The kit comes nicely packaged in a compartmented box. The kit contains:

As much as I love the DVD and book, it is the personalized touches that make this kit so special. The certificate not only notes the serial number of my Boss, which I already knew, but also the number in its particular color. For me, this is particularly interesting. I struggled to secure a Kona Blue Boss, before that color was discontinued. It will be interesting to me to find out how close my car is to the end of the run in that color.

As silly as this might be, my favorite part of the kit might be the key fob. I don’t even like key fobs! But this one is very cool. The one side looks like the unique Boss intake manifold and the other side is engraved with the serial number of my car.

Thank you and Merry Christmas Ford Racing! You have made my purchase of a Boss 302 Mustang perhaps the most satisfying and rewarding ownership experience of my life.

J I M M Y

1. Grille Mod

The original 1969 Boss Mustang deleted the front fog lights and replaced them with mesh to improve airflow to the radiator. The new Boss Mustang pays homage to this by also deleting the fog lights, but then replacing them with blanks that have been embossed with a non-functional mesh design. For a car with so much emphasis on function, this detail is out-of-step with the rest of the car. The Boss 302S and 302R race cars both replace the fog light blanks with actual mesh grilles. Furthermore, on hot days and at high revs on a race track, the Boss does have some heat management issues. So, the Boss could stand to have more air flow to the radiator. Even if that weren’t the case, I hate the fake grilles as much as I hate any other fake hood scoop, or the like. So, I drilled them out and made them functional.

Cost: Free!

2. Brake Cooling Ducts

2010-2012 MUSTANG BRAKE DUCT KIT – Ford Racing p/n: M-2004-MB

Contents of the kit.

The front bumper valence pieces were missing from the kit, so I had to call Ford Racing. I faxed my receipt and they sent the pieces out straight away.

The only difference is that the foglight blank is drilled-out.

The high-temp hose that comes with the kit does not fit around the backing plate duct. One solution is to modify the hose itself by cutting and/or removing the wire reinforcements within the hose. I wanted the hose to retain its full integrity, so I chose to cut the backing plate to allow the hose to fit. I don’t like cutting on brand new racing parts, so I had a Newcastle to take the edge off.

This is the backing plate after I modified it. Using a cut-off wheel, I made eight cuts into the duct and then bent the tabs slightly inward, which allows the hose to slide on easily. Then I painted the duct with high temp (1200 F) paint. The paint has a matte finish, so the texture should help the hose adhere to the duct.

Another thing Ford Racing didn’t get quite right were the installation instructions. First of all, the photos are so small and dark that they are almost useless. In the example I show above…I mean, I can see somebody’s meat hook, but what is it doing exactly? They don’t supply a list of tools needed, nor do they specify bolt sizes (although, they do provide torque specs which is very nice). They also recommend removing the whole lower front facia, which I think is completely unnecessary. Most importantly, the instructions are the bare minimum and do not address fitment issues which almost everyone will have, most notably, the interference of the horn assembly and the windshield washer fluid reservoir.

What follows are an alternate set of installation instructions. These instructions only apply to the Boss 302, WITHOUT the Laguna Seca splitter.

Tools:

7 mm socket
10 mm socket
12 mm socket
15 mm socket and/or wrench/ratcheting-wrench
13/16″ deep socket
Dremel Tool with cutting wheel and/or hacksaw
Small Phillips screwdriver
Small flat-head screwdriver
Paint scraper
Sandpaper
Bungee cord
Jack and jack stands (or lift)
Breaker bar
Torque wrench
Blue loctite

(See optional list below.)

Instructions for the Left (Driver) Side:

1. Jack up the car and secure with jack stands.

2. Remove the front wheel (13/16″ socket and breaker bar).

3. Remove inner fender liner. The fender liner is held on with (3) 7 mm bolts and several plastic push-style clips.

4. Relocate electrical harness. Just pull the harness holder from it’s current location and move it up to the hole indicated in the photo.

5. Relocate horns. In simple terms, this just means flipping the horn bracket 180 degrees to gain clearance for the hose. The correct way to do this for maximum clearance and to relieve stress on the electrical harness is to remove the horn assembly (one 7 mm bolt) and lay it on the undertray. Remove the (2) 8 mm nuts holding the bracket to the horns and turn the bracket 180 degrees. Then rotate the horns until the harness and connectors are in a position that will not cause interference with the hose and where there is no stress on the harness. Tighten down the (2) 8 mm nuts and then reinstall the horn assembly with the 7 mm bolt.

Remove the stock bumper valence piece, which can be done easily from the outside with a paint scraper (or similar). Insert a paint scraper behind the part of the bumper valence piece that is towards the middle of the car and use it to pry that side free. Simultaneously, pull on the inside of the foglight blank to free the other side (towards outside of car). The valance piece will pop-out easily.

Insert the hose from the front of the car and check for hose clearance. Also note in this photo that there is no reason to cut the foglight mounts. They do not in any way interfere with the hose. In fact, they fit perfectly against the hose and help secure it in place.

6. Remove brake caliper. Remove the (2) 15 mm bolts that hold the brake caliper to the brake carrier. Use a bungee cord (or similar) to support the weight of the brake caliper. I suspended the caliper from the front spring. Never allow the weight of the caliper to be supported by the brake line! This can cause a failure of the brake line, resulting in catastrophic brake failure!

7. Remove brake rotor. The rotor might have these retaining clips that keep the rotor snug against the hub when the wheel is off. I don’t know how to remove these properly, so I used a paint scraper, a flat-head screwdriver, and lots of swearing. After I worked them away from the rotor, I found I could rotate them off. I’m not a fan of unthreaded metal clips on my wheel studs, nor the risk of galling the threads while I am trying to work the clips off. If they were plastic, I would probably like them, but since they aren’t all that useful, I did not reinstall them.

8. Remove splash guard. Remove the (3) 10 mm bolts holding the splash guard to the brake carrier assembly.

9. Install the new backing plate with (3) new 12 mm bolts (included with kit) and torque to 15 ft.-lb.

10. Slide the brake cooling hose over the backing plate and secure with hose clamp (included with kit).

11. Secure hose to body with tie wrap (included in kit). Optionally, you can tie wrap the hose to the anti roll bar. Cut or grind down the plastic undertray shark fins that might cut or abrade the hose.

12. Cut excess hose length from front of car. Make sure there is enough free play in the hose to accommodate wheels turned to full lock (both directions) and the suspension at both full droop and full compression. You could skip this step until both sides are done and free play has been fully tested to your satisfaction. Install brake cooling hose to bumper valence insert and secure with hose clamp (included with kit). Push bumper valence insert firmly into place.

13. Cut inner fender liner to clear brake cooling hose. I followed a natural straight line that was in the liner, but it wasn’t quite enough and I had to make another cut to adequately clear the hose. This photo also gives a better view of my tie wrap point and how it holds the hose up off of the cut shark fin.

14. Reinstall inner fender liner.

15. Reinstall brake rotor.

16. Reinstall brake caliper. Apply blue Loctite and torque (2) 15 mm bolts to 85 ft.-lb.

17. Reinstall wheel. Torque (5) 13/16″ lug nuts to 98 ft.-lb.

18. Lower car and recheck all clearance points for interference and free-play.

Instructions for the Right (Passenger) Side:

Instructions for the left (driver) side of the car apply to the right (passenger) side of the car, except that instead of relocating the horn (Step 5), you might want to relocate the windshield washer reservoir. This requires some additional hardware (available at your favorite big box hardware store):

(2) M6-1.0 x 50 mm bolts
(3) 6 mm flat washers
(1) 6 mm lock nut
(2) 1/2 x .194 x 1″ nylon spacer (I had to drill these out a bit to fit the M6 bolts.)
Drill

I recommend completely removing the windshield washer reservoir, installing the brake cooling kit, and then reinstalling the reservoir with new 1″ spacers. The reservoir is mounted to the car with (2) 10 mm bolts and (1) 10 mm nut that is attached to a removable stud. After removing the hardware, pull the washer pump straight up and out of the reservoir and remove the reservoir.

For the left side mount, first remove the stud by sliding it to the right and then pulling it out. From the backside, thread the new long bolt through the same hole, making sure that you use a washer to keep it from pulling through. Thread the nylon spacer onto the bolt, followed by the mounting tab of the reservoir. Secure with a washer and locking nut.

For the right side, thread the new long bolt (and washer) through the front of the mounting tab, then through the nylon spacer, and then tighten into the speed-nut that is in the factory mounting location.

For the upper mount, drill the upper mounting tab and secure using the factory hardware and mounting point. Press the washer pump back into the reservoir and refill.

This the location of the filler neck after the relocation.

