2012 BOSS 302 Mustang

[SunnyD]

My first love when I was 16 was the '98 Cobra and eventually owned a 2002 Mustang GT. I've been a mustang guy my whole life and am happy to see Ford heading in the right direction. I for one am going to test drive the BOSS 302 once it's out!

[Montoya]

Just some quick impressions on the Laguna Seca Edition: We were at Laguna for the Press intro during the Historics. I sat in the car and spoke at length to one of the Ford employees (he's in one of the videos). The interior is very well done and the Recaro seats are very comfortable, although the padding is a little soft, they seem like they will work well holding you in place. The steering wheel is alacantara , but thin like a stock wheel. Otherwise, much like stock other than trim and gauges. You sit low and you feel you are in a much bigger car than the M3. They gave us the key and let me fire it up and rev the motor- sounded very loud and snarled and backfired when releasing the throttle. Turns out that there are side exhausts that are opened up right by the doors that takes about five minutes. They told us these make it a quad exhaust for track duty (two side and two rear). Obviously they were opened up as the car had been on the track previously that day. He lit up when we told them I was an M3 owner and he proceeded to point out the other track ready features (I think he was surprised to talk to an owner of their target car!). He covered the shocks and brakes and told us that Ford will publish settings for each track for the shocks. As to weight he said "It will be 75 lbs lighter than the M3."

The car we saw was the silver version with orange graphics. Very bright orange graphics- you will not blend with this car. The splitter is just waiting for a low curb but looks very track ready. They told us quite a lot of care was spent on the front splitter and that the under tray gives some additional benefit. If you look at the press information I think you will see the splitter under tray goes all the way past the front axle or close to it. He mentioned that they also spent considerable time directing airflow in the rear and that most of these changes came directly from the race effort. The Corsa Pirellis look like they held up very well to track use, especially compared to the P-Zeros that were on the stock Boss 302's that had similar track time.

All in all, very well done and very tempting package. Good work by Ford and we all laughed reading the press release at the track the next day. We thought the Ford guy just liked us or something, but once we read the comment in the press release about the M3 we understood why he spent so much time with us!

[SnakeKiller]

Originally Posted by Montoya

Just some quick impressions on the Laguna Seca Edition: We were at Laguna for the Press intro during the Historics. I sat in the car and spoke at length to one of the Ford employees (he's in one of the videos). The interior is very well done and the Recaro seats are very comfortable, although the padding is a little soft, they seem like they will work well holding you in place. The steering wheel is alacantara , but thin like a stock wheel. Otherwise, much like stock other than trim and gauges. You sit low and you feel you are in a much bigger car than the M3. They gave us the key and let me fire it up and rev the motor- sounded very loud and snarled and backfired when releasing the throttle. Turns out that there are side exhausts that are opened up right by the doors that takes about five minutes. They told us these make it a quad exhaust for track duty (two side and two rear). Obviously they were opened up as the car had been on the track previously that day. He lit up when we told them I was an M3 owner and he proceeded to point out the other track ready features (I think he was surprised to talk to an owner of their target car!). He covered the shocks and brakes and told us that Ford will publish settings for each track for the shocks. As to weight he said "It will be 75 lbs lighter than the M3."

The car we saw was the silver version with orange graphics. Very bright orange graphics- you will not blend with this car. The splitter is just waiting for a low curb but looks very track ready. They told us quite a lot of care was spent on the front splitter and that the under tray gives some additional benefit. If you look at the press information I think you will see the splitter under tray goes all the way past the front axle or close to it. He mentioned that they also spent considerable time directing airflow in the rear and that most of these changes came directly from the race effort. The Corsa Pirellis look like they held up very well to track use, especially compared to the P-Zeros that were on the stock Boss 302's that had similar track time.

All in all, very well done and very tempting package. Good work by Ford and we all laughed reading the press release at the track the next day. We thought the Ford guy just liked us or something, but once we read the comment in the press release about the M3 we understood why he spent so much time with us!

i really like the dedication that went into the Boss 302, there was a big fear that it was going to be bullit like package. Wow did they delivered
the LS also has Front disc brake cooling ducts.

