conceptcarz.com

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca

LAGUNA SECA PACKAGE TAKES NEW 2012 FORD MUSTANG BOSS 302 TO TRACK-READY CONDITION

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca
•Laguna Seca package pares the race-inspired 2012 Mustang Boss 302 down to its essential elements, with aggressive suspension, chassis and aerodynamic tuning creating a ready-for-racing Boss
•Ford Mustang team members developed the package to provide weekend racers with a factory track car that could be driven to the course, take the win, then driven back home again
•R-compound tires, rear seat-delete, aggressive front splitter for track use, and rear spoiler and rear cross-car bracing shave seconds off track times and boost lateral acceleration to 1.03 g
MONTEREY, Calif., Aug. 13, 2010 – How do you amp up a performance car package as complete as the new 2012 Mustang Boss 302 – already a street-legal race car in its own right? Pull out everything that doesn't make it go faster and add in more of what does. The result is the limited-production Laguna Seca package – the ultimate 2012 Boss, named to commemorate the first-place Boss 302 finish at the 1970 Trans-Am series opener.2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca
'The Laguna Seca package puts a race-ready version of the new Mustang Boss 302 directly into enthusiasts' hands,' said Mark Fields, Ford president of The Americas. 'Laguna Seca isn't intended for Boss buyers who simply want an exhilarating daily driver. Think of it like a factory-built race car, which we hope avid racers and track-day fans are going to love.'

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca
Boss Laguna Seca builds on the bumper-to-bumper improvements found on the standard Boss while further stiffening the chassis and installing an aerodynamics package carried over almost in its entirety from the Ford Racing Boss 302R.


2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca'Drivers who know how to get the most from a tuned race car on a closed course are going to be amazed by what the Laguna Seca is capable of,' said Derrick Kuzak, group vice president, Global Product Development. 'The balance, agility and tuning of each vehicle system places the driver at the center of the machine, completely connected to everything the car is doing.'

Chassis enhancements
Laguna Seca cars are powered by the same smooth, high-winding 440-hp 5.0-liter V8 as the standard Boss, since the engine was already tuned specifically for road racing. Instead, engineers turned their attention toward delivering power to the ground most efficiently, and getting the car around a track in the quickest possible time.

'When we built the Boss, we had to step back and ask ourselves ‘How do we improve on this?'' said David Pericak, Ford Mustang chief engineer. 'That car is so strong we realized the Laguna Seca package was going to have to be just a fraction of a step back from the Ford Racing 302R to top it. So we went back and threw daily-driver practicality out the window, cut some things we couldn't cut on the volume model, like the back seat, and built it the way we would set up a production Boss for pure competition.'


Laguna Seca cars eliminate the rear seats, instead adding a cross-car X-brace that couples the structure between the rear wheels. The brace offers chassis stiffness improvements of as much as 10 percent and allows the suspension tuning – precisely calibrated by Mustang team members – to better do its job.

Standard Recaro front seats were designed by Ford SVT in cooperation with Recaro for high performance Mustang models, and are shared between the Boss and GT500. An Alcantara-covered race steering wheel provides a solid grip for hard cornering.

Engine power routes through a six-speed close-ratio manual gearbox to a standard 3.73-ratio Torsen limited-slip differential, helping the revised rear suspension deliver maximum torque and traction under the punishing conditions encountered on the track.

Higher spring rates and a larger rear stabilizer bar – all upgraded over Boss specifications – help generate unrelenting grip. And drivers can dial in exactly the level of shock stiffness a particular track requires using the four standard, independently adjustable dampers with Laguna Seca-specific valving.

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna SecaThe final touch for a proper race car was to add the proper wheels and tires: Laguna Seca models use lightweight 19-inch alloy racing wheels in staggered widths: 9 inches in front, 10 inches in the rear. R-compound ultra-high-performance tires, 255/40ZR-19 in the front, 285/35ZR-19 in the rear, maintain contact with the pavement – a job that ended up being trickier than expected.