Moving the windshield washer reservoir just 1″ allowed enough clearance for the brake cooling hose.

Test and Verify Fitment!

After a couple of days, I checked the fitment of the kit and discovered that on the right side, the wheel had come in contact with the hose and pushed it under a part of the body that then began to saw into the hose. So, I cut the tie wrap that secured the hose to the body, but left the hose tie-wrapped to the front sway bar. This allowed the hose to sit lower and avoid contact with the body. Things move around in there and it wouldn’t take much to destroy an expensive cooling hose, so go for a test drive and then verify that there is still adequate clearance.

Cost: $215

3. Transmission Cooling Scoop

Ford Racing p/n: M-5025-MBR (yes, it’s just a baking pan that has been welded to a steel dowel).

Installation requires removing the (4) 15 mm nuts that hold the rear support brace to the subframe. Replace the rear support brace with the cooling scoop. Install the (4) nuts and torque to 46 ft.-lb.

Cost: $95

4. Rear Splash Guard Delete

Ford Racing recommends removing the rear splash guards for better cooling of the rear brakes. Like the fronts, the rear splash guards are secured with (3) 10 mm bolts. Unlike the fronts, there is enough room between the rotor and the splash guard to fit a 10 mm wrench in-between to remove the bolts, so no need to remove the rear caliper. Remove the bolts, remove the splash guard, reinstall the wheel. Torque (5) 13/16″ lug nuts to 98 ft.-lb.

Cost: Free!

In an upcoming chapter, I will have a Boss 302R wing installed and painted.

J I M M Y

1. Airbag Sticker Delete

The first mod to any car that I own is the removal of the obnoxious airbag warning stickers from the sun visors (always present on the driver’s side, too, just in case you are strapping your baby in to drive and you look up to see that your baby should never ever drive an airbag-equipped car).

Cost: Free!

2. LED Lights

I replaced the map lights, trunk light, and license plate lights with LEDs from HIDguy.com. This made a huge improvement all around, especially with the interior lights. The first time I opened the door at night with the new lights, I thought I was being abducted by aliens. The intense white light looks modern and more appropriate for a brand new car, especially one which already has such nice instrument panel lighting. This mod is a must.

Cost: $43.

3. Alcantara* Shift Boot

In every other sports car that has ever been equipped with an Alcantara-covered steering wheel, at a minimum, the shift boot has also been Alcantara. For the Boss, Ford has the steering wheel covered in fake suede, the shift boot made out of fake leather, and the parking brake boot made out of some other kind of fake leather. Look, the collar should match the cuffs. It’s as simple as that. It isn’t as if any of this were actual leather, it is just three different kinds of fake leather. Why couldn’t they be the same? Was there a cost savings somewhere? Are there really grades of polyvinyl chloride fake leather?

Anyway, this bugged me, so I ordered a new shift boot and parking brake boot from www.redlinegoods.com, a Polish company. That’s right, to get a proper shift boot for my American car, I had to have one shipped from Poland. Well, good on them, because I am very pleased with their service and with the quality of their work. Instructions for installation are here, but I have added larger photos and a few extra comments here.

1. Remove the shift knob by rotating it counter clockwise. That’s all that Redline tells you, but you need to know something about that shift knob, or you are likely to get a hernia. It’s held on with blue Loctite. That’s right, Ford fitted this car with a Chinese transmission made from the melted-down pots and pans of dead dissidents and it’s almost certainly destined to fall apart faster than a student protest. But by God they don’t want that shift knob falling off. No sir.

Check the forums for ideas on how to remove the shift knob. You might get a musclehead friend or somebody on PCP who doesn’t feel pain. You also might try applying heat to break the Loctite bond. A rubber-strap oil filter wrench might work, too. I’m not going to tell you what I did, but let’s just say that now I have to order a new shift knob.

2. Open the storage compartment and then pull the center console trim piece by pulling up here. It will unclip easily. Unplug the traction control/hazard/trunk release connector and remove the trim piece, sliding the boot over the gear change lever.

3. Remove the shift boot by unclipping the plastic mounting ring from the indicated clips.

4. Once the shift boot has been removed from the center console trim, use a putty knife, gasket scraper, or flathead screwdriver to remove to separate the shift boot from the plastic mounting ring.

5. I used a hot glue gun to glue the new boots to the plastic mounting rings. Because hot glue guns are dangerous, I had a safety officer present.

6. Detail. This is from the parking brake boot. In this area, the fitment can be very tight. In my case, the fabric was pulled so tightly at the bottom that it began to curl and it would not adhere. So, I made a 2-3mm cut in the fabric at the bottom, which was just enough to alleviate the tension and allow the fabric to lay flat and adhere to the plastic ring.

7. I used binder clips to clamp the boot to the plastic ring after I had applied the hot glue. They worked perfectly.

8. The finished boots!

I am very pleased with the quality of these pieces, but I have to say that the change is so subtle, that most will find this mod not worth the trouble. Also, the boots do not exactly match the color of the steering wheel. The boots are closer to black, while the steering wheel is a charcoal grey. In fact, to my eye, there is even a little bit of almost purple tint to the steering wheel cover. Anal retentive detail oriented people might try to wash or fade the material to get a closer match and folks with serious issues could just send the company a spare steering wheel and have them find the dye lot with the closest match. The original pieces didn’t match in color either, so I’m just happy that the material looks the same. The difference is subtle, but pleasing to me.

* I am using Alcantara generically, because it is easier than saying faux suede. Alcantara is a brand name and only the faux suede on the Recaro seats is actually Alcantara. Neither the steering wheel cover nor the boots provided by Redline Automotive Accessories Corp. are made from Alcantara.

Cost: $78

4. Window Tint

My car sits outside during the day, while I am at work and I live in Texas. That means window tint is mandatory. I took my car to Dave Angenend at Sideways Auto Salon and he tinted my windows with 30% Wincos film, a new Japanese product that features very high heat rejection, no RF interference, and a lifetime warranty.

Wincos-30:

Visible Light Transmitted 34%
Visible Light Reflected 5%
Solar Energy Transmitted 22%
Solar Energy Reflected 5%
Solar Energy Absorption 73%
IR Rejection 92%
UV Ray Rejection 99%+
Total Solar Energy Rejected 53%

Dave managed the up-sell, because he happened to catch me during the hottest Summer in Texas history. Worth every penny. The film works as advertised, is the perfect tint level for me, and looks beautiful on the car.

Cost: $375

5. License Plate

The standard Texas license plate is an atrocity. It looks like a 3rd-grader’s art project (don’t bother with the emails, 3rd-graders). Luckily, there are lots of options available for a modest fee. I selected this popular design, which fits nicely with the Boss livery.

Cost: $55

6. Stereo

The Boss comes with the base stereo and no option to upgrade from the factory. There is a head unit, AM/FM, CD, aux input and four 6×8 speakers. The bass is muddy and the sound is terrible. I took my car back to Dave Angenend at Sideways Auto Salon and he hooked me up with a nice mid-range upgrade. Dave said there was no reason to replace the head unit for sound quality reasons, until I moved even further towards high-end speakers (or if I wanted more functions and features). I like this, because the car retains a completely stock appearance, until you look in the trunk (more on that in a moment).

Easily, the most important upgrade was to replace the front speakers with Hybrid Audio Technology 6.5″ Imagine Series speakers. The front sound stage is now clean and crystal clear. Just like tires are ultimately the most important performance components of a car, the front speakers are the most important performance components of a car audio system. If you have a limited budget, put all of your money there.

The stock 6x8 door speaker. Photo: Sideways Auto Salon

Constructing a frame to fit a round peg into a square(ish) hole. Photo: Sideways Auto Salon

The Hybrid Imagine. Photo: Sideways Auto Salon

A Diamond Audio 10″ subwoofer, and a Diamond Audio D300.4 (50 x 4 watt) amplifier round-out the modifications. The stock rear speakers are still driven by the head unit and are retained to provide fill, if so desired.

The amplifier is mounted on the back of the fold-down back seat. I admit that I didn’t specify where I wanted the amp and I don’t like it here. It’s fine for now, but I will most likely move it later.

The seat has to be folded down in order to access the amplifier controls.

A subwoofer enclosure could have been built into the car, which would have looked better and taken less trunk space, but I specified an enclosure that could be easily removed for track days. To keep the enclosure from moving around the trunk, I made a couple of tethers that snap to the underside of the package shelf and then to the front of the sub box.

