Ford Racing is continuing to launch its assault on all forms of motorsport with the upcoming launch of the 2010 Boss 302R Mustang to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original Boss 302's 1970 Trans-Am championship. No photos of the car have been released quite yet, but we do have plenty of information thanks to a leaked letter to Ford dealers. Like the FR500S, FR500C, FR500CJ and other Mustangs available from the Ford Racing Performance Parts catalog, the Boss 302R is for off-road use only and will be built in very limited quantities. Just 50 are planned for production at a starting cost of $79,000.
Two versions of the 302R will be available, with the base package designed to compete in various SCCA and NASA classes and the upgraded version built to Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series specifications. The base Boss 302R includes a 5.0-liter four-valve V8 pushing out an estimated 400 horsepower as well as a six-speed transmission, race-spec suspension, brakes and tires, and safety equipment including a roll cage and race seats with safety harnesses. The Grand-Am spec version also gets a sealed high-output race engine, seam-welded body, racing fuel cell, a data acquisition system and more for a cost of $129,000.
Ford Racing is currently taking orders, and judging by sales of their other competition Mustangs you will need to order immediately if you want to get your hands on one. Follow the jump for more information and detailed specifications of the 2010 Ford Racing Boss 302R.
With various racing series coming to a close this month, the Mustang has proven its worth on track by bringing home two major road racing championships. This past weekend Brandon Davis secured the 2009 SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT title in only his second season with a fourth place finish at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Davis, who was racing in the new 2010 ACS Mustang that debuted a few weeks earlier at Road Atlanta, only needed to finish in eighth place to guarantee the championship and beat out Porsche driver James Sofronas.
In the Grand-Am Koni Challenge series, the Mustang FR500C also captured not only the driver title, but also the team and manufacturers' championships for the second straight year. Rehagen Racing sat atop the driver and team points lead with a sixth place finish at Virginia International Raceway, and the win by JBS Motorsports helped put Ford just one point ahead of BMW in the manufacturers' standings. Mustangs won five races during the 2009 season and finished on the podium eight out of eleven races.
We didn't make it out to VIR for the Koni Challenge race, but we were on hand at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to watch the SPEED World Challenge race with cameras at the ready. Check out the high-res gallery below, or tune into SPEED TV on November 3 at 2:00 pm EST to watch the race yourself. If you're down with spoilers.
Testing is well underway on the 2010 version of the Cobra Jet Mustang, and from the looks of this new video released by Ford Racing, things are going very well. During a recent test of a development model with the new 2010 powertrain, the FR500CJ pulled a huge wheelie off the line in a perfect display of massive torque and traction. The ability to launch the front wheels off the ground is no doubt helped by the new aluminum-block motor underhood, which weighs far less than its iron counterpart. Will a version of this new lightweight motor make it into the 2011 Shelby GT500? We sure hope so.
![2010 Cobra Jet Mustang hits the drag strip for a test-n-tune [w/VIDEO]](http://www.niot.net/blog-images/2010-cobra-jet-mustang-hits-the-drag-strip-for-a-test-n-tune-w.jpg)
We learned earlier this summer that Ford Racing would be continuing its Cobra Jet program for the 2010 model year, and the new model has already taken to the strip for a testing session at Milan Dragway in Michigan. From looking at the photos released by Ford Racing, it looks like the updated CJ will get more than just new visual cues from the 2010 model Mustang. Under the hood lies a huge 3.4-liter Whipple supercharger that should be able to push quite a bit more air into the 5.4-liter V8 than the FRPP blower on the '09 version, and the interior looks even more race-oriented with the Liberty clutchless V-Gate style shifter and various gauges, buttons and toggles that adorn the instrument panel. We should have full details when the car makes its official debut at SEMA in November.
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We'll have our monthly By the Numbers post ready in a jiffy, but one thing that stood out after glancing at the monthly automotive sales figures is that the Chevy Camaro has outsold the Ford Mustang for the third month in a row. While it's still a bit too early to call this an official trend, it's clear that there was a significant backlog of demand for GM's latest muscle car. That much was a given with The General reporting over 10,000 advance orders for the car before it even hit dealer lots.
We're not exactly shocked that the Camaro – with 8,680 total sales vs 6,289 for the Stang – is selling at a healthy clip, but it is a bit surprising to see the Mustang drop over 23 percent over the previous year. After all, Ford's pony car was heavily refreshed for the 2010 model year and has received excellent reviews from the motoring press, ourselves included. Perhaps some Mustang intenders are holding out for the expected 400+ horsepower 5.0-liter, 32-valve DOHC Coyote engine or turbocharged EcoBoost V6? Time will tell...
