Horse Sense: The steady progress we've made with our project car's rear-wheel horsepower/torque certainly has been amazing. In our quest for more performance, we've gained a greater appreciation for the enthusiasts we've endearingly chastised for racing the dyno instead of racing their 'Stangs on the dragstrip. While blasting 'Stangs down the quarter-mile will always be our favorite performance evaluator, the work we've done on the dyno has given us a better understanding of just how good it feels when an engine in a dyno-tested 'Stang goes to full scream, the rollers spin furiously, and the graph shows more power than originally thought possible.

Although Editor Turner's feature story on our '86 T-top coupe LX (Top This," Jan. '08, p. 102) gives the impression that we've reached a closing point for a wonderful project, the saga of our latest flagship 'Stang continues.

To tell you the truth, we really don't know exactly when we'll stop reporting on our exploits with the project ride, as it seems there are countless modifications that can still be made, including the project we're embarking on in this report. There are other upgrades on the horizon to further solidify our T-top coupe's status as one of the baddest Fox-Rod project Mustangs in history.

One thing we're learning as we continue using the dyno to fine-tune the 'Stang's engine is that there's definitely a mountain of difference between a combination's actual power output and something we call theoretical horsepower. That's horsepower that gearheads believe their Mustang's bullet should make based on its internal components, power adders, and so on.

For example, based on an assessment of its parts, we originally forecasted (hoped) the supercharged 347 stroker in our coupe would throw down 600 to 650 rwhp; all the parts to accomplish this goal were in place. However, we didn't reach the milestone with the original bullet due to its unfortunate early demise (Full-Throttle Meltdown," Jan. '08, p. 68) during a dragstrip test. The best horsepower/torque achieved with the 347 was 473.34 hp/476.51 lb-ft at 5,000 rpm, with the torque converter locked, barely 8 psi of boost (thanks to a slipping blower belt), and 91-octane pump gas.

A freshened 350ci bullet now rests between the fenders of the project 'Stang. With the corrections we've made in the blower department (a larger-diameter main idler pulley and the addition of a second idler pulley for improved belt tension to create 20 psi of boost), the addition of higher-octane fuel (VP Racing Fuel's MS 109E instead of 91-octane pump gas), an Aeromotive A1000 fuel pump, and spot-on FAST XFI tuning by Harv of HMS Performance, the coupe stands high and mighty with 811.28 horses and 700.25 lb-ft of torque available at the back tires.

One interesting but completely unscientific theory on horsepower is that it always seeks and usually finds the weakest link in an engine or drivetrain. While there may be some truth to this idea, the real deal is that a high-performance Mustang should be outfitted with parts that are designed and manufactured to make, or support, a specified amount of power.

This became blatantly clear for us during our last dyno session, when we discovered our original engine's 650cc (approximately 65-lb/hr) fuel injectors are far from capable of supporting the 800-plus horsepower that the rebuilt bullet produces.

While injectors typically run at and should not exceed 80- to 85-percent duty cycle (0.80/0.85) at 60.5 psi of brake specific fuel consumption in a supercharged application, we're now experiencing 100 percent duty cycle at 5,500 rpm (762.33 hp). Duty cycle refers to the amount of time the injectors must remain open and flowing in order to feed the engine its required amount of fuel. With the injectors maxing out so soon, we're asking for serious trouble if we continue trying to eke more performance from our engine. The blown stroker gives every indication that once it has fuel, it will put up even bigger numbers.

Correcting our fuel-injector problem is mandatory. However, in our tests, we've also noticed that air, more specifically hot air, has also hindered the overall performance of our Mustang. The inlet-air system for the coupe's stroker/blower package doesn't include an intercooler or a heat exchanger, and thus, air-charge temperatures have been measured at approximately 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

To correct both problems, we're installing Ford Racing Performance Parts' 150-lb/hr fuel injectors (PN M-9593-E303) and the all-new Stage-3G Boost Cooler system (PN 20050; $599) from the water-methanol-injection lords at Snow Performance.

The Stage-3G setup is the center of attention in this tech effort, mostly due to interesting new technology called True 2d Injection Control. It definitely sets this version apart from previous iterations of the Boost Cooler.

