Ok here's the latest on the GT350 program.
Names:
I'm now completely confident that name will be GT350. The race car versions will follow the same naming convention for the FR500 and Boss 302 programs. This is a SVT car and will also have the Shelby name on it although Shelby America will not be involved. There will be four models:
GT350 – the base GT350 similar to the Boss 302.
GT350 B/P – similar to the Boss 302 Laguna Seca. This is the higher performance GT350 or street legal track day special. B/P stands for SCCA B Production and pays homage to the original cars. The original GT350 won it's very first B/P race and went on to capture the SCCA 1965, 1966 and 1967 B Production championships.
GT350R - for IMSA CTSC GS class racing, the enduro racer.
GT350S - for World Challenge GTS class racing, the sprint racer.
Availability:
The GT350 will be announced at the 2014 LA Auto Show most likely on November 21st the first public day of the show. Look for GT350Mustangs.com to be there for the live announcement. The first we'll see the car at a race will be in the CTSC GS class at Daytona in January 2015. IMSA let Ford race the Boss 302R before production began as they did with GM and the Z/28. Look for the production cars to be available at the earliest in Summer 2015 most likely as a 2016 model. It could be a 2015 model but who really cares?
Engine:
Sorry but no flat plane crank. I know there's lots of rumors on this but it just doesn't make sense for the price point or for the production class racing. If Ford is working on a FPC look for it in a Mach 1 or GT500 a couple of years down the road. What the engine will have is 520 HP in a 5.2L engine with a redline of 8,000 RPM's. While the Boss engine has been pretty bullet proof the weak link has been the valve springs. Look for improved flow in the heads with hardware that can take 8,000 RPM's during the durability testing. To feed those heads there will be a new intake similar to the Cobra Jet intake but with a few tricks added to it to take advantage of the increase flow through the heads and larger bore. A new larger throttle body will be paired with the intake. Shorty headers will be stock but with slightly larger primaries to take advantage of the increased flow. The really big news will be the GT350 will be the first Mustang with direct injection.
Brakes:
We've already seen mules with carbon ceramic brakes with 15" rotors in the front and 14" rotors in the rear. They will be matched with six piston front and four piston rear Brembo calipers. This time around the B/P will have more track oriented brake pads compared to the base GT350.
Wheels and tires:
The GT350 will have Michelin Pilot Super Sport in 295/35/19 and 265/35/19 on 11" and 10" wide wheels. This will open up larger rubber on the stock wheels come replacement time.
The big news is the GT350 B/P will have Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires. It's possible they could show up with Pirelli P Zero Trefeo R's but it will depend on what manufacturer Ford contracts with.
Suspension:
The cars will have Multimatic dampers with DSSV technology. The base GT350 and B/P will have different valving but will be identical otherwise. The beauty of this is you can upgrade the base dampers with the B/P cartridge for more damping control. Yes I know the Z/28 has them too but Multimatic uses the same technology in F1 cars so think of it in those terms. The R and S cars will also have DSSV dampers with remote reservoirs on them. The street dampers will have nothing in common with the race dampers other than using a DSSV cartridge and being made my Multimatic.
Differential:
No electronic controlled diff like the new Stingray. Look for a Torsen similar to the Boss 302.
Transmission:
Sorry but the Getrag MT82 remains the stock transmission. Look for improvements in durability and smoothness. The transmission will have an auto blip feature.
Clutch:
Look for a twin disc clutch similar to what Ford uses in the GT500.
Driveshaft:
It will have a carbon fiber driveshaft similar to the current GT500.
Sorry but the Getrag MT82 remains the stock transmission. Look for improvements in durability and smoothness. The transmission will have an auto blip feature.
It will have a carbon fiber driveshaft similar to the current GT500.
Interesting
A tremendous amount of information within that post is wrong. Crumple it and toss it in the waste bin. Don't take it with a grain of salt, dump out the entire salt shaker. Bookmark this post for future reference and arguments.
A tremendous amount of information within that post is wrong. Crumple it and toss it in the waste bin. Don't take it with a grain of salt, dump out the entire salt shaker. Bookmark this post for future reference and arguments.