This system can be reproduced with more reasonably-priced components for just a few hundred dollars and it will still be a vast improvement over stock. I invested in higher-priced components and am very happy. The front speakers are especially pleasing to me. Clear, transparent, and they never seem to be straining at any frequency or volume level. Sometimes I catch myself grinning, not because of the music itself, but rather because of how well the speakers are handling the music. The sub is nice for really deep tones, but the stock rears can’t keep-up with the mid-bass. So, I will probably swap those at some point, put them on the current amp with the fronts and then give the sub its own amplifier. For now, this was far-and-away the most expensive mod, but for something I use every day, it was well worth it.

Cost: $1100

In the next chapter, I will install a few performance-oriented modifications.

J I M M Y

Leading Theory

I found the answer with the help of Harry’s GPS Lap Timer, which is an inexpensive, but very nice little data acquisition system that Andrew Bianchi bought and which we evaluated during this race. One of the nice features is the ability to overly the GPS plot lines onto Google Maps. So, the end of Lap 86 looked like this:

1. It clearly shows that I drove straight off of the track. I was not trying to save a botched turn.

2. I was going 64 mph when I went off, which also supports 1. To end-up on the inside of the track, because of a botched turn, would have meant an almost inconceivable tank-slapper that would have burned a lot of speed. 64 mph is consistent with my speeds at that point on earlier laps.

3. Most importantly, it gives a clue to the most plausible explanation for what happened. In the dim light afforded to me, the road repair patch at the track-out of Turn 3, looked to me to be the edge of the track. The road patch mimics the size, shape, and shade of the actual track-out point (A vs. B).

Assuming that on a previous good lap, I hit the track-out point of Turn 3 (A) correctly, we can adjust for the GPS inaccuracy of the “Correct Line” in the illustration above, correcting it so that the line intersects that track-out point. If we adjust the Lap 86 plot accordingly (intersecting B), we can see what happened. I thought the road patch was the edge of the track and I thought I was a few meters to the left of where I actually was. After finishing the turn, I wanted to take a defensive line on the inside of Turn 4, so I pointed the car to the right side of the track, but I immediately ran out of track, even sooner than the uncorrected GPS plot line shows.

If it seems like I’m working too hard to analyze this event and hypothesize a reasonable causation for it, it’s probably because I don’t like the alternate theory.

Alternate Theory

I suck at driving.

Site Survey

After the race, Peter Haas took Kang Lee and myself on a site survey to see if we could find any clues that would explain the extensive damage to the car.

In this photo, we can plainly see the tire tracks going off into the field. While there are some minor undulations, overall the field seems fairly level. Certainly, it seems like it should be no problem for an Audi quattro with good ground clearance.

Oh. Kang finds the problem.

The right-front tire went into the culvert and the cow-catcher dug into the ground. The cow-catcher then folded-up under the car and most likely broke the oil pan and oil cooler. If I had been one meter to the left, nothing would have happened. I would have slowed the car, driven back onto the track, and continued the race. Ten minutes later and I would have had help from the early morning sunlight and the accident most likely would not have happened. Heartbreaking.

Here is a piece of the oil pan and the resultant oil spill.

Jimmy works the accident scene. Photo: Kang Lee

The ground-catcher. Photo: Kang Lee

Here is the cow-catcher on the car. It was designed to help hold the front-end of the car together as well as provide some protection from minor offs. Without a skid plate, it dug into the earth, bent back, and caused critical damage to the car. A point of team debate – the nosecone provided a skid plate for the cow-catcher. How did the decision to run without the nosecone affect the results of this accident?

The damaged cow-catcher and a gallery of other stuff that I busted.

Notice the tight door seam tolerances. They exceed normal German build quality so much that the passenger door no longer opens. Also, the wheel does not belong there. It should be centered in the wheel well. Got caster?

A Tribute

Even though we finished the race in this car, everyone agrees that it is finished. This car was totaled years ago, but through the will and hard work of our race team, the car lived-on giving the team years of fun and adventure. It was a good car and she will be missed.

J I M M Y

The 18-Hour ChumpCar Challenge at TWS was a new challenge for our team. Usually, our race weekends are broken-up into two races of seven hours or so, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. The break in between allows for repair work on the car, a good meal, and a good night’s sleep for the team. The 18-hour race would, by far, be our longest race to date. It would also be our first race at TWS and perhaps most importantly, it would be our first night race. To beat the substantial, record-breaking Texas Summer heat, the race would begin at 4 pm on Saturday and finish at 10 am on Sunday morning. There would be no scheduled service time for the car, no good meals, and little to no sleep for the team.

The new challenges were exciting and the team agreed to sign-up for the race. The race car was still good from the last ChumpCar race in November, so all we really had to do was add some lights, fill the car with oil and gasoline, and go racing. But the race wasn’t for months and the team, unable to cope with the boredom of a ready-to-race vehicle, got ambitious. Texas World Speedway (TWS), in College Station, Texas, is a high-speed track, but the Audi was a low-speed brick, without any front bodywork. It was worse than a brick. It was a parachute that was slowing us down. So, we all agreed that the car could benefit from some aerodynamic assistance.

After much debate about the design, Andrew and Kang fabricated a new nosecone for the front of the car. Taking a lesson from Audi Sport and the R8/R10 race cars, the design was one-piece and featured the ability to be removed quickly, in case the car needed to be serviced during the race. The design also featured an air dam set far back towards the front wheels, which prevented air from passing underneath the car, but which still allowed the car to be put on a trailer, without removing the new front end. The sheet metal-over-aluminum-frame construction, ensured that the nosecone would slice through fingers as easily as it sliced through the air. The nosecone was unpainted to save weight. It was brilliant.

The engineering marvel that is our new nose cone. This is an hommage to the Auto Union Streamliner, whose aerodynamic peculiarities were responsible for the death of Bernd Rosemeyer, one of the greatest Grand Prix drivers in history. Somehow, we thought this was a good idea.

1938 Auto Union Streamliner

There was also much contentious debate about the headlights. In my first email on the subject, I told the team we should buy four rally lights, put them on the hood of the car, and call it a night. But that plan was deemed too cheap, and too easy. Instead, over the course of months, the team acquired two BMW headlights from a junkyard and two fog lights from an auto parts store. The headlight housings had to be painstakingly disassembled to accept the custom brackets that also had to be fabricated, in order to fit the lights into our twisted car. Finally, after months of trial and error, metal fabrication, and custom wiring, we had our lights. They were terrible. The drivers would have been better off wearing those reading glasses with the LED lights built into the temples.

The rally lights on a Porsche 944. How stupid is THAT?

There was more than the usual contention going on with the team. Despite the high effort by a few people, overall, I felt like the team was suffering from a general malaise. To some degree, this was understandable. Significant events were occurring in the lives of the team. In the months before the race, I was distracted by more overseas travel for work, Mike was starting a new business, and Ryan was busy with a new job and the impending birth of his first child. In fact, he would have to sit-out the race, because it so closely coincided with the due date.

Race preparation had followed its usual trend, with relaxed work for months and a sudden push at the end to get everything done. The team’s experimentation with anarchy (or extreme libertarianism, if you like), continued its predictable spiral downwards into the worst disorganization (and resultant frustration) we have suffered so far. When I showed-up at the hangar on Friday morning, the car wasn’t ready, the tow truck wasn’t ready, nothing was packed, and nobody was around. Vehicle safety inspection started three hours from then, at a track that was two-and-a-half hours away. I was livid.

Our race car in the safety inspection station.

Seven hours later we rolled-up to the track. It was a rough seven hours. There was yelling. But in the end, we got the car to inspection under the wire and without any bloodshed, except that caused by the front-end of the car. The inspection itself went very well, but then the inspector walked over. “So, do you have your AIV?” he asked.

“I don’t know what that is,” I said.

“Who is the team captain?” he asked.

“I am.”

“Did you read the rule book?” He smiled, but I could see him mentally wagging his finger at me.

“Yep.”

“Well, do you have your AIV?”

“I still don’t know what that is.”

“Your vehicle valuation.”

I slapped my forehead and we shared a big laugh at my dull witlessness. But, I was in no mood to cope with someone spouting jargon and lingo at me. I needed straight talk, so I stopped laughing and returned the favor, “No. We don’t have one of those.”

The inspector’s expression changed. I recognized it from years of looking my teachers right in the eye and telling them that no, I had not done my homework and no, I didn’t have an excuse, I just couldn’t be bothered to do it. The truth was that we actually had a detailed valuation book, but it was just one of the many things we had forgotten and left at home. I didn’t think an excuse would matter one way or another, so I didn’t offer one. The inspector did not look happy. He set-off on his own to figure the value of our car. That was a problem. The way ChumpCar does that is by finding cars for sale on the Internet and using those prices as a basis for valuation. As it happens, we drive an extremely rare car. In fact, there was only one to be found for sale on the Internet and sure enough, the lunatic wanted $4000 for it! Convincing the inspector that our car was only worth $500 would be tricky. Luckily, Eric arranged for Ken to bring the book the next day and the inspector agreed to do the valuation assessment at that time.