'The R-compound tires on the Laguna Seca are so sticky we had to really work on the rear suspension tuning to make sure drivers can get the most out of them,' explains Pericak. 'The rear stabilizer bar is the largest we've ever installed on a production Mustang – including any SVT product. The rear spring rate was also maximized to work with the massive rear tires and balance the car for minimal lap times.'

While standard Boss 302 cars get vented brake dust shields to help cool the rotors, Laguna Seca models receive Ford Racing front brake ducts that force outside air directly onto the 14-inch vented front rotors, helping to eliminate brake fade and ensure hard, repeatable late braking on the track. Combined, the braking changes help refine the sense for drivers of being directly connected to the pads – an essential edge during car-to-car combat on a road course.

Added up, the further improvements to Boss Laguna Seca result in the best-handling Mustang ever, with more than 1.03 g of lateral acceleration, stopping distances shortened by three feet from 60 mph over Boss, 0-60 acceleration improvements of one tenth of a second, and an overall expected lap time improvement of one to two seconds over the standard Boss on a typical road course.

Styling evokes racing, improves aerodynamics
As a race car should, Boss 302 models with the Laguna Seca package look like nothing else on the road. A bright red C-stripe offsets either Black or Ingot Silver paint, and is complemented by a red roof panel. Red also sets off the front grille, mirror caps and rear pedestal spoiler, while Laguna Seca rear badging and unique two-tone red and silver wheels complete the transformation.

Adding both to appearance and aerodynamics, an aggressive front splitter for track use adds downforce at the front of the car, while helping channel air under and around the car. At the same time, air impacting the front end is funneled into the radiator and brake ducts, supporting cooling even under grueling race conditions.

'The Laguna Seca front splitter is really a Ford Racing piece we've lightly adapted for our purposes,' explains Pericak. 'It's been tested and refined for the last six months on the Boss 302R to perform exactly as required on the track; we just made a few changes so it could be adapted to the production Boss – though owners will still want to avoid speed bumps and parking blocks.'

At the back, a large rear spoiler is sized to exactly complement the effect provided by the front splitter and underbody aero treatments, with the combination adding as much as 90 pounds of downforce at 140 mph.

'Balance is the key on Boss, and even more so on Laguna Seca,' said Pericak. 'A winning race car has to do everything well, and we've had the ability to test all the engineering that went into Boss Laguna Seca on the Ford Racing 302R. It's not for everyone: It's stiffer, there's no back seat, and the aero package is designed for downforce, not speed bumps in the mall parking lot. But for hard-core Mustang racers who want something they can occasionally drive on the street, to shows or whatever, Laguna Seca is the car they've been waiting for, and they're not going to be disappointed.'

Source - Ford

HIGH-REVVING FORD 5.0-LITER V8 DELIVERS POWER, SPEED, FLEXIBILITY BEFITTING THE BOSS NAME

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca
•2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 engine delivers 440 horsepower and 380 ft.-lbs. of torque without the aid of forced induction
•Purpose-built Boss engine is based on production 2011 Mustang GT 5.0-liter DOHC V8, heavily modified with unique, Boss-specific parts to withstand all-day thrashing
•Revised intake, CNC-machined heads, lightened valvetrain and strengthened reciprocating assembly result in a race-proven engine meeting production durability standards
MONTEREY, Calif., Aug. 13, 2010 – The all-new 5.0-liter dual-overhead camshaft (DOHC) V8 in the 2011 Mustang GT already is the most powerful naturally aspirated production V8 Ford has ever produced. To make it worthy of the Boss name, Ford engineers tweaked more than a few bits of the engine.

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna SecaThey reengineered an entire dynamometer cell to handle the engine's projected 7,500 rpm redline; put the first engines into Boss 302R race cars and sent them straight onto the track; and they designed a torture test equivalent to running the Daytona 250 race flat-out more than 175 times – in a row.

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca
Only when the 440-hp V8 passed these tests, ensuring maximum power output without sacrificing durability, reliability and drivability, was it worthy of being called a Boss.