Unlike the Stage 1 (fixed shot) and Stage 2 (variable shot) boost coolers, which are triggered by boost or are mass air-voltage referenced, Snow's Stage 3G water-meth system is a self-tuning, variable-flow unit that uses fuel-injector duty cycle and a blower or turbocharger's boost signal to control injection.

Once the injectors are swapped and the boost cooler kit is installed, we'll connect our coupe to the Dynapack Evolution 4000 chassis dyno at Extreme Automotive in Canoga Park, California, where Harv will tickle the laptop's keyboard and dial in an XFI tune for maximum power with the new injectors, and then establish a calibration for the engine when it's under the influence of Snow's Boost Juice water-meth mixture.

For our application, we're not expecting a gargantuan increase in horsepower and torque when the spray is applied, because our blown 350 is run with VP's MS 109 E race gas as opposed to 91-octane fuel. Impressive power gains are usually achieved when water-methanol injection is introduced to boost-induced engines that run on pump gas, as we learned in our study on Snow's Shelby GT 500 system (Gorilla in the Mist," Dec. '07, p. 152).

In this exercise, we're installing the Boost Cooler with hopes that it will drop our engine's intake-air-charge temperature significantly lower than the 200-degree temps we saw in our last dyno session without negatively affecting the blown beast's horsepower and torque.

Speaking of horsepower and torque, keep in mind that our T-top coupe is a registered, insured, street-driven 'Stang. We're proud of the car, but we have to admit that with more than 800 horses, it's a handful on the street, despite the fact it sits on Drag Radial tires. Quite frankly, monster performance in a street car is a bittersweet thing. We love the feeling of being pushed back in the seat by power and torque, but losing traction and control of the car on a neighborhood street or highway (even the deserted ones) or being nailed for speeding are possible negatives for mega-powered street cars that aren't cool at all.

Fear not, the only disaster we've suffered thus far was the engine mishap previously detailed. The coupe's sleeper appearance makes the police drive right by, and its panels are straight. The plan is to keep things that way by driving the 'Stang with respect to the horsepower it's throwing down when we're cruising, and saving the opportunities to cut it completely loose for the dragstrip only.

Extreme's Saul The Surgeon" Gutierrez is taking care of the injector swap and installing the Stage 3G Boost Cooler's hardware, and your tech editor is responsible for doing the simple math required for dialing in gain for the water-meth shot. Harv has XFI tuning covered, so you're left with reading on through the following photos and captions to see how this project pans out.

We disconnected the negative battery cable, and Saul routed the wires from the controller's harness into the 'Stang's cockpit. Wiring is simple, as it's only a matter of connecting five color-coded wires from the harness to their corresponding components (red/switched 12V, yellow/any negative fuel-injector harness wire, green/Boost Cooler pump, black/ground, and gray/Boost Cooler touch-screen display). Four additional wires extend from the other side of the controller and allow optional components such as a fluid-level switch, auxiliary 12V output, SafeInjection trigger, and flow-signal output. Unfortunately, time constraints forced us to hastily plumb and wire the system for basic operation in this tech exercise, but we've cleaned things up considerably since this photo was taken.

These photos depict the bread and butter of the Stage 3G Boost Cooler system's True 2d Injection Control, which uses engine fueling and boost pressure to ensure accurate injection of water-methanol. We used this vacuum T-fitting to tap into a boost source and spliced the controller's Yellow wire into the negative/ground side of the injector harness (also a yellow wire on our XFI harness) at the number-one cylinder.

The kit includes wire-splice connectors for this task, but we recommend directly splicing it into the injector harness and securing the connection with solder. Protect it with shrink tubing to reduce the chances of grounding the circuit, which could cause an injector to hang open and possibly damage the engine.