With the most difficult part of the inspection process behind us, we began setting-up our garage space. We had missed the deadline for picking up the rental trailer, where we would sleep. Eric had called from the road and the proprietors had said that they were just about to close. They explained that they had an engagement and that they would meet us to pick-up the trailer at 10:30 pm. I thought that was a little weird, but I guess they had to go honky-tonkin’ and such. Nice of them to meet us after. Anyway, that made for a relaxed evening and I spent some time capturing photos of an unusual sunset.

Our 1978 Dodge Prospector tow vehicle. Because towing a $500 ChumpCar racer with a $44,000 Ford F-350 looks stupid. The light show is caused by the reflection of the sun off of the Arctic ice cap. This phenomenon is rarely seen as far south as Texas.

After the sun had fallen, we had just enough time to drive around the paddock a couple of times to check our lights. Unfortunately, the paddock area was lit and it was difficult to assess anything. We also ran out of time, because we learned that the gate closed at 10 pm. We would either be locked-in or locked-out. Since we weren’t scheduled to pick-up the trailer until 10:30 pm, we were going to be locked-out. If anything went wrong with the delivery, we would need to find a room, or face sleeping on the side of the road.

The RV and trailer rental business was run out of the owner’s house, rather than a commercial storefront. On the way to his house, I got a little nervous, because after 15 or 20 minutes of driving through the country, we passed through a sketchy area that looked like it might be the meth capital of Brazos County. But, we arrived at the man’s house and found it on a beautiful piece of property. The trailers themselves appeared to be very clean and well kept. The owner was a good ol’ boy, very nice, helpful, and professional (his mullet and the drink that never left his hand, notwithstanding.) He showed us around the trailer, helped us get hooked-up to the truck, did some paperwork, and we were on our way. We had a late dinner at Chili’s, did a Wal-Mart run, and camped in the trailer, parked right outside of TWS. The trailer was clean and comfortable. Most importantly, the air conditioning was ice cold. I drifted-off easily and slept well until morning. And that would be the last time I slept for almost 32 hours.

Saturday morning came earlier than I had hoped. As nice as the trailer was, it was not light proof and the early morning sun blasted me awake. Eric and Bill were already up and trying to find the keys to the truck. An hour later, they found the keys, stowed the generator, packed-up the trailer, and drove a few hundred meters to our paddock space, where we set it up all over again. No matter, the race didn’t start until 4 pm and the day was very relaxed. Throughout the day, the rest of the team arrived and got checked-in while Eric and I spent most of the day waiting in the registration line. We also got the car valuation. Even with our records, the car was awarded five penalty laps. We made a donation to charity to make them go away. We would be starting square.

Andrew and Mark outside our rented team headquarters. Photo: Kang Lee

Even the ChumpCar organizers were relaxed. The race steward didn’t have his drivers’ meeting until about ten minutes before the start of the race. As soon as it was over, we got Andrew suited-up and had a quick team prayer. Then we got Andrew strapped into the car and a few minutes later – we were racing!

Ultra-rare photo of the Audi on-track with the experimental front end. Andrew takes the car onto the front straight. Photo: Kang Lee

As hard as this might be to believe, the new front end had never actually been tested in a wind tunnel, nor had we used Finite Element Analysis for its design. In fact, we had never even bothered to drive the car with it attached to the car at all. The first test came in the Unintended Acceleration Hillbilly Wind Tunnel™ which is when we towed the car to the track on an open trailer. That test actually did produce some deformity in the sheet metal, but it stayed attached to the car, so we called it a success. As Andrew circulated the car around the track, we looked for signs of nosecone instability. The worst-case scenario was that it would detach and cause damage to our car, or someone else’s car. But there was no sign of movement from the front end and no hint that the new aerodynamics would catapult the car into the air like a Mercedes LMP. Andrew reported that the car was good, or at least he would have if the radios had been working properly.

Reassured that the car was going to hold together and confident in Andrew, who is one of our safest drivers, I settled-in for the long night. I started to scrounge around for some food. Then, less than an hour later after the race started, Eric walked-up to me and said the same thing that the team says to me at every race, “They are towing our car in.”

Ken gets the story from Andrew.

Back in the paddock, Andrew told us what had happened. It was bad. He had suddenly lost power and when he looked down at the gauges, it showed there was no oil pressure. He stopped the car immediately and waited for help. At some point after he had stopped the car, the car also overheated. Expecting the worst, we pulled the front-end off of the car to get a better look.

Eric debriefs Andrew, while Ken, Mike, Mark, and Peter pull the front-end.

Jimmy posts an update for the Facebook fans, while Eric troubleshoots. Photo: Kang Lee

The radiator overflow...overflowed.

Naturally, everything was covered with rusty water from the radiator. After the engine cooled a bit, the Fluhrs performed some basic troubleshooting tests and determined that the engine was gone. Later, metal shavings in the oil pan would confirm our suspicions. We gathered around for a quick team meeting. In the shortest debate in Unintended Acceleration history, we agreed that a team should go back to Austin and get the engine from the other car. Meanwhile, the rest of us would stay back, pull the blown engine, and prepare the car for the new mill. We figured the whole swap would take nine hours, which would still leave us eight hours of racing! We dispatched Bill and Eric to Austin. Mark Hergott was suffering from heat stress, so he went back with them. They were on the road in minutes. The rest of the team got to work pulling the dead engine.

Jimmy prepares the operating room, while Eric makes a list of things we need from Austin. Photo: Kang Lee

Who needs an engine hoist? Photo: Kang Lee

Ready for the new engine. Photo: Kang Lee

Dinner at Freebirds. Peter Haas, Mike McGovern, Ken Fluhr, Wadad Fluhr, Butch Bianchi, Andrew Bianchi, Kang Lee, and Jimmy Pribble. Photo: some waiter

With everyone pitching-in, the enginectomy only took about an hour. Bill and Eric wouldn’t be back for hours, so we went into town for dinner at Freebirds, where there was much speculation and debate about the cause of the engine failure. For many, the new nosecone was the primary suspect. Perhaps it had prevented adequate airflow to the radiator. Others of us disagreed, since Andrew reported seeing stable temperatures during his almost hour-long stint. If there had been inadequate airflow, it seemed that a failure would have occurred much more quickly at race speeds.

Back at the track, the debate continued, but there were still many hours to go, so a few people tried to get a little rest. Peter Haas and I walked around and tried to watch some of the race from the carousel and then we went to check-out the Chumpstock bands. I would love to tell you that there was a massive crowd of college-age hippies dropping acid and dancing naked in the mud dust to the sounds of rock music. But I can’t, because there wasn’t. However, there were three children that seemed to enjoy the band.

Hey, do you guys know when Creedance goes on?

A couple of hours later, just after 11 o’clock, Bill and Eric arrived with the engine. We decided to let Ken get every last minute of sleep that he could before waking him, so the rest of us unloaded the engine and hoist, got the engine in front of the car and did as much prep work as we could. Then somebody went and woke-up Ken. It was on. Under Ken’s expert leadership, the team came together and got the engine into the car. Everyone played a part in that effort and I couldn’t have been more proud of the team.

Eric, Mike, and Jimmy unload the engine hoist, while Bill supervises. Photo: Kang Lee

Eric, Kang, and Peter prep the new engine.

Mike aligns the flywheel. This is also a good shot of our bag of snakes exhaust headers. Photo: Kang Lee

Midnight. With one final push from Ken, the engine is in the car. Also, caption contest. Submit entries in the Comments area.

Eric waits for the go-ahead to get back on track.

What do you mean you don't see anything wrong? That is smoke!

The team prepares to release the car.

Eric pulls out of the garage!

Exactly three hours after the engine arrived, Eric was back on track. He took one lap and came back into hot pit lane, just so that we could see if there were any leaks or other problems. Everything checked-out and he was on his way. We were back in the race! Total time lost was 8 hours and 20 minutes. If we had brought the other engine with us, it would have been half that. Lesson learned.

The team was exhausted. It was 2:30 am. Several of us were sitting in our pit area, when I looked over and saw that Andrew and Mike were dozing in their chairs. Peter had gone to sleep in his car and I think Bill was sleeping in the back of the Prospector. Early morning settled-in and covered us like a warm blanket. Sleep beckoned.

Midnight in the Hot Pit of Good and Evil

Around 3:45 am, Eric brought the car in. He reported that the headlights “sucked” which is about the strongest condemnation you will ever hear from Eric. But, he said the car was running well, so that was great news. Kang strapped-in and got on track.