[Montoya]

Originally Posted by SnakeKiller

i really like the dedication that went into the Boss 302, there was a big fear that it was going to be bullit like package. Wow did they delivered
the LS also has Front disc brake cooling ducts.

Yeah, I forgot to mention the Laguna Seca edition has extra cooling for the front brakes with special ducting. Again this is derived from their race effort.

[SnakeKiller]

Originally Posted by Montoya

Yeah, I forgot to mention the Laguna Seca edition has extra cooling for the front brakes with special ducting. Again this is derived from their race effort.

the LS has a 180mph speedometer, did the guys tell you if it was limited?

[N8dawg]

The standard BOSS 302 has the cooling brake ducts as an option.

[trahsub]

So some insiders have hinted that the [what some seem to think is ugly] red color offset on the LS models has more meaning than has been led on. This is highly subjective, but rumor has it that Ford will be offering a 'red' key with the Laguna model which will be encoded with a different ECU map, pushing the redline of the engine well past 8,000 RPM (I think the GA 302R redlines at 8,500 RPM). As the engine in the street Boss' is essentially the same as the GA cars, and some of the press releases that accompanied the Boss and Boss LS read 'redline at or above 7,500 RPM', which is pretty ambiguous language, I think there are more surprises to come for this Boss.

All I can say is

[SnakeKiller]

Originally Posted by trahsub

So some insiders have hinted that the [what some seem to think is ugly] red color offset on the LS models has more meaning than has been led on. This is highly subjective, but rumor has it that Ford will be offering a 'red' key with the Laguna model which will be encoded with a different ECU map, pushing the redline of the engine well past 8,000 RPM (I think the GA 302R redlines at 8,500 RPM). As the engine in the street Boss' is essentially the same as the GA cars, and some of the press releases that accompanied the Boss and Boss LS read 'redline at or above 7,500 RPM', which is pretty ambiguous language, I think there are more surprises to come for this Boss.

All I can say is

that would be really cool

[Finnegan]

Originally Posted by trahsub

So some insiders have hinted that the [what some seem to think is ugly] red color offset on the LS models has more meaning than has been led on. This is highly subjective, but rumor has it that Ford will be offering a 'red' key with the Laguna model which will be encoded with a different ECU map, pushing the redline of the engine well past 8,000 RPM (I think the GA 302R redlines at 8,500 RPM). As the engine in the street Boss' is essentially the same as the GA cars, and some of the press releases that accompanied the Boss and Boss LS read 'redline at or above 7,500 RPM', which is pretty ambiguous language, I think there are more surprises to come for this Boss.

All I can say is

Red Key? If that turns out to be true, how freakin' awesome would that be? Like I've said before in this thread, Ford has really stepped up. I really respect that.

[SnakeKiller]

Originally Posted by Finnegan

Red Key? If that turns out to be true, how freakin' awesome would that be? Like I've said before in this thread, Ford has really stepped up. I really respect that.

Key is real, lets thank Jay leno for blurring it out in his 302 visual review
link:http://www.jaylenosgarage.com/at-the...-seca-edition/ o the sound is AWESOME!

[luckistryke]

How exciting...the red key map deal reminds me of my friends Honda NSR 250. The race bike cames w/ 3 keys, street, sporty, and HRC race spec.

[SnakeKiller]

Originally Posted by luckistryke

How exciting...the red key map deal reminds me of my friends Honda NSR 250. The race bike cames w/ 3 keys, street, sporty, and HRC race spec.

3 keys wow
ford has the MyKey for the regular mustang, maybe its something like that
but with special secret settings For the track. something like the GTR in Japan, were if you go to the track the limiter's switch off. The LS does have a 180mph speedometer and 9k tachometer.

[mkoesel]

bush-art? You paint neked ladies? LOL.

Anyway, yeah, that is some crazy rumor indeed. I do have my doubts, especially with regard to the this alternate ECU program being opened by a key rather than activated by a button or menu-driven interface. I also doubt that it would be tied at all to the red color on the car. It all sounds rather far fetched.

I am also very skeptical about the Grand Am 302R running as high as 8500RPM. AFAIK, the cars run restrictor plates and the power is far from RPM limited. Pushing it to 8500 RPM would not seem to make any sense.