2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna SecaBulletproof and blower-free
Planning began with a small group of engineers within the 5.0-liter V8 team. Starting with open minds and enlisting the help of two members of the original 1969 Boss 302 design team, the group began working its way toward the ultimate evolution of the new 5.0-liter: 440 horsepower and 380 lb.-ft. of torque, along with a broad, flat output curve all the way through its projected 7,500 rpm redline.

The Mustang team knew a supercharger would be the simplest way to extract significant power improvements from the new 5.0-liter V8, but they elected not to pursue forced induction for the 2012 Boss to stay true to the original Boss 302 engine.

'The core group of engineers on the Boss 302 engine understands and respect the heritage of the name and the history behind the original engine,' explains Mike Harrison, Ford V8 engine program manager. 'The first Boss 302 was a specially built, free-breathing, high-revving small V8 that gave it certain desirable characteristics on a race course – and we capture that essence in the new engine.'


The team also realized the additional hardware meant more weight, the bane of any racing program and the opposite of what the Boss design team was attempting to achieve. Instead, the same technology that has made the new Mustang GT engine such a formidable force was applied to the Boss 302.

'In keeping with the spirit of the original, the new Boss 302 engine achieves its maximum power output at speeds at or above 7,500 rpm,' says Harrison. 'Únlike the original engine, however, low-speed torque and driveability are uncompromised thanks to twin independent variable camshaft timing (Ti-VCT) technology and computer-aided engineering design tools.'

Harrison and his team began exploring Boss 302 concepts starting with the engine's ability to breathe – essential to the production of horsepower. Because credible track performance requires high power production between 5,000 rpm and 7,000 rpm, the team needed a new approach to intake manifold design.

Borrowing from the Ford Daytona Prototype engines, the resulting short-runners-in-the-box design virtually eliminates lag when the throttle is snapped open while producing peak power output at high rpm.

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca'The effect of the new intake design is dramatic,' says Harrison. 'When I took the prototype car to Mustang Chief Engineer Dave Pericak, he took a short drive, tossed me the keys and said ‘Book it…it's in the program.' He knew what we were onto, and that's really the point where the Boss 302 was born.'

To take advantage of the racing intake manifold, cylinder head airflow was fully optimized by CNC porting the entire intake and exhaust port and combustion chamber. The painstaking machining process takes 2.5 hours per head to complete.

To accompany the higher peak-power engine speed, the team had to engineer a lightweight, high-speed valvetrain and bulletproof reciprocating assembly that would not only hold together for 150,000-plus miles but also produce power at peak rpm.

'What most people don't realize is that engine stresses increase exponentially as engine speeds rise,' explains Harrison. 'So moving up from GT's 7,000 rpm redline required significant re-engineering of many different parts. Sacrificing reliability and usability over the GT engine was never an option.'

Some of the Boss-specific parts contributing to the Boss 302 V8's output and durability include:

•Revised composite intake system with shorter runners, inspired by Daytona Prototype racing engines, for high-rpm breathing
•Forged aluminum pistons and upgraded sinter-forged connecting rods for improved strength, needed for the higher combustion pressures and engine speeds
•New high-strength aluminum-alloy cylinder heads with fully CNC-machined ports and chambers for exceptional high-rpm airflow without sacrificing low-speed torque
•Lightened valvetrain components to provide excellent dynamic performance up to speeds well above the engine redline
•Sodium-filled exhaust valves for improved heat dissipation
•Race-specification crankshaft main and rod bearings for higher load capability and improved high-speed durability
•5W50 full-synthetic oil with engine oil cooler for improved oil pressure and longer-lasting lubrication during extreme racing conditions
•Revised oil pan baffling for improved oil control under racing conditions and during cornering loads greater than 1.0 g
Close connection with race teams
Contrary to normal engine development protocol, the first batch of durability test engines weren't installed in an engine dyno. Instead, thanks to a request from Ford Racing, they went straight to the track.