The first step in dialing in the water-meth system is selecting the setup mode on the LCD touch-screen controller and entering information the controller requires (boost psi to start injection, flywheel horsepower, nozzle size, and pump size) for programming the injection's amount and rate. With the setup data entered, we made a series of dyno runs with the system in peak-and-hold mode to determine the peak duty cycle for our new fuel injectors. Stage 3G's injection control algorithm is based on 85 percent duty cycle, which our 150-lb/hr injectors are below. Once injector duty cycle has been confirmed (48 percent), we subtracted that amount from 85 and entered the remainder (37) as the amount of gain (fine-tuning percentage) to the injection curve.

Harv of HMS Performance is the man when it comes to manipulating FAST's XFI engine management system. While theoretically, our 150-lb/hr fuel-injector upgrade is actually better suited for a 1,100-plus horsepower application, it didn't take Harv long to duplicate the 811 horsepower we saw with maxed-out 650cc injectors, and then extend the engine's performance envelope by finding more than 10 additional horsepower and 22 lb-ft of torque. This thing can easily make more horsepower with an intercooler, but the tune is safe and the engine now makes more than enough horsepower for the street," says Harv. With the big injectors, you'll lose the crack-of-the-key starting that is one of the cooler aspects of fuel-injected, high-horsepower street cars (we now have to give the engine a little throttle for cold starts), but that's about the only thing you give up when you run big injectors. The car's driveability will still be fine."

We checked spark plugs and were happy to see their cocoa brown color return with the changes Harv made in the XFI fuel tables. Initial hits on the dyno with the bigger injectors brought about heavy black smoke that's the telltale mark of a rich mixture, and early inspections of the plugs confirmed it. Harv dialed a good air/fuel burn and smooth idle into our coupe's bullet, and then manipulated timing and decreased fuel to allow water-methanol to make the difference we were looking for in terms of lowering our engine's inlet-air-charge temperature without sacrificing any of the performance we gained during the dyno session.

The monitor screen displays real-time data for injector duty cycle, boost pressure, and water-meth injection rate. The Stage 3G system allows you to fine-tune the injection rate up or down on the fly by simply touching the screen to add or subtract gain.

Our combination of the A.R.E. Performance-rebuilt powerplant and Paxton Novi 2000 supercharger made a brief stop at 670 rwhp when we tested it just prior to leaving for our PINKS All Out experience (Lights, Cameras...Action!," Mar. '08, p. 128). A.R.E. Performance is formerly known as Big Terry's Engine Shop in Simi Valley, California, but still owned by Rocco Acerrio.

Those of you who paid close attention to the story (i.e., read Horse Sense) probably noticed that not long after our return from Las Vegas, our project T-top coupe's blown 350 (enough with the Chevy displacement" comments-it's just the way the math worked out) laid down a impressive, nonintercooled 811 horses (700 lb-ft of torque) on Extreme Automotive's Dynapack Evolution 4000 rear-wheel dyno.

Our goal since we installed the new engine has been to overcome setbacks we've experienced (fuel injectors) and to improve our engine's XFI tune. With Ford Racing Performance Parts' 150-lb/hr fuel injectors in place and Snow Performance's Stage 3G Boost Cooler being employed to bring inlet-air temperature down to a more efficient level for the engine's power and torque range, we're confident that we're now on the right track for achieving a solid and safe tune that will produce great performance.

The dyno chart in this report includes our pre-PINKS performance with 650cc fuel injectors. It also reflects the horsepower/torque positives that were achieved through Harv's mastery of XFI, as well as the larger (safer) tuning window that was created by installing the bigger injectors (duty cycle never topped 50 percent at any time during our dyno session) and using VP MS 109 E fuel. We definitely need to shout out props to A.R.E. Performance for an engine that stood up to 15 consecutive dyno pulls and remained consistent with its middle-800 peak horsepower and 700-plus lb-ft of torque output (with a whopping 830/727 on our first pull after lunch), when test variables (ambient temp, 0-6,000-rpm scale, cool down time, and so on) remained unchanged.

More important in this case is the fact that we learned there's also a lot of good that can be said about cooling supercharged inlet air with water-meth. Snow's new Stage 3G Boost Cooler system was easy to work with and calibrate, and it showed us considerably lower inlet-air temperatures than we previously had. The largest temperature drop we experienced was 44 degrees, from 184 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and one interesting discovery in our test is the 0.8 psi increase in boost at 3,266 rpm, when we put meth in the mix after the change to 150-lb/hr injectors.

