^^^^It's called a 2005 Base model RX-8

koolaid lovers unite!!!!

 

Anyone who is serious about tracking their car wouldn't honestly care. The only people who would get their rocks off about such a system are people who have never even seen a race track in person let alone actually take their car on it. It's a 100% bragging rights gimmick.

All it will result in is Boss 302 owners driving around in their "Race" mode all the time and bragging to their buddies how the "wimpy" key is in their dresser drawer having not left since they bought the car.

That or they will say they gave it to their wife in case she needs to back it out of the garage or drive it around town.

And of course it's the fact that Ford is marketing a car that they claim is designed to be taken onto a closed course. Just for kicks ask your dealership service advisor if they will honor your warranty of you track your car. If they say anything other than "hell no" then they are either lying or you better make sure you get it in writing. Better yet, be sure to ask the Ford sales guy when you test drive it.

If Mazda made such a system I'd pass on it. It would only add to the cost of the vehicle (no doubt in the thousands of dollars) and be something you'd never use. Launch control on the GT-R R35 is the same deal. When the hell are you going to use that outside of a stoplight race against your buddies?

I'm sure from a marketing system it will help Ford sell more of these Mustangs. That, after all, is the whole point which is to make money. However, if you honestly believe this is some kind of awesome idea from a performance and driveability standpoint you are kidding yourselves.

And finally, in regards to aftermarket tuning opportunities...

The ONLY reason to have more than one tune would be for fueling differences. If you run higher octane fuel or E85 then you would want a different tune running race gas than street gas. However, with the amount of resolution available on today's ECUs there is no reason to have multiple tunes. You can easily set the car for cruise and low end driveability while adjusting top end and full throttle operation for performance. Mazdamaniac does it every day with the AccessPORT and he doesn't need 2 keys to have 2 different modes of operation in the same car.

 

It's Ok you don't like the idea, but gee ... your retoric makes it sound like you have an agenda or an axe to grind or something...dunno....

All the objections mentioned are just opinion and conjecture about Ford's intentions, and/or conjecture other people's possible reactions and motivations...I mean it isn't even released yet FCOL...

Whether it works as stated, works well or poorly, is a sham or not, what the 200 changes actually do on track...I mean wouldn't it be a bit more prudent to give it a rest until such time as it is available - before going whole hog bonzai over it and the concept in general? Call me crazy....

 

You mistake me being "hog bonzai" for simply having passion with my opinions.

 

The new 5.0 is an absolute blast and if you haven't driven anything other than a stock-ish RX8 in a while, the torque will make you **** yourself from laughing so hard. Its just a fun and basic car thats easy to drive fast. Its still the car that I'd buy these days for about $30K. Very under-rated IMO. Ford has really stepped up their game to defy the Mustang stereotypes. I'm still trying to get my gramps into a Boss.

 

I said light, take off the bag over your head so you can read. =)

 

So you understand even less about prepping the RX-8 chassis than you do about prepping a stock block Renesis engine i.e. I read your blahg logs just fine ....

 

You dont know anything about me.

If you have something to contribute shoot me a PM.

 

This does not in fact void the warranty.

"TracKey, available for 2012 Mustang Boss 302 owners through Ford dealers, adds TracMode powertrain control software to the car for track use, providing full race calibration and two-stage launch control in addition to stock calibration, without compromising factory warranty."

http://www.cardotcom.com/news/2010-mustang-boss-bonus/ This is some random site, I forget where I read that first, but it would've either Autoblog or TTAC.


Also, I don't understand how you can have a problem with the manufacturer encouraging people to get into motor sports. Sure, 95% of the people who buy a Boss won't track it, but a bunch will try it out just because the special Trac mode is available, just to see. So.. koolaid or not... this can't be bad for the industry.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxEhn...layer_embedded

Taking a Boss 302 around Laguna Seca looked pretty easy as Motor trend was doing it - didn't look 10/10th or even close to..... but wait 'til you see the lap times of this relaxed ride ....

 

Maybe I'm just too cynical having fallen for OEM marketing hype way too many times, that said I don't discount the capabilities of the new Mustangs the slightest bit. Ford has basically transformed them into truly capable performance vehicles and not just in a straight line at a drag strip. On the otherhand Mazda has it's hands full with warranty claims on the RX-8 as it is. How many people have been told they won't get warranty coverage for xyz because they take their Renesis engine above 6000 rpm? Truly laughable ...

 

Agreed. And the car technology elitests of the world have to be scratching their heads (I know I am) when a so called 'unsophisticated' chassis/car can be made capable of this type of performance. Japanese and European makers always touted the advanced suspensions/engines they engineer as proof of their superiority/high price, and here we have a tractor suspension beating them at their own game.

The fact it's on Mazda's Laguna Seca track is certainly ironic as well.

The only unfortunate part of the story is Ford wants near M3 pricing for this accomplishment.