Rumor Mill
Overheard in quiet conversation between engineering types was the latest information about the upcoming '05 Corvette with the Z06 high-performance option. The standard C6 coupe and convertible versions of this freshened Corvette are plenty stout with 400 hp emanating from the new LS2 V-8 engine and weigh roughly 150 pounds less than the current '04 model. When the new Z06 hits the streets, Chevy execs wanted 500hp to challenge the 500-horse Viper. According to rumor, try as they might, the new engine is slightly under that goal.
But as any engineer worth his calipers will tell you, hp-to-weight is the key when building fast cars. So Chevy went back to the drawing board and took the already-gaunt '05 C6 and carved out an additional 150 pounds through lightening of some key suspension parts, installing a magnesium front crossmember and adding a carbon-fiber hood in place of the fiberglass panels of legend. If all this is true, that would bring the new Z06 in at under 3,000 pounds, a new record for the Corvette which hasn't weighed in under 3,000 pounds since the five factory racing "lightweight" Grand Sports rolled out of Zora Arkus-Duntov's skunkworks back in 1963. The new '05 Z06 Corvette should be the best-handling and fastest Corvette in history. Who says the good old days were the best?
From the Blue Oval side of things and those fine folks at Shelby American comes the word that there will be a Shelby-ized version of the new '05 Mustang shortly after the debut of the car this fall. In addition, there is word that for those with the need for a matching tow vehicle, Shelby will also offer a customized Ford Expedition to match. Now if you could just get a Shelby trailer to match.
Car Craft Reader Wins Grassroots Motorsports RaceIf you rewind back to last year's Real Street Eliminator (RSE) event, you may remember Erik Lawson and his dad Jerry, whose supercharged '91 Mustang GT finished an incredibly close Second to eventual winner Andrew Borodin's '70 GTO. The Lawson father and son team also compete in a similar event called the Grassroots Motorsports Challenge 2004 sanctioned by Grassroots Motorsports magazine.
The premise is to build and compete a car with a price ceiling of $2,004. The Lawsons built an '81 Datsun 280ZX with a 383ci Chevy equipped with Vortec heads, a 150hp NOS nitrous system, a TH350 trans, and previously owned Eibach springs. The contest involves a dragstrip session, autocross, and concourse judging. This is a tough event that this year attracted 77 cars over a two-day period and saw the Lawson family win the event. Erik calls the effort "running 11s on lunch money." Congratulations to Erik, Jerry, Steve VanDriest, Steve Bowen, Damon Dais, Paul and Pete Glasspoole, and Seve Olsen.
Muscle Car Of The Month
'71 Boss 351 Mustang
While it was the Boss 302 Mustang that received all the headlines in 1969 and 1970, a lot of Ford fans forget that the "Boss" configuration hung around for one more year as a special high-performance option back in 1971. With the SCCA's Trans Am rule change in 1970 to allow enlarged cubic-inch displacement small-block engines to compete, the big four automakers (remember AMC was around back then, too) jumped at the chance and increased the engine displacement of the factory offerings to take advantage of the rule change. The Chevrolet 350ci LT1 and Mopar 340ci small-blocks were already in place, so Ford's move to create a 351ci Boss engine was a natural.
Ford manufactured the Boss 351 for only one year. The most unique feature of the Boss 351 was obviously the engine, which was based on Ford's new Cleveland block. The engine utilized the same huge intake and exhaust ports and canted valve cylinder heads of the Boss 302 along with the super-strong Cleveland block. The result was more cubes to help finally utilize the breathing of these race-bred cylinder heads netting a final factory rating of 330 gross horsepower.