Thursday 5th April 2007

Mighty Mustang is road race prize

Limited edition 600HP Extreme 'Stang from Saleen.

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Keep the graphics Steve, otherwise send to the usual address

The winner of this year's Cannonball Great American Run will find one of these on their driveway shortly after the event. It's the latest creation from Californian-based Ford tuner and supercar constructor Steve Saleen, and he's planning on building only 25 examples -- one of which is first prize for the winner of the event.

It's a tweaked version of Saleen's hottest Mustang - the S281 'Extreme'. The 4.6 litre V8 has a forged steel crank, forged alloy pistons and new camshafts, plus the addition of a twin screw supercharger. For this version, power has been raised from 550hp to 600hp, which will probably be enough; especially as there's a close ratio gearbox...

Elsewhere, the Extreme features uprated suspension, brakes and cooling system plus 20-inch alloy wheels, although it sticks with the standard car's live rear axle.

The Cannonball event runs from 29 July to 4 August, starting in four major cities on the east coast (Miami, Atlanta, Washington DC and New York) before heading to Las Vegas and then finishing in Los Angeles.

[droptheclutch]

"although it sticks with the standard car's live rear axle"

Oh dear...have the yanks not learnt anything??!!

[Redline Chaser]

The Roush 'Stang has a live rear axle and EVO loved it. Higher end Saleen cars don't handle like stock ones. I hate this live axle = automatically garbage idea. It's almost as bad as 'LOL the Corvette still has leaf springs!' as a 550hp Lingenfelter Vette beats a Ferrari-prepped 599GTB Fiorano around a track.

At a guess, you like Top Gear,so here's a soundbite: Stop talking arse.

[Fire99]

i'll most certainly take one of those please...
sod it i'll take two!!

[The Walrus]

Hmm is all I can say to that, it is also an awful picture get some better lighting and I bet it does not look to bad.

[qube_TA]

I bet that's rather nice.

[belleair302]

What most people do not understand is that driving and road surfaces in the US are totally different from here in the UK and we just don't understand how they set up their cars. I do believe that some of these specialist 'stangs are outstanding!!

[zed sump]

"starting in four major cities on the west coast (Miami, Atlanta, Washington DC and New York)"


they're on the east coast

[rustyintegrale]

Now that looks lovely and I bet it sounds fab.

Just right for a summer's day, windows down and as full pelt as traffic will allow through the Cuilfail tunnel (or any tunnel come to think of it).

But it would be ten times better in France or somewhere where they know how to build roads...

Cheers

Rich

Edited by rustyintegrale on Thursday 5th April 13:38

[adam towler]

zed sump said:

"starting in four major cities on the west coast (Miami, Atlanta, Washington DC and New York)"


they're on the east coast

Corrected :-)

[zed sump]

rustyintegrale said:

Now that looks lovely and I bet it sounds fab.

Just right for a summer's day, windows down and as full pelt as traffic will allow through the Cuilfail tunnel (or any tunnel come to think of it).

But it would be ten times better in France or somewhere where they know how to build roads...

Cheers

Rich

Edited by rustyintegrale on Thursday 5th April 13:38

aren't most of the drivers non-motoring celebrities who don't know much about driving and don't fully appreciate what they're driving? => so it's just a good excuse to see decent machinery

[rimmer]

itll be fast in a straight line alright but what about the corners? 600bhp and a live axle .............

[bencollins]

Pants.
15mpg on a run. 8mpg driven hard.
Net result, hardly ever gets driven, hardly ever hard, but stats talked about down the golf and country club, while sits in garage.
Another piece of pointless thirsty macho dogshit for emotionally disfigured people whose daddies didnt love 'em enough.
All these "supercars" just sit in garages.
Gimme an Elise or 535D anyday.

Edited by bencollins on Thursday 5th April 16:40

[stig]

rimmer said:

itll be fast in a straight line alright but what about the corners? 600bhp and a live axle .............

AARGRGGGGHHHHH!!!!

For the last flipping time, there is NOTHING WRONG WITH LIVE AXLED CARS!

If there were, the Mustang would be slower round a track than an Audi S4 (not to mention dozens of other IRS suspended cars - see the TG lap times if you don't believe me) - however, it is not.

For everyone else (and apologies if you have), who has not driven a live axled car - let alone a Mustang - why not set your prejudice and preconceptions aside and try one. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. Yes, it's a bit soft as standard, but a set of springs/dampers and stiffer anti rollbars transform all that. The Saleen will have all this gubbins already on it.

So 600hp and live axle - yes please!

[Stuart J]

And heres how to win one www.thegreatamericanrun.com/

Looks a fun Event, at last a run with a decent prize

[Smiler.]

swerni said:

bencollins said:

Pants.
15mpg on a run. 8mpg driven hard.
Net result, hardly ever gets driven, hardly ever hard, but stats talked about down the golf and country club, while sits in garage.
Another piece of pointless thirsty macho dogshit for emotionally disfigured people whose daddies didnt love 'em enough.
All these "supercars" just sit in garages.
Gimme an Elise or 535D anyday.

Edited by bencollins on Thursday 5th April 16:40

gayer !!!!!

I drove 560 miles at the weekend, mines 475bhp and I averaged 25.5 mpg, and I was spanking it.