'Ford Racing had challenged the Boss engine team to give them the first available Boss 302 engines,' explains Harrison. 'They came to us in August 2009 and told us they needed engines as soon as possible to build a limited number of Ford Racing Boss 302R cars for the January Daytona race. They got the engines 12 weeks later and the team got five Boss 302R cars prepped for the January race. This gave us a fantastic opportunity to be able to get full-on race experience with the engine so early in the program.'

The Boss engines have run reliably all season without a single mechanical failure. Boss 302R cars have also racked up the most laps led so far this season in Grand-Am racing.

Úsing race telemetry, the Boss team has been able to gather on-track data to help optimize engine calibrations, oil pan designs and cooling. In order to engage in virtual racing whenever they needed, the team used the telemetry data to re-create a hot lap at Daytona on the dyno back in Dearborn, allowing further fine-tuning.

'Working with Ford Racing has been invaluable,' said Harrison. 'They were a wealth of information for setting up torque and power curves for road racing and for identifying areas of concern during track runs that we wouldn't have considered if we were just building a hot street engine. Every Boss 302 owner will benefit from their contributions to the program.'

Production engine durability testing
Despite its racing heritage – and the rigors of track-day testing – the Boss 302 V8 is still a production Ford engine, built alongside the 5.0-liter GT engine at Essex Engine Plant in Ontario, Canada. That means it has to meet or exceed all the standard durability testing every Ford engine is required to complete.

The high-winding engine presented a challenge: The engine had no trouble staying together at its redline, but the Ford durability dynamometers weren't designed to operate at the speeds the Boss engine was capable of.

'Ford had no engine test cells built to run at that kind of sustained speed,' said Harrison. 'Ford Racing had one, but it wasn't instrumented to do production durability testing. So we had to re-engineer the dyno cell with new balancers and jackshafts so the dyno wouldn't fly apart running at redline hour after hour.'

Once an adequate test stand was configured, the Boss engine was run at its full rated output for tens of millions of cycles, eventually outperforming its specifications at every stage of testing. Engineers calculated that the test regimen was equivalent to running the Daytona 250 race flat-out more than 175 times – in a row.

Team members also devised an additional durability test specific to the Boss 302 engine – one that reflects the unique demands of Boss drivers. The engine was subjected to a regimen simulating 1,500 quarter-mile races typical of events at drag strips across the country.

'Even though the production Boss engine is designed to be very close to a full race engine, it had to achieve the same vehicle durability signoff any other production engine requires,' says Harrison. 'Then it went on to get the track durability test signoff too. It's really an engineering accomplishment that a Boss owner can thrash his car on the track and still expect the same outstanding reliability that the owner of a regular Mustang GT will enjoy.'

Source - Ford

Ford Designer Turns Labor of Love into Show Car for Charity

2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca
•Ford Designer Melvin Betancourt suffered a serious heart problem 11 years ago and credits the doctors at Henry Ford Hospital with saving his life
•As a way of giving back, Betancourt used his expertise in car customization to create a one-of-a-kind 2012 Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca that will be auctioned to benefit cardiovascular care, research and education at Henry Ford Health System
•The factory-painted School Bus Yellow Boss 302 is a one-of-one vehicle designed to be a modern version of the 1970 Boss 302 that famed race car driver Parnelli Jones drove to victory in the 1970 Trans-Am Championship
•The unique Boss 302 will be sold to the highest bidder during a live auction at the 'Get Your Heart Racing' benefit presented by Ford Motor Company and Henry Ford Health System on Saturday, Oct. 15

DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 13, 2011 – When Ford Designer Melvin Betancourt created a one-of-a-kind 2012 Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca for auction at an upcoming charity event to benefit cardiovascular care, research and education at Henry Ford Health System, he says it was a labor of love that came straight from the heart.

Betancourt, 49, suffered a serious heart problem 11 years ago, and he credits the doctors at Henry Ford with saving his life.

'I went to the doctor thinking I had a bad cold and the specialists at Henry Ford told me I had what is called an aortic dissection – a tear in the major blood vessel that carries blood away from the heart to the body,' recalled Betancourt. 'As a result, my aorta had grown to the size of a softball, and I needed immediate open-heart surgery.'

