Car: 2012 Ford Mustang Laguna Seca Boss 302
Class: NASA American Iron Xtreme and Super Unlimited
Cage: 1.75 x .120" DOM fully TIG welded, built to NASA spec with added anti-intrusion bars and FIA bars
Other Goodies: Essex/AP front and rear racing brakes, Cortex Racing cambered rear axle, watts link, and full Cortex SLA. Fuel Safe race cell with dual internal pumps and surge tank, MCS 2-way adjustable coilovers and shocks, Roush blower on the sleeved coyote making 740 whp, AEM management, AIM display, Cartek 16 channel PDM.
Round one for this Mustang was just a roll cage, aluminum dash, Sparco seat and polycarbonate windows.
An upgrade in traction was next, with the install of a Cortex cambered rear axle (1.5 degrees rear camber), along with their watts link and lower control arms. After going through Brembos and Wilwoods, we settled on the AP/Essex racing brakes, which we believe are the best brake setup available.
Now that the car was functional and had some laps under it, it was time for some more big changes. We worked with Next Rev motorsports, a couple of aerospace engineers turned racecar drivers, that helped us develop a full aero package for the Mustang. First, side exit exhaust had to be built to clear the aero. We used the 18-foot chassis jig table for aero mounting; it has to be 100% parallel to the ground with the car at rake. The wing and diffuser transfer energy into the chassis through the same gusseted rear bar. The flat bottom is key to making all the other aero work.
Most recently, the Mustang received a complete rewire. We shaved 32.8 pounds by getting rid of the factory rat's nest and running only the essentials, and to control everything, it was treated to a new Cartek PDM in place of the old switches and relay/fuse boxes.
Now it was time to go turn some more laps and see what this thing could do. Running AIX in what was Central Region NASA back in 2017, it was here at Gateway that it was dubbed “Shredder”. At this point it was still running a 3d printed, carbon reinforced splitter as proof on concept.
After the ‘17 season, we got back to work. The final work was done to the fenders and we built a full carbon version of the splitter.
Next Rev wasn’t done with aero optimization either. We still hade 4” that we could widen the car and still be legal for the class. A different wheel and tire was selected for the back and a very DTM-esque set of over fenders were designed and printed. There was also quite of bit of work done with vortex generators on the side skirts. Also, not pictured, the front McPherson struts were scrapped for a Cortex SLA system.
Unfortunately, right as we got the car to a point that it was down to small tweaks to dial it in, we had an incident with a set of cold tires on a chilly, wet May morning that resulted in the car going off track and hitting the wall.
Even though this cars like was short lived in it’s final form, we learned a ton about aero and suspension. This was one of our first big builds and will always have a soft spot in our hearts. As we were going to retire it on the wall of the shop, the customer saw what we had done and asked about it being hung at his property and we were happy to oblige. Now it rests on the wall of a game room and that's a great was for an awesome car to go out.