Best you go back to the skoda forum

25mpg! Must be US gallons


don't let 'em get to ya Steve, we know better eh

Edited by Smiler. on Friday 6th April 12:45

[[OcUK]Gibbo]

Hi there

Some facts!

A Roush Stage 3 which is identical to your normal Mustang GT except for three things that transform the car. The first the roots supercharger producing 415BHP, secondly the larger 14" brakes with 4 piston calipers and thirdly it has a front swaybar along with uprated shocks/struts and springs. This is all it takes to make a Mustang GT a superb handling car that can corner very fast with good levels of grip. All the Mustangs including Ford, Roush, Saleen and Steeda all still have the rear live axle which when setup and tuned is fine even on UK roads.

This Saleen Extreme car is actually pretty much identical to my own as they have taken their standard S281 SC and increased power and handling abilities.

The Saleen Extreme car also has the following handling enhancements on it, which are not found on Roush cars in Stage 3 form:-
Rear swaybar with HD links
Stronger/Lighter lower control arms
Adjustable upper control arm
Adjustable panhard bar
Panhard brace
Saleen Maxgrip differential (uprated LSD)
Uprated Clutch and Lightweight flywheel
4:10 rear-end gears
15" 6 Piston Saleen brake system

The above greatly improve the handling and cornering speed further over the Roush Stage 3 car, so combined with the 600BHP and 550+ LB-Ft this car has it is indeed one hell of a weapon.

Now considering according to both Top Gear and EVO Magazine the Roush 415BHP laps their track quicker than cars such as the M3 CS and Vauxhall VXR500, plus even matches the Audi RS4. So needless to say this new Saleen edition will be lightning quick both in a straight line and on corners.

To give you an idea on performance my car has returned the following performance figures on the road from using datalogging and GPS equipment:-
0-60mph - 4.3s (traction issues due to crap Pirelli tyres)
0-100mph - 8.8s (traction issues still)
1/4 mile - Nothing official yet but these cars generally return 11.5-12s on a good day with good driver on normal road tyres. Expect closer to 11s with drag tyres.
30-130mph - 12.5s
60-130mph - 10s
62mph-125mph (100km/h-200km/h) - 9s (No need to change into 4th)
Top speed limited by drag factor to approx 170-180mph

Now my car has just over 500BHP and 500Lb-Ft plus its on much taller 3.55 gears and mine has similar brakes and a few more suspension upgrades.
So considering this Bad Boy edition has 600BHP and much shorter 4.10 gears along with a fantastic suspension setup the sheer acceleration of this car will be sublime and it will indeed handle and corner greatly. I suspect this edition will have the following performance stats:-
0-60mph - 3.7s
0-100mph - 7.5s
1/4 mile - 11s area with street tyres and 10s area with drag tyres.
30-130mph - 11s
60-130mph - 8.7s
62mph-125mph (100km/h-200km/h) - 8s

Needless to say this is one impressive car and here is a better picture


My Saleen is 530BHP, it also has a live axle and yes I use it daily and put about 10,000 miles on it per year. Admittedly the suspension setup was struggling when the car had the supercharger fitted creating 530BHP. But with some add-on suspension parts, LCA's, UCA, Adj. panhard bar, panhard brace, rear sway bar and front strut brace has transformed the car and now it can put all that power down even on corner exits. I still drive my car every day on UK roads and it copes fine.
Mine with all this power will return approx 14mpg on city and spirited driving and cruising on the motorway can see upto 24mpg, thats not bad for a 500+ BHP car.

Edited by [OcUK]Gibbo on Thursday 5th April 17:35

Edited by [OcUK]Gibbo on Thursday 5th April 17:38

[bencollins]

Haha, predictable response, im almost pleased with "gayer".
Ok, I will admit to liking the US V8 cam in block arrangement, seems a lot neater than a Euro V8, one camshaft not four and much lower bonnet lines / engine height.
The much maligned cam-in-block is a bit like the live axle, supposedly crap, but with the LS7 revving to 7000rpm, it would seem to be matching the super high friction high cost euro quadcam. Lets consign the "ancient pushrods" cliché to the bin as well "nasty live axle" eh?
As for accepting low MPG, no way, today 5 of our lads got blown up for cheap oil.

[Uriel]

LOL. This car also has a live axle. I bet it would fall off the road as soon as it came to a corner because all cars with live axles are designed purely for fat yanks to drag race between lights.

The continued ignorance of so called enthusiasts astounds me.

[XitUp]

bencollins said:

Haha, predictable response, im almost pleased with "gayer".
Ok, I will admit to liking the US V8 cam in block arrangement, seems a lot neater than a Euro V8, one camshaft not four and much lower bonnet lines / engine height.

Erm, the Mustang is OHC, not sure if you were saying it's a cam in block...

And hardly any of out oil comes from Iraq btw.

[Imperialism2024]

swerni said:

But not with standing that I was still getting 25mpg at the weekend and I was giving it a good spanking.
I have a mate with a mini coopers that uses more fuel than me

And aside from the fuel milage abilities of the cars and engines themselves, a large amount of the fuel economy equation comes down to how one drives. I'm driving a car of 3300lbs on a 3.1L V6, nothing powerful, but my city fuel economy runs between 10mpg and 20mpg, and highway between 18mpg and 32mpg, depending on how I drive. So, depending on how heavy-footed I feel on a particular day, I may as well be driving a full-size SUV or a Mini Cooper.