Eric finishes our first full stint of the race. Kang waits on deck.

Kang ran really well, posting some of the fastest lap times and by far the fastest front straight speeds. He was a man possessed. Because everyone was so tired, I asked for volunteers to run the driving stint after Kang. Ken and Mike both declined, saying that they needed some rest. So it would be me then. I suited-up and waited for Kang to come in.

I got in the car around 5 am. We performed a very leisurely pit stop, with a full top-up on fuel. Kang told me that I wouldn’t be able to see anything out there, but that I would adapt. I drove to the end of hot pit lane, turned-in my time card, and accelerated onto the track. I entered at Turn 1, continued to the left-hand Turn 2 at about 70 mph, tracked out, and promptly drove off the track! The faint light patch of ground I had seen wasn’t the edge of the track. It was dirt. In such low light, I couldn’t see the edge of the track! Swell. I steered the car back onto the track and pressed-on. Indeed, Eric’s assessment of the lights (they “sucked”) was inadequate. Well, I was just the man to string together the right combination of foul adjectives to describe the lights and as soon as I got back to our pit, I planned to do just that.

Other than the lights, I had no problems with the car. In fact, the car handled better than it ever had. It was too bad that I couldn’t exploit that handling to turn better lap times. Instead, the good handling was saving me from my spastic driving, late braking, early turn-ins, and other mistakes I was making, because I couldn’t see. After going off track twice, I really dialed it back. I reduced my passing zones to just two and allowed myself to really get held-up by slower traffic. It was frustrating, but I didn’t have a lot of choice. Still, I was coping. Better than that, I was having fun.

Around 5:40 am, I took the right-hand Turn 3, straightened the car for the drive to Turn 4, and drove straight off the track with my foot still planted on the accelerator! It shocked the hell out of me. I went off at such a speed and departure angle that I knew I could not steer back onto the track. My foot came off of the gas and I started to apply the brakes, but I was still going over 60 mph when I hit a culvert. The wheel went into the culvert and the front-end pitched into the ground. The car skidded for a few feet and soon came to a stop. I sat still and did a quick triage of myself. I had taken quite an impact and my neck hurt from snapping forward. Worse, my back felt cold. I was scared that my body was reacting to a serious injury and that I might be going into shock. That’s when I realized that I was only feeling the cold water from my cool suit. I hadn’t noticed it while driving, but sitting still, I felt the ice water circulating around my body. I wiggled my toes and then gave the corner workers a thumbs-up outside the window so they could see that I was OK.

I got on the radio and told Eric, “I’m off. I’m OK, but we’re done.”

He asked me a few questions about the condition of the car and I responded, “We’re done.”

I followed protocol and did not get out of the car. While I waited for the tow truck, I tried to figure-out what had happened. It’s one thing to not be able to see very well, but I thought I had negotiated Turn 3 the same way I always did. Then I straightened the car, apparently thinking I had it pointed in the right direction, but I didn’t. Somehow, I had become unknowingly disoriented about my position on the track. Damned headlights. And then right on cue, the early morning sun started to lighten the sky.

The tow truck pulled-up and the driver ran over with a tow hook. He checked to make sure that I was okay and then he told me the engine had dumped it’s oil. I’m sure that the oil pan was damaged. Then he spent a good five minutes trying to attach the tow hook to something on the front of the car. Clearly, the whole front-end was destroyed. There was nothing left to hook. Eventually, he sorted it out and he began to drag the car back to the paddock. It occurred to me that the wheels were still attached, presumably rolling on inflated tires, the brakes worked, and the steering worked, though it didn’t feel quite right, probably because of the spontaneous, explosive front-end alignment I had given the car. I called back to Eric and told him to start pulling parts off of the old dead engine that we might need to salvage this engine. For sure, we would need the oil pan. I told them that it was a slim chance, but we might be able to save the car again.

We got the car back into the garage and this is what we saw:

Front-end damage. Say, where is our cow catcher?

Mike looks at the new twisty radiator. Photo: Kang Lee

Oil pan and radiator damage. Photo: Kang Lee

Bill woke-up Ken and it was on again. The team rallied a second time. We hadn’t come that far to just give up after a little setback like a totaled car. Ken started the car for a couple of seconds, just to make sure the engine would still run. Once that was confirmed, we set to work. The damage report: the front-end (the “cow catcher”) had been torn off the car. In fact, it had folded under the car and done most of the damage. The radiator, oil pan, oil filter and sandwich adapter, and oil cooler were destroyed. Also, one motor mount and one transmission mount had been broken. Most likely, the subframe and struts were bent.

Ken amused at the new challenge. Note the visible oil pan.

A beautiful morning at TWS.

We pulled the oil pan, oil filter and filter adapter from the old engine. We made a custom hose to take the place of the oil cooler, since we didn’t have a replacement. However, as evidence that we aren’t totally incompetent, we replaced the radiator with an actual spare part that we bring to the races for just such a purpose. We also had a spare motor mount. Imagine that. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a transmission mount, nor did we have a way to attach the front engine snub mount, which was originally secured by the cow catcher. So the engine was held in place by only three of the original five mounting points. The rest of the front end was held together with tow straps. Unconcerned with his safety or well-being, we put Mike in the car and sent him out to evaluate the repairs.

Mike brings the car in for inspection. Nice camber. Photo: Kang Lee

After a lap, Mike brought the car in and told Ken he thought everything was good enough. We sent him back out and he got to drive for a little over an hour.

Finally, it was Ken’s turn. If anyone deserved to drive the car and take the checkered flag, it was Ken. The weekend had been a team effort, but Ken is our primary mechanic and it was under his leadership and superlative skill that we had accomplished what we had. Ken got in the car with about 30 minutes left to race. And then, as if there hadn’t been enough miracles over the weekend, Ken took that knackered car, with wheels pointing every which way, and set the fastest lap times of the weekend.

Ken opens it up on the front straight and gives a thumbs-up as he approaches the checkered flag.

Ken takes the checkered flag! Photo: Kang Lee

Half an hour later, Ken took the checkered flag. We had done it! Not only that, but we weren’t even dead last. To cap it off, we won our very first trophy – an award for mechanical excellence. ChumpCar recognized our team for our never-say-die effort. Perhaps better than that, we had seen the team come together and perform better than it ever had. I have never been more proud to be a part of this team. I want to give special thanks to our support crew: Peter Haas, Butch Bianchi, and Mark Hergott.

Ken holds the Trophy for Mechanical Excellence. Photo: some guy

Unintended Acceleration will return.

J I M M Y

The problem with cars of this performance caliber is that they can only be wrung-out for a second or two on the street before suddenly being deep into “go to jail” territory. I already have enough trouble staying out of jail, because among other reasons, I have a brother who is a cop and he thinks it’s funny to pull me over, hassle me, and otherwise get his payback for all the rotten things I did to him when we were kids. When he found out I was getting a new car, he put out a BOLO (Be On the Lookout) to his department:

Very funny. Police attention was already high this week, even without my brother’s help. On Thursday, I was having lunch with some friends and afterwards, we walked outside so that I could show them the car. There were a couple of police cars parked nearby and when I started showing my friends the car, the Sheriff’s deputies walked-up on us and started asking questions.

It seemed pretty clear that my punk rock girl was getting too much attention in conservative Williamson County and I needed to get her off of public streets. So, on Saturday, I took the Boss to her first track day. I went to Harris Hill Road (H2R) as a guest of my pal, Ryan English. Also joining us was Aaron Sonntag, who was along for some instruction in Ryan’s Miata, as well as being on camera duty.

My plan for the morning was to just take it easy and feel-out the car in a safe environment. I wanted to really start bonding with her. I also wanted to see what the car would be like to drive on the track with almost no track-prep whatsoever. The Boss 302 supplement to the Mustang owner’s manual has two pages of recommended track preparation, which includes things like changing to uprated brake fluid and installing optional accessories from the Ford Racing catalog. I’m sure I will eventually do most of those things to enhance my track driving experience, but Ford claims this car is designed for the track and is track-ready. The whole point of me buying this car is to have something I can drive to the track, drive on the track, and then drive home again, with minimal fuss.

I’m trying to adjust the shocks, but I can’t see, because I forgot my glasses.