If left undetected, aortic dissections can lead to sudden death.

'The doctors said I could have been straining myself and the aorta could have just popped, or I could have just gone to sleep and never woke up,' explained Betancourt.

The high-risk surgery that Betancourt needed to repair his damaged aorta was performed successfully by cardiovascular surgeons at Henry Ford Hospital.

'There are gifted people out there who have been given the ability to do what they do,' said Betancourt. 'I'm here because of them.'

Betancourt says creating the distinctive Mustang for auction at the 'Get Your Heart Racing' event – which will be held from 1:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15, at Ford Motor Company – is his way of using the gifts he's been given to give something back to the doctors and staff at Henry Ford.

'We're all here for a purpose, and maybe my purpose is to help people through my skills,' said Betancourt. 'One of the things I do very well is vehicle customization – taking a car that already exists and enhancing it to make it a one-of-a-kind vehicle.'

2012 Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca: One of a kind
Betancourt says his goal in customizing the 2012 Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca was to create a vehicle that would attract the highest bids from car collectors and ultimately the most money for heart research and education at Henry Ford Health System.

'Everybody knows the School Bus Yellow Boss 302 that Parnelli Jones drove to victory in the 1970 Trans-Am Championship, so we decided to pay homage to that vehicle and do a modern version of the 1970 Mustang that he drove,' said Betancourt.

The 2012 Boss 302 was painted the iconic yellow color at the AutoAlliance International (AAI) plant in Flat Rock, Mich., where all of Ford's Mustangs are built.

'The fact that the car was built and painted at the AAI plant gives it more credibility as a one-off Ford vehicle,' explained Betancourt.

Instead of using decals like they did in 1970, Betancourt painted all of the black Laguna Seca graphics on the car, which include 'hockey-stick' stripes along the sides, Parnelli Jones' No. 15 on the doors and Jones' name on the side rails.

'I approached the project from a car collector's perspective,' said Betancourt. 'I asked myself what would happen if they took me from today, put me back in 1970 and asked me to design a car for Parnelli Jones.'

Parnelli Jones will sign the car at the 'Get Your Heart Racing' event, enhancing its value even more as a collector's item.

'Get Your Heart Racing' to fight heart disease
Ford Motor Company and Henry Ford Health System are teaming up to fight heart disease by presenting the 'Get Your Heart Racing' benefit on Saturday, Oct. 15, on Ford grounds in Dearborn.

The benefit takes place from 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the Ford test track at the Dearborn Development Center – rarely open to the public – and continues into the evening with the Winner's Circle Afterglow from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Ford Conference & Events Center with dinner and entertainment, as well as live and silent auctions.

Tanner Foust, host of Top Gear on the History Channel and an award-winning professional driver – including three X Games gold medals and two Formula Drift national championships – will drive three guests chosen in a drawing on the Ford test track.

Parnelli Jones, winner of dozens of races over more than two decades including the Indianapolis 500, will attend the Winner's Circle Afterglow. Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally also will be on hand to welcome guests.

The highlight of the evening will be the live auction of a one-of-one 2012 Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca, designed especially for the event by Ford Designer Melvin Betancourt and signed by Parnelli Jones. It is a modern version of the 1970 Boss 302 that Jones drove to victory in the 1970 Trans-Am race.

Live auction items also include two tickets to the 2012 American Idol finale in April. Hotel and airfare are included. Other items are a Ford Championship Weekend VIP Experience in November, including three races, meeting Ford drivers and a personal garage and pit tour.

Proceeds from the event will benefit the Edith and Benson Ford Heart & Vascular Institute at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit and the Center for Cardiac Care at Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital.

Ticket sales are limited. For more information about the 'Get Your Heart Racing' event, please visit www.getyourheartracing.org or call (734) 246-9583.

