Mustang Boss 302 racers pull off track at Sunday's Mid-Ohio race to protest the restrictions the SCCA imposed upon them this weekend. Here's Justin Bell explaining why........

http://youtu.be/oLsUAk-lnDc

 

Was there & wondering why the Mustangs were not running.
Bummer

 

Boss 302 racers in World Challenge parked their cars at Mid-Ohio this weekend to protest SCCA rules changes and issued the following press release:
Today in SCCA World Challenge GTS competition, the Ford Mustang Boss 302 contingency staged a protest against the series by parking their cars in pit lane after the initial formation lap. The reason for the protest was actually twofold.*
The primary reason for the protest was driven by high engine temperatures caused by the very small restrictor the Boss 302 GTS Mustang is required to run to reduce the horsepower of the Mustang. This causes unusually high engine temperatures and all Mustangs were experiencing high engine coolant and oil temperatures. Two Mustangs failed to finish due to engine related issues. Some engine oil temperatures were in excess of 310°F which is quite a bit higher than normal. Engine coolant temperatures ranged from 240°F to 280°F.* This is significantly higher than normal operating temperatures and puts the engine’s computer into protect mode. This demonstrates that the restrictor has a compounding effect on the Mustang’s ability to make horsepower and be competitive. The competitors collectively chose not to race their cars rather than risk further damage to the engines in their cars.
The secondary purpose of the protest was to bring attention to the current rules package for the Boss Mustang. The series has a very difficult task in trying to create parity between vastly different vehicle makes that achieve lap times in vastly different ways. Some have a power advantage, some have a stopping advantage, some have handling advantages, etc. The Mustang owners and drivers collectively and unanimously feel that the SCCA’s method of creating parity is not working and leaves the Mustang with a significant handicap in many areas, and an advantage in NO area. The Boss Mustang teams held meetings with series officials throughout the Mid-Ohio event in an attempt to regain some level of competitiveness, but those discussions proved fruitless. The teams collectively felt that their voices were not being heard and staged a protest to bring more attention to this matter.
The top finishing Mustang in Saturday’s race was 10th place. The fastest lap time of the fastest Mustang was some 1.4 seconds slower than the front running cars. All of the top six cars were greater than one-second clear of all Mustangs. The three fastest Mustangs were within 0.1 seconds of each other. This demonstrates that there is a clear disparity between the Mustang and all other makes.
The teams agree the use of inlet restrictors are the direct cause of the extensive engine overheating issues leading to eventual failures. In consideration of the high replacement costs of a new Boss 302 engine and the replacement of failed components due to the high heat stresses being applied to these engines,* and the resultant safety issues stemming from exhaust fumes entering the car, it is agreed SCCA must stop its parity by restricting the Fords.*
We feel that SCCA Pro World-Challenge has lost sight of what has brought so many people to love World-Challenge Racing - the professional sport at a reasonable cost in GTS competition. The Ford Mustang Boss 302S should be the standard, not the exception. Ford Racing has engineered a very affordable and race-ready product anyone can buy out of the Ford Racing parts catalog and has continually developed its platform each year with feedback from its racers to have the best performance package for the dollar spent. The GTS Category should be a "Pony Car War" class with vehicles in competition which can be purchased at any dealership and raced for a reasonable cost. Rule mandates for competition should be done with proper consideration given to costs, calibrations and ease of implementation.*
We challenge SCCA Pro World Challenge to commit to the immediate implementation of new rules and standards. We offer our collective support to work with Tech to find a suitable and affordable means to make a competitive racing event which is safe for all who participate.

 

wow.... i'd park it also

 

Inlet restrictions?

Can you explain what this is?

 

Bout time the Mustang racers staged a protest. It is not like the Mustangs are dominating the series. Why do the rules makers make it so difficult for Ford racers to be competitive ? Mustang racers are either burdened with excessive weight penalties or restrictions on how much air is permitted to enter their intake manifolds. Rules makers appear to fear the Mustangs will dominate, but in the end create rules that eliminate Mustangs from having any chance at winning.

 

they restrict the size of the air intake tubes, to limit the amount of power the cars make. They try to get all the cars as even performance wise as possible.

since there are so many different types of cars in the series, some with straight away power, some with great cornering, some with great breaking, they have to try to get them as close as possible. So if you win going away, they may decrease the size of your inlet tube

 

This is what happens when you put Mustangs against Kia Optimas and the like. What did the SCCA expect?

 

Going to move to 'Mustang Motorsports' section, but will leave a link for today . .

 

I would love to see a charity event or maybe Top Gear take the actual, stock production cars used in WC, fit them with good tires and safety equipment, and run 15-20 laps around one of the tracks!

I guess the Ultimate Track Car Challenge, and maybe One Lap of America are kind of like that...?