All that being said, I strongly hope that there is more RPM to be had in the production engine, and that Ford builds a car with the ability to reach it.

Originally Posted by trahsub

So some insiders have hinted that the [what some seem to think is ugly] red color offset on the LS models has more meaning than has been led on. This is highly subjective, but rumor has it that Ford will be offering a 'red' key with the Laguna model which will be encoded with a different ECU map, pushing the redline of the engine well past 8,000 RPM (I think the GA 302R redlines at 8,500 RPM). As the engine in the street Boss' is essentially the same as the GA cars, and some of the press releases that accompanied the Boss and Boss LS read 'redline at or above 7,500 RPM', which is pretty ambiguous language, I think there are more surprises to come for this Boss.

All I can say is

[Gearhead999s]

Originally Posted by mkoesel

bush-art? You paint neked ladies? LOL.

Anyway, yeah, that is some crazy rumor indeed. I do have my doubts, especially with regard to the this alternate ECU program being opened by a key rather than activated by a button or menu-driven interface. I also doubt that it would be tied at all to the red color on the car. It all sounds rather far fetched.

I am also very skeptical about the Grand Am 302R running as high as 8500RPM. AFAIK, the cars run restrictor plates and the power is far from RPM limited. Pushing it to 8500 RPM would not seem to make any sense.

All that being said, I strongly hope that there is more RPM to be had in the production engine, and that Ford builds a car with the ability to reach it.

Great way to get pressI am also pretty sure that the Continentals cars are not running to 8500.


I want one!

[e92_m3]

Originally Posted by stingray23

I would love to add one of these to my stable.

+1!

Ford is really stepping it up... The Germans better do something about it.

[SnakeKiller]

Originally Posted by mkoesel

bush-art? You paint neked ladies? LOL.

Anyway, yeah, that is some crazy rumor indeed. I do have my doubts, especially with regard to the this alternate ECU program being opened by a key rather than activated by a button or menu-driven interface. I also doubt that it would be tied at all to the red color on the car. It all sounds rather far fetched.

I am also very skeptical about the Grand Am 302R running as high as 8500RPM. AFAIK, the cars run restrictor plates and the power is far from RPM limited. Pushing it to 8500 RPM would not seem to make any sense.

All that being said, I strongly hope that there is more RPM to be had in the production engine, and that Ford builds a car with the ability to reach it.

i think its more of a limiter's off type of deal.

[mkoesel]

Originally Posted by SnakeKiller

i think its more of a limiter's off type of deal.

I would think warranty concerns would make that a no-go though. Personally, I would never want to drive a car with no rev-limiter at all. I'd rather be able to rev it up without worrying about blowing the engine.

[Dave07997S]

The GrandAm Mustangs don't rev to 8500rpm, as has been stated before the Mustangs were forced to run a restrictor plate after the 2005 season because when the Mustangs hit the straight aways they were GONE!! Anyone who saw these races in 2005 new that the rules would have to be tightened to keep the Mustang from dominating this series due to the fact these 5.0L Cammer motors (not the 5.0L that is in the Mustang now) were putting close to 450-475hp output. With the restrictor plates they were down to the 400-425 range. I want to point out in the current series the Mustangs that have been winning aren't the 5.0L Coyote motor equipped cars but the older 5.0L Cammer motors. The 5.0L Coyote teams are going through some teething problems and they will have it ironed out for next year.

Dave

[adc]

Nice!

Any word on prices? Not that I'd run out to buy one, but I'm very curious...

[alms211]

I know I'm going to be in the minority here (no denying the performance aspects and the interior isn't bad as well) but I think the exterior of that car looks like hell. Play the video with Jay and look at that tail light area and all those "shelves" in the front fascia...

Go buy one and enjoy it; I'll pass.

[DadzM4]

That car is going to be a bad ass.

[Dave07997S]

Originally Posted by alms211

I know I'm going to be in the minority here (no denying the performance aspects and the interior isn't bad as well) but I think the exterior of that car looks like hell. Play the video with Jay and look at that tail light area and all those "shelves" in the front fascia...

Go buy one and enjoy it; I'll pass.

Yea you're right, one of the minority.

Dave