Source - Ford

Related Reading : Ford Mustang History

The Mustang was introduced at the 1965 New York Worlds Fair, Mustang Mania instantly swept the country, and a new automotive market segment was created - the 22 or better known as the ponycar. Though its mechanical underpinnings descended from the Falcon, the Mustang was completely different. It was a compact, tight, clean package weighing in at a modest 2,550 pounds - a departure from the ever-enlarging....
Continue Reading >>

Related Reading : Ford Mustang History

The Ford Mustang first appeared in 1964 and was immediately popular for its style and its capabilities. The largest engine offering of the time was the 289 V-8 K-code small block engine which was sufficient but enthusiasts wanted and demanded more power. The base engine was a six-cylinder power plant. The body style configurations included coupe, convertible and fastback. In its first year of....
Continue Reading >>

Related Reading : Ford Mustang History

A pillar of American automotive lore, the Mustang is the vehicle the brought sporting dash and styling at a price that almost everyone could afford. Always extraordinarily attractive, the Mustang has been capturing the hearts of drivers for nearly 40 years. Introducing a whole new breed of automobile, the pony car, Ford wasnt content to stand on the sidelines while others jumped ahead. Rather than....
Continue Reading >>

Recent Vehicle Additions

Performance and Specification Comparison

Related Automotive News

Boss Laguna Seca: Best of the Best

Boss Laguna Seca: Best of the Best

Proving to be exceptional in the luxury world, the Ford Mustang Boss 302 Laguna Seca has been included in Robb Report magazine as a 2012 Best of the Best Coupes and GTs honoree. For 24 consecutive years, Robb Report has released its choices for the...
Fast Four-Ward: UK Prices And Specifications Announced For Fourth-Generation Octavia vRS

Fast Four-Ward: UK Prices And Specifications Announced For Fourth-Generation Octavia vRS

All-new sporting flagship of ŠKODA range starts from £31,495 OTR Available in hatch and estate body styles High specification includes Columbus infotainment and full LED Matrix headlights Powerful 2.0 TSI...
The Heat Is On As Škoda Unleashes New Octavia Vrs 245 In The UK

The Heat Is On As Škoda Unleashes New Octavia Vrs 245 In The UK

First examples of the most powerful vRS model ever set to hit the UK Prices range from £27,595 to £30,185 Available in hatch and estate forms, plus optional seven-speed DSG Standard electro-mechanical front locking differential delivers sporty dr...
FORD CHIP GANASSI RACING, FORD PERFORMANCE PRESENT LE MANS 24 HOURS WINNERS' TROPHY TO FORD EMPLOYEES

FORD CHIP GANASSI RACING, FORD PERFORMANCE PRESENT LE MANS 24 HOURS WINNERS' TROPHY TO FORD EMPLOYEES

Ford Chip Ganassi Racing drivers, executives join Ford Performance to present Le Mans 24 Hours winners trophy to Ford employees On June 19, No. 68 Ford GT drivers Joey Hand, Dirk Müller and Sébastien Bourdais won the legendary race 50 years to the...
ALL-NEW FORD FOCUS RS MAKES GLOBAL AUTO SHOW DEBUT; PIONEERS INNOVATIVE AWD AND PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGIES

ALL-NEW FORD FOCUS RS MAKES GLOBAL AUTO SHOW DEBUT; PIONEERS INNOVATIVE AWD AND PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGIES

Fords all-new Focus RS makes global show debut in Geneva introduces advanced performance technologies to deliver the ultimate fun-to-drive experience Third-generation Focus RS pioneers innovative Ford Performance All-Wheel-Drive with Dynamic Torq...
Ford To Auction Prototype Of The 2014 Mustang Cobra Jet For National Multiple Sclerosis Society At Barrett-Jackson

Ford To Auction Prototype Of The 2014 Mustang Cobra Jet For National Multiple Sclerosis Society At Barrett-Jackson

Ford is selling a one-of-a-kind prototype of the NHRA competition-ready 2014 Mustang Cobra Jet at Barrett-Jackson Las Vegas to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society The sale includes an once-in-a-lifetime Mustang experience. The winning...