I set the tire pressures to the recommended track settings (41 psi hot) and I set the shocks to their recommended track settings (5, all the way around). Actually, I made Ryan crawl in the trunk to adjust the rears, because I couldn’t see them at all. Except for torquing the lug nuts (and other common sense stuff, like emptying the car), that was my track prep. The one and only thing I was worried about was how the stock brake pads would hold-up. In order to meet standards for low noise and low dust, street pad performance is heavily compromised. On the track, they tend to wear quickly and I personally have run street pads down to the backing plates during a track event. The Boss is a fast, heavy car which should be murder on pads. Interestingly, in the recommended track preparation section of the supplement, pad replacement isn’t mentioned at all! However, there is a very lengthy brake pad burnishing procedure outlined for race track driving. My plan was to follow that procedure and report on the brake performance. Unfortunately, I was not able to do that, so I went on the track with no pad bed-in or burnishing, other than from the normal brake use during my work commute.

I followed Ryan out on to the track, where we took it easy for our first session. Ryan figures he was eventually driving to 80% in the Miata, but the Boss never broke a sweat. Turn-in was good and the car felt planted. The car also felt like it was cornering flat, but photos show that there is still some lean, which is no surprise considering the off-road ride height. I set the steering to Sport Mode, which felt good, but not great. I still want for more steering effort and more road feel. Still, the steering was precise and I could very easily place the car where I wanted it on track.

There are two places on the track that require heavy braking from mid-level speed (~100 mph), so I took it easy on those sections. I engaged ABS a few times, but only for a split-second before releasing. Ryan said he could smell my brakes after coming-in for a water break, but the brakes never gave me any warning signs and certainly no outright failures, such as pads fading or fluid boiling. I should also note that it was about 100 F on this day. I never had any engine cooling issues, though we kept the sessions short (for our own cooling) and engine stress was low.

We took a break and then went-out for another session. We decided to keep the same pace, but with the cars and drivers warmed-up, we actually picked it up a little. For the first two sessions, I kept the AdvanceTrac stability control on. I wanted to see how intrusive it was. Honestly, I never felt it at all. I’m certain it was there (because as soon as I turned it off, I got loose a few times), but it was not abrupt or unsettling in any way.

The second session went much like the first. We ran at a quick, but relaxed pace. I was only using 3rd and 4th gears, so the shifter was a non-issue. Good pedal placement and a lightweight flywheel allowed for really nice heel-toe downshifts. Just as I suspected, the Recaro seats were perfect. The car was very comfortable and very easy to drive. I did notice the weight of the wheels on a long sweeper with undulating pavement. The chassis showed no sign of the live axle boogeyman, but the suspension was having a little trouble trouble coping with the bumpy track. I think lighter track wheels would help with this. We finished our second session and took another break.

After one of the first sessions, we parked at the clubhouse and not wanting to use our parking brakes after coming off the track, we drove our front wheels into some gravel to keep the cars from moving. I didn’t drive-in deeply enough and when I got out of the car, it started to roll backwards. So, Ryan and I got behind the car to push it back into the gravel. I stepped forward and put my leg against the hot tailpipe! Damn it hurt, but I didn’t say anything, because I was embarrassed that my car would bite me, right in front of my friends. How am I going to tame this shrew?

She bit me! That kinky little girl bit me!

For our third session, I had Ryan drive the Boss. He climbed into the car and said, “You are out of gas.” What? I had only gone out a couple of times! Sure enough, the fuel light was on. Oh God, she has a drinking problem, too. Of course she does. I see now that she is going to drink away all of my money. The computer still showed almost 30 miles, so Ryan drove for a few minutes. Being a member at H2R, Ryan knows the track like the back of his hand, so riding with him always reminds me of the correct lines, instead of the way I hack through the track. After the refresher course, I dropped him off at his car and I went to go get gas.

When I got back, it was my turn to drive Ryan around the track. This time, I turned the AdvanceTrac stability control off and I started to hustle the car a little bit more. I have been a quattro driver for a long time and I’m used to being able to pin the accelerator very early in a corner exit. Well, I didn’t always respect the loud pedal in the Boss during corner exit and the back of the car came out on me a couple of times. It wasn’t too bad and I managed to recover without spinning, but I will need to learn some respect in that area, making sure that I have my wheel pointed straight when I gently roll-on the throttle. Remember, respect this girl or she will bite.

For the last session of the day, my passenger was Bo Rivers, the owner of the track. He was excited about the Boss and it was the first one he had seen and certainly the first on track at H2R. He was impressed with the noise, the acceleration, and the apparent balance. Now, Bo wasn’t wearing a helmet, so I was taking it easy, but when I went through Turn 1, which is a fast, off-camber kink after the front straight, he commented about how fast we had gone through. I was surprised, because I wasn’t even trying. I certainly wouldn’t try to show-off for Bo, who is a much more experienced driver than me. We had gone through at about 85 mph, but he said most cars couldn’t do that, especially on street tires. Inside, I was beaming with pride at the abilities of my new car.

Soon after, Aaron, Ryan, and myself packed it in and went to Milt’s Pit BBQ for the traditional post-H2R lunch.

Aaron comments on design elements of the 2010+ Mustang redesign.

On Sunday, I took the car to Cars and Coffee, an informal, monthly show-and-shine open to just about every kind of enthusiast car. There are classic hot rods, sports cars, European exotics, and American muscle cars. The event is organized just enough to make it safe and comfortable for everyone. I had never been to one, but since I probably had one of the first few Bosses in Austin, I thought it would be nice to show it off for people to see, especially while it was still nice and new.

When I drove-in, I was directed to an area with other Mustangs. I parked and then caught-up with my friends Andrew, Kang, Shawn, Mike, Michelle, and Mo. Andrew had brought his Cobra and Kang had brought his 911, remarkably, the only one at the show! We walked around a bit and enjoyed the interesting offerings. A live band played and it was a really nice way to spend a Sunday morning, except that it was basically like standing on the surface of Mercury. Even the shade offered very little relief. Cars and Coffee will be a lot more fun this Fall.

Just as I suspected, I had the only Boss 302 and it was getting its fair share of attention. But about an hour later, a black Laguna Seca showed-up! I chatted with the owner and he said that he had only had the car for about two weeks. After a space opened-up, I shuffled my car so that it was next to the LS.

It was a big first week for me and The Boss. We had a short road trip, daily work commutes, a track day, and a show and shine. I continue to adore this car and it is as good as I had hoped. Actually, it’s better. All the things I thought would be good are good, but the few things that I thought would be a concern, were washed away in the visceral joy of driving her. I am especially looking forward to more track time and letting this Mustang run.

J I M M Y

Damn. How could I be so far away? Still, the car existed, in Kona Blue, and the dealer was sticking to his story that he would sell it to me. Everything was falling into place, but I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even though I couldn’t think of anything else that could go wrong, I didn’t release the deposit I had on the second Boss. Not yet.

Finally, on Saturday, June 25, Mrs. Pribble and I made the 230 mi. trip to McKinney, Texas to pick-up the car. That’s four hours on IH35 and another hour in Dallas, so yeah, it was miserable. But as we broke-through to the South Central Expressway and eventually saw the dealership, the excitement washed away the badness that had come before. I scanned the lot. “There it is,” I said jumping out of the truck almost before it had stopped.

This was the first time I saw my Boss. Actually, it was the first time I had seen any Boss. To me, it looked like a jewel, lying in the sand. The Kona Blue popped in the bright sunlight so much more than these photos show. It was brilliant. I knew that I had done the right thing to fight for this color.

We walked around the blue Boss, clucking and purring about how beautiful it was. And it was. It was so much better than I had even hoped. I was awestruck. My wife hugged the car. Then we went inside and there was another Boss! They still had the red one, on which I had initially and inadvertently placed my deposit. Even in the short time that we were in the dealership, the red Boss was getting a lot of attention and several people sat in the car. I made sure to snap the number plate (#722) for the registry. It occurred to me then, that I didn’t even know the number of my own car.

I set that aside for the moment and completed the transaction with the dealer. All of the work had really been done beforehand and everyone was on their game. I signed a couple of papers, made-out the biggest personal check I have ever signed in my life, and we were shaking hands and starting the car in less than 15 minutes. The only reason we were there longer was for chit-chat and taking photos. I have to credit to Butch Millican, Ron Rojas, and Bob Tomes Ford for a pleasant buying and delivery experience.

We left the dealership and set-off to see my pal, Charles Braden. As it happens, Charles and his family only live about 10 minutes from the dealership and in that short period of time that it took to drive there, I saw two people fumbling with their camera-phones, trying to snap the Boss while they were driving, and then before we got out of Dallas, I saw four other people visibly gawking at the car. One carload of people passed me and then swung their heads so violently to catch a look out the back window, that they looked like the little girl from The Exorcist.

