When Ford->ke31 brought back the iconic Boss model for the Ford Mustang->ke428, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before a race version of the car would be released. But lo and behold, even we didn’t think that it’d be this soon. Shortly after the production version of the Mustang Boss 302 was unveiled, Ford Racing, in partnership with Bud Moore Engineering, unveiled the Mustang 302R, a factory-built race car that’s currently competing in a number of racing series, particularly the Grand Am, the SCCA, and the NASA.
The car, which was built to honor the 40th anniversary of Parnelli Jones' 1970 Trans-Am championship, is a serialized off-road-only vehicle that comes with a 5.0-liter four-valve engine mated to a six-speed manual transmission. As a race-spec version of the Mustang Boss 302, the 302R has been decked with race-only features, including a roll cage, race seats, safety harness, data acquisition race dampers and springs, and a Brembo brake and tire package. Back when it was launched last year, Ford Racing announced that a total of 50 BOSS 302R Mustangs would be built with a starting price of $79,000.
Full story after the jump.
2011 Ford Mustang Boss 302R
- Make: Array
- Model: 2011 Ford Mustang Boss 302R
- Engine/Motor: 5.0-liter four-valve engine
- Transmission: six-speed manual transmission
- [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array
The Mustang Boss 302R took the reigns from the Mustang FR500C, Ford Racing’s successful race car that won numerous titles, including three Triple Crown championships of driver, team and manufacturer's titles in KONI competition including two straight in 2008 and 2009, and two driver’s titles in the FIA GT4 in 2007 and 2008.
In its inaugural season in the Grand Am Continental Tire Sport Car Challenge last year, the Mustang Boss 302R managed to get its feet wet despite not posting a win during the entire season. With a year of experience under its belt, the Boss 302R has become a contender in the ranks, highlighted by its recent win this past weekend for Multimatic Motorsports driven by Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster at Barber Motorsports Park. While the team currently sits five points short of Turner Motorsports and their title-defending BMW M3->ke2366, we don’t expect the Mustang Boss 302R to be a pretender soon.
The car has ‘contender’ written all over it, and if the car can live up to the expectations of its predecessor, then we won’t need to wait long for the Boss 302R to prove all of us right.