It's been a busy year for Hurst Performance Vehicles. They launched their limited-edition Dodge Challenger at SEMA last November, followed by the 50th Anniversary Dodge Viper, and most recently, they announced the addition of the Pontiac G8 to their lineup. Come mid-September, though, you can add one more to that list. Hurst and BFGoodrich tires have teamed up to create a one-off 2010 Mustang GT Convertible that will serve as the pace car for the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge race at Miller Motorsports Park on September 19. Afterward, the car will attend various events including SEMA, and will eventually be auctioned off for charity at the start of 2010.
Following the same themes as other Hurst vehicles, the Mustang has a spec sheet that reads nearly identical to the Challenger. The exterior gets a white and gold paint scheme accented by Hurst 20-inch forged wheels wrapped in BFGoodrich KDW tires. A supercharger lies underneath the hood (although it's a Roush roots-type rather than a Vortech centrifugal blower), that pushes the 4.6-liter V8 to 435 horsepower and 400 lb-ft torque. Eibach suspension components, a Magnaflow exhaust system, Hurst CompetitionPlus short throw shifter, and Katzkin leather interior round out the list of modifications.
Sorry Transformers fans, but your precious Bumblebee just got his butt whooped. Color us not surprised. Because for anyone that's ever driven the Detroit Three's nouveau muscle cars (and seriously evaluated them), the 2010 Mustang GT is clearly Best of Show material. It's just too refined, too capable and let's be honest, too good. Especially when compared to the cetacean Dodge Challenger RT. How obvious? Even Consumer Reports says so.
True, it used to be getting your sports car endorsed by Consumer Reports was kinda like Tipper Gore and Joe Lieberman banging their heads and flashing approving devil signs at your band. But somewhere about ten years back, the ad-free, subscriber-funded mag began testing cars that enthusiasts might actually want to buy. And then they began factoring in metrics like acceleration, handling and braking, while still lowering eyelids with stats on mileage and reliability (we kid, we kid).
So yeah – straight up, the 315 horsepower Ford Mustang GT got a rating of "Very Good" and 78 points, whereas the 426 hp Chevrolet Camaro SS got "Very Good" but only 71 points, whereas the 370 hp Challenger RT received a rating of merely "Good" and just 53 points.
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Back in June when we took part in the annual Ford Racing Invitational at Milan Dragway, we had the pleasure of meeting young Derek Murrell. You may recall that Derek is the 18 year-old who had just graduated from high school in Florida and had entered Ford's 2010 Mustang Unleashed contest. His dream was to drag race against his auto shop teacher Bill Rosenblum for the chance to win a new Mustang GT on Pinks All Out.
We talked to Derek a week before he went up against his teacher at Maryland International Raceway. Ford asked us not to tell you who won until after the program had aired on Speed which it evidently has now. Murrell, who had never raced before got coaching from veteran racer Bob Glidden while Rosenblum visited the Livernois motorsports shop to see his car being built up. What Rosenblum didn't know until he arrived at the drag strip was who his competition would be. Murrell and Rosenblum would go head to head in a best two-out-of-three for the new 'Stang. Check out the three videos after the jump to find out who got the keys.
As the saying goes, records are meant to be broken. For Vaughn Gittin Jr., that record was the world's longest drift. This past December, Gittin and 0-60 Magazine took a road trip across the United States in a 2010 Ford Mustang GT that also included a stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to break the record. The previous milestone was 4,137 feet, but Gittin believed he could surpass that and went about seeing how long his set of Falken Azenis ST-155 tires could withstand constant opposite lock. As it turns out, they lasted a little over two minutes before completely running out of tread, resulting in a run of 6,285 feet, or 1.19 miles. While the results are still pending with Guinness, we'll go ahead and crown Gittin as the record holder. Hit the jump to watch the video.
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Need further proof that the pony car wars are once again raging through the Detroit 3 automakers? Look no further than Ford's official press release pasted after the break. Ford is quick to point out that its 2010 Mustang holds a distinct pricing advantage over its rivals, the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro and the recently-revived Dodge Challenger. On the low end, a base V6-powered Ford Mustang will run you $20,995, a figure that undercuts the Camaro LS at $22,995 and the Challenger SE at $22,545. For a little more comparison, the Hyundai Genesis Coupe will start around $22K and the R-Spec will be available mid-2010 with a base price of $23,750.
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