Charles was excited of course. We crawled all over the car together, looking at all of the subtle details, and it again occurred to me that I didn’t even know the serial number of the car. Of course, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m not buying the car as a collectible and besides, as others have said – if it isn’t #1, then it’s just a number. Still, for the Boss, the number is almost a name. So, we opened the hood and took a look at the punk rock girl’s dogtag:

#926

We went inside to cool-off and Charles had kindly put some pre-recorded Boss racing on TV. We visited for about an hour and then drove home. The drive was tiring and uneventful. I was still exhausted from a week of jet-lag, so it was all I could do to keep my eyes open and not crash my car on the first day. I tried to vary my speed from time-to-time, falling behind Mrs. Pribble and then dropping down a gear to catch back up. The car pulled effortlessly and sounded great doing it.

Much has been written about the special exhaust system on the Boss. It’s a four-way (quad) exhaust, with the main flow going out two tailpipes, but there are also two side pipes that exit in front of the rear tires. These side pipes help give the Boss exhaust a unique signature sound. However, these side pipes are also corked from the factory in order to meet noise standards. Some people have claimed that the exhaust is plenty loud as-is, but I would disagree. I found the exhaust was much more quiet than I expected. Too quiet, even. Luckily, the attenuation plates used to partially block-off the side pipes are easy to remove. So, on Sunday, I did just that.

Each side pipe is secured with just one bolt and two nuts. I jacked-up the car and removed the side pipes.

Oh, look at all of the exhausts that were trying to escape out of that little tunnel. Amnesty International would not approve at all. Give those exhausts their freedom!

Removing the disks made a huge difference! The sound of the car is glorious – a loud, growling trumpet sounded from one of the four Mustangs of the Apocalypse! And yet, I can lug the car around my quiet neighborhood without any fuss. It really is a brilliant factory exhaust. I’m sure some will want to modify it, but I just don’t see the need.

Quick notes and first impressions from the logbook:

• The Recaro seats are a perfect fit for me (5′ 11″, 175 lbs.). Completely supportive and comfortable. They did not fatigue me in any way on the four hour drive home from the dealership and I expect that they will perform admirably at the track.
• The steering wheel is good, but not perfect. It’s handsome looking and the mouse fur is comfortable, but the rim needs to be thicker and the wheel needs to be just a little smaller in diameter. Also, when at 9 and 3, my palms fall directly on the spokes of the wheel, which have no grip. Looks great, doesn’t feel quite right. Radio controls are nice.
• The shifter is balky. It is an extremely tight short shifter, but it’s definitely not slick. Many owners are reporting trouble with the 1-2 shift. I’m actually getting hung-up on the lame 5-6 shift. That’s not a performance issue for me, but it is annoying. Also, the Boss does come with the skip-shift feature. I thought I would hate this, but since I do, in fact, drive like a little old man most of the time, I’m finding that it isn’t bothering me. The shift knob itself is nice, though it doesn’t fall as easily to my hand as I would like.
• The steering and clutch are light. Very light. This might be my biggest surprise of all. I was expecting a muscle car that required…you know, a little muscle. Nope. If this were an automatic, my mom could drive this car. I would prefer too light over too heavy, but I would be happy with another 10% effort on the steering and clutch. The electrically-assisted steering does have some adjustability, but I haven’t tested that yet.
• Pedals are setup nicely for heel-toe downshifting, but there is no dead pedal. Sigh. C’mon guys.
• The chime that sounds when I put the key into the ignition, sounds like my washing machine.
• The tilt-steering lever sticks out from the bottom of the steering column, so that when I am getting out of the car, as my leg swings under the steering column, my knee cap smacks right into it. Bloody painful! I suppose I could tilt the steering wheel all the way up when I get out of the car, but I have never been that guy. I like things to stay where I set them. The lever should be relocated to the side of the steering column. While they are at it, they can go ahead and add a telescoping adjustment feature, too (Hint: put that lever on the other side of the steering column).
• I don’t like the funhouse rear-view mirror. Why are all of those skinny clown cars chasing me? Help!
• Not that I had any choice in taking them, but for $500, I expected the floor mats to be made of Panda fur. They aren’t.
• No surprise, but the back seat is a lie.

I can (and will) nit-pick all day. This list is only scratching the surface. I expect to do a more detailed review after I have driven the car for awhile. But make no mistake, this is a fantastic car. I simply love it.

jimmy

After my public wailing and gnashing of teeth, another helpful forum member found three more cars that hadn’t been on my previous list. But with an imminent business trip overseas, I had no time to make anything happen, even if I could find an unclaimed car for MSRP. I looked at the leads. One was in Kansas City and two were in Texas. Alright, I would call the dealers in Texas and then move on.

First up was a dealer in Arlington. To my surprise, things fell into place quickly. The dealer found the car in his system and after a check to make sure that nobody had already claimed it, he said we were free to deal on it. I told him that I already had a car for MSRP, so I wasn’t going to pay anything over. He seemed agreeable to that and emailed me the complete pricing, including TT&L. Sure enough, it was MSRP. I printed it out, signed it, scanned it, and emailed it back. I couldn’t believe it was really happening. I was ecstatic! The dealer said he would call back to get my credit card information for the deposit. I sent a text to my wife – I think it is happening! And then I got the email from the dealer saying that I had been punk’d. He took the deal to the GM for his signature and he said they needed more money. They had given me a price, asked for my word by way of a signature, and then tried to shake me down for more money. They had also wasted half of my day doing this. I was so full of righteous fury that I briefly caught on fire.

With nothing left to lose, I called the last dealer, located in McKinney, Texas. This would be it. The Hail Mary. It didn’t start well. I called the number that was on the website and it rang at some guy’s house! He told me he wouldn’t be in that day and that I should call his partner. “He should be at work,” he said. Sigh. So, I called his partner, Butch. Nice enough fella, but he didn’t know anything about a Boss and he would have to ask the GM if anybody had put any money down on it. Unfortunately, the GM only worked until 10 am that day. Somebody kill me. Butch promised to call me back the next day. Whatever. This didn’t seem like it was going to amount to anything. I was making my peace.

The next day, he didn’t call back. Honestly, no surprise, so I blew it off. I had work to do. Then today, being the Friday before Memorial Day, I decided to call Butch back, just to get this over and done. I left a message and he called back, saying that everything looked good. Sure enough, they had a Boss coming-in and nobody had claimed it. I could leave a deposit immediately. I told him I wouldn’t let him off the phone until he had taken my money. He took a few nerve-racking minutes finding out if they accepted American Express, but he finally said that it was good, he took my information, and he sent me the receipt. I signed the receipt and sent it back. I won’t lie, it was like deja vu all over again, but this time, actual money had exchanged hands. Did that mean anything? I don’t know. I’m not a lawyer. I thought signed contracts meant something. I was learning all kinds of new things and none of them were giving me any confidence in this transaction. Still, everything seemed correct.

Butch promised another email with information about my car. An hour passed. Then another. Uh oh. Then my phone rang. It was Butch. Where was my email? Why was he calling me? I knew the moment that he started talking that something was wrong. “Mr. Pribble, I started looking through the paperwork on this car and..well sir…this car isn’t blue, it’s red.” You know those depth-of-field rack shots in the movies where the person stands in shock, while the background looks like it gets further and further away? Yeah, that happened to me. Butch sent me the paperwork and sure enough, it said Race Red. Maybe my lead was wrong. Maybe my helpful forum member had made a mistake. This was a disaster. I sent a PM back to the tipster asking if he had more details on the order. I explained what happened and said I needed his help. I had no idea who this guy was, so I might not even hear from him again. But, he responded in less than five minutes. He sent a link to the window sticker and said, “Doesn’t say red to me…” I sent the link back to Butch and asked him to look into it. Then I waited. I saw that the VIN numbers were different. Butch said they only had one Boss coming. Maybe the blue car was going to a different dealer. It might have been one that I had already called about. This was just the final joke on me, some sort of Karmic justice, curse, or lesson.

The email from Butch said Looks like a winner!!!!!!!!!!! And that was that. With the help of numerous generous people, I had done it! I was still feeling a little once bitten and twice shy, so I wasn’t exactly coming out of my skin in joy. I guess I’ll really truly believe it when I’m driving it. But according to the paperwork, that drive should be happening in less than a month. In fact, as we started looking at the tracking reports, it became clear that my car had been born…on that day! Mazel Tov, my Kona Blue beauty. Happy birthday, my little baby Boss.

jimmy

Let me back-up just a bit. As soon as I was cleared to buy the car, I rushed to my local dealer to place my order. Unfortunately, like many other dealers, they felt the Boss commanded additional dealer markup (ADM) over MSRP. I don’t disagree with their point-of-view, but I could never pay over sticker price for a car. So, I walked-out and called Jordan Ford in San Antonio, just over an hour away from where I live, and we made a deal for MSRP right over the phone. Everyone was pleasant, we exchanged some money and paperwork and it was done. It was a wonderful experience. I ordered the car with the Recaro seats and Torsen performance differential package, but skipped the floor mats and car cover. That’s it – those were the only two options, except for color. There was really only one choice possible for me – the same deep Kona Blue as the first pre-production Boss 302 I had seen in August 2010.

I have always loved dark blue, midnight blue, as a car color, though I have only owned one car in that hue. I like the blue to be so dark that any time after dusk, the car looks black. The Kona Blue fit the bill. I admit that I had reservations about the white markings, specifically the white roof. But after studying every photograph that I could find, I decided the retro paint scheme, based on 1960′s race livery, was something I liked. One of my racing heroes, Dan Gurney, even drove a blue and white Boss 302. So, on March 22, I ordered the car in Kona Blue and then settled-in for the long wait. Despite moving quickly, early Boss allocations were snatched-up and my order wouldn’t be built and delivered until Q3. I had months to wait.

Dan Gurney and his 1969 Boss 302

I spent my idle time on the forums with all of the other waiters, agonizing over every piece of trivial news we discovered about the Boss. Eventually, the first deliveries were made and we desperately tried to experience the Boss vicariously through the lucky new owners. We congratulated the new rock stars, demanding photos and video, satisfied even with shaky-cam video of a new Boss sleepily pulling into a driveway. We put on a brave face and cried ourselves to sleep each night. I followed the Boss 302S and the Boss 302R, racing in the World Challenge GTS and Grand-Am GS series, respectively. I collected photos and videos of every Boss I could find. I bought every magazine with the Boss on the cover. I made every wallpaper a Kona Blue Boss.

Then, a few weeks ago, my salesman from Jordan Ford called me and left a message. He needed me to call him back right away. I called back and he had some bad news. The earthquake in Japan had taken down a plant that manufactured an ingredient contained within certain Ford paints. Kona Blue was to be discontinued and I would have to choose another color. I couldn’t believe it. I broke the news on the forums and asked for leads on any of the remaining Kona Blue cars. There were a few tips, but most of them led to dealers who were already catching wind of the situation. Overnight, Kona Blue had become a “rare” color and commanded ADM over sticker price.

Then a few forum members contacted me with information that indicated that Kona Blue was not heavily drawn as a color choice, so if I stuck to my guns, my car might be built the way I wanted, before they ran out of paint. That seemed plausible to me and I started to calm down. I wasn’t having any other luck, anyway. Then I thought I would try a different strategy. If I was going to keep my order the way it was, why not see if I could get my order moved-up? It’s not my fault they couldn’t supply my color. I had a legitimate complaint. The fact is, at that time, they were still building cars in Kona Blue. I just needed to demand that they build my car right away. I wrote an email to Jordan Ford outlining my plan and asking that they forward my letter to somebody at Ford who could help me. A couple of days later, a manager from the dealership called. They had done everything they could. They had even talked another customer with a Boss order to trade places with me, so that I could have the earlier allocation. But, it was too late. There was no way to move the order up fast enough. The dealer told me that Ford would discontinue Kona Blue on May 25. He was very sorry.

I was distraught. Who did I have to fuck to get my car in Kona Blue?

Then, about an hour later (and without me asking for it), the dealer sent me a list of every Kona Blue that was on a lot or on the way to a lot! He had included the dealer name and phone numbers. There were only about ten left. I started calling. “Do you still have a Boss Mustang for sale?” I would ask. “I did two days ago. Sold it on Monday.” I rang off and tried another. Sold. Then another. $5000 ADM. Another. Sold. Sold. Open bidding. $10,000 ADM. Sold. Open Bidding. I exhausted the list with no luck. I put my name down on all of the remaining cars as a guaranteed MSRP deal, just in case the big-money guys evaporated. Still, it looked hopeless. At best, there were less than half-a-dozen Kona Blue cars remaining that weren’t spoken-for.

Today, I got word from my employer that I would be going back to New Zealand on business in just a couple of weeks. And that is that. Even if something were to come up, the time I would have to make a move just vanished. I think I hear the fat lady singing. Or, is that the siren song from my snarling punk-rock girl? You bitch goddess, I still want you. Did I mention that Looking for Mr. Goodbar doesn’t end well?

jimmy

But wait, was I really in the market for a Mustang? Aren’t I an Audi man? Time for a quick history lesson. The early part of my driving life was done almost exclusively in American cars with V8 engines. I learned how to drive in mom’s Pontiac Catalina wagon and dad’s Pontiac Grand Prix, which had a huge 400 CID engine. The first car I ever crashed was a V8 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, which belonged to a friend’s mom. The first vehicle that I ever owned was a V8 Ford F100 and before I was out of high school, I had traded-up to a V8 Chevrolet Camaro. My first experience in a Mustang…my first driving experience in a Mustang, was in a maroon 1967 with a 289 CD engine, that belonged to a high school girlfriend. I loved that car. It looked beautiful, it felt powerful, and it made a great noise. It was impossibly cool. Unfortunately, it couldn’t handle its way out of a paper bag and I crashed that car, too. I drove an enormous V8 Cadillac to prom.

For the next 26 years, I would drive mostly import cars. Only twice did I go back to an American car and both times, it was for a Mustang. I had a 1966, but it had an inline six cylinder engine and basically, wasn’t very special. It was also falling apart and I couldn’t afford to fix it up. So, I traded it for a TV. I also had a 1985 Mustang GT 5.0. Now that was a really good car. Unfortunately, it suffered a bad engine fire and I couldn’t afford to fix it up. So, I sold it. Even though both of my Mustangs left my care prematurely and under dubious conditions, I maintain that these cars are my legitimate bona fides as a genuine Mustang fan.

Still, that last Mustang was a very long time ago. Since then, I have run a nationally recognized Audi website, been the president of a local Audi club, built a dedicated Audi track car, and written for the Examiner.com as their Austin Audi Examiner. I have driven halfway across the country to buy an Audi. I still race an Audi and of course, my daily driver is an Audi. Any statisticians out there see a trend?

Many years ago, when I first showed my Audi S4 to my friend, Charles Braden, I asked him what he thought about it. He turned to me and said only, “Teutonic.” He was right. My car is very German. It’s solid, sober, even serious. There is nothing flash about it. It just goes about its business quickly and efficiently. It is capable on the street, out on the open road, and even on the track. It’s not fun on the track, mind you, just capable. It might not be the best at any given thing, but it is good at everything. It is a car for a man in a suit. It is a car for a grown-up.

However, it is seventeen years-old and Mrs. Pribble and I felt like it was getting time to look for a new daily driver. Naturally, I started thinking about a newer Audi. But for the first time in a long time, I also started thinking about the joys of driving a V8. Now, all of my Audis have been turbocharged, but as it happens, Audi makes a very good V8. I began to consider a V8 S4, or even better, an S5. I love the S5. It is elegant and beautiful, inside and out. It has the latest in automotive electronics. And it is powered by a high-tech V8. It’s fast, luxurious, and capable. It is good at everything. It is a car for a man in a suit. It is a car for a grown-up. Perfect.

And then, in August of 2010, Ford held a press conference at Mazda raceway Laguna Seca and they brought this:

What new devilry was this? What was this harlet brazenly bringing my blood to a boil? And if my blood was boiling so, then why was I shivering when I looked upon it? What was happening to me? Ford talked about the 5.0 liter, 444 hp engine, which they had code-named Coyote. They said the engine would rev to 7500 rpm. They said the suspension had been developed so that this car could beat a BMW M3 at Laguna Seca. They wouldn’t release the car until it could do that. It can. They said that the car had to be good enough to deserve the legendary name Boss 302, which had only been given to Mustangs specifically built for road racing in 1969-1970. In 1970, Parnelli Jones won a championship with one. Nothing has been called a Boss since. Until now. Ford says the new Boss 302 is the best Mustang they have ever made.

Lust makes men do funny things. How could I want this? Just look at her, this kid with her shock of hair dyed white and her tattoos. Listen to her loud voice. She is even bipolar! The Boss comes with two keys – a black one and a red one. When you start her with the black one, she is calm enough to be driven to work. When you put the red one in, she becomes a wild child. She becomes a little hard to handle. She does bad things.

How could I be seen with her? I’m middle-aged. I’m a grown-up. I drive German luxury sedans that are serious. Heads of State are driven in Audis. But this curvy punk-rock girl doesn’t care about being serious. She is promising other things. She is promising to be wicked and fun. She is promising to go faster and faster. She is promising to wake the neighbors. I loosen my tie. Maybe I am not as grown-up as I thought. What will people say when we drive by? I have decided that I don’t care. I just know that I must have her.

- jimmy