While we realize the temperature decrease doesn't compare with the below-ambient levels that can be achieved with an intercooler (we'd love to have the condensation and all-out frost on the blower's discharge tube that a 'cooler or shot of nitrous can cause), we're impressed and we're fairly certain that deeper cooling can be gained with the addition of a second nozzle for the water-meth injection.

Sometimes, it's all about experimenting when it comes to making a 'Stang better. We plan to continue trying new parts and concepts in our ongoing effort to improve our project T-top coupe, and we'll definitely keep you posted on the results, good and bad, of all our doings.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL DYNO CHART FROM OUR WATER/METHANOL INJECTION TEST

We receive heads-up calls and e-mails about new products all the time. Unfortunately, some parts and accessories don't fit into the Mustang mix too well. Thankfully, most of the cool new gear we hear about does relate to our collective main interest, so you better believe we don't hesitate when it comes to following up on leads.

A few weeks prior to the '07 SEMA show, Nick Woodman and his team at GoPro hipped us to their wickedly cool Motorsports Hero ($179.99)--a wireless, mini digital video camera system for in-car and all-over-the-car images.

With motorsports photography being a key element of our work, we made a point of stopping by the GoPro booth to get a closer look at the Hero. It's also no secret that video of 'Stangs in action on the race track and in the street is becoming more and more popular on the Internet, thanks to Web sites such as Streetfire.net, YouTube, and PowerTV. When we saw the images this rad setup produces, we knew we would be telling you more about it right here.

For the most part, it seems the universal mounting point for video cameras is behind the driver, on the crossbar, or on the main hoop of the rollcage. The vantage point offers a view of what the driver sees when the Mustang is being driven, but because of this unofficial standard camera location, a lot of the motorsports clips we spend hours watching look similar.

This is where GoPro's Motorsports Hero shines. The Hero is a small (2.5x1.5x0.75 inches), 30-frame-per-second, 3-megapixel, digital video/still camera that's designed to capture amazingly cool, first-hand footage from just about anywhere on or in a 'Stang while the car is traveling at any speed. There's no need for duct tape, clamp-style rollcage mounts, or any other form of jury-rigged camera stand. The unit is easy for one person to use, which spares friends from having to ride along with wide-open drivers and attempt to hold a camera steady as a 'Stang is being put through its paces at high speed.

The intent of this particular Tech Inspection is twofold. While we wanted to give the Motorsports Hero a try for our magazine's and Web site's benefit, it's more important that we give you all the 411 here and now, as we realize many racers and enthusiasts are looking for an easy way to capture high-quality video and still images of their 'Stangs in action while they're driving their 'Stangs.

The following collection of photos, captions, and video clips detail our quick installation and testing of GoPro's Motorsports Hero. The kit is all-inclusive, and setting up the camera literally takes 10 minutes.

The Hero isn't a part that will make your 'Stang run faster or handle better, but we definitely think this new camera system's high level of cool makes it an accessory that should be in every 'Stangbanger's ride.

CLICK HERE FOR AN IN-CAR DEMO OF THE GOPRO MOTORSPORTS HERO


CLICK HERE FOR A BUMPER MOUNTED DEMO OF THE GOPRO MOTORSPORTS HERO

Horse Sense: Collectors should note the S302 Extreme is the last Saleen Mustang developed during the Steve Saleen era, and combined with its ultra-performance, limited-production, and eye-watering exclusivity, it ought to prove rewardingly collectible if anything is collectible from this twilight of the pure gasoline era.

Now that it has reached the promised land, it's ironic that Steve Saleen is no longer with his old company. It's been a 25-year struggle from body kits and bolt-ons to building one of the most powerful, yet civilized and highly detailed speed machines ever offered to the domestic performance enthusiast. You'd think it would've been satisfying to hang around and accept the accolades.

But that's not how it turned out, and so the reality is that the thoroughly corporate Saleen is offering a robust line of specialty performance vehicles, topped by the most powerful EPA-certified, 50-state-legal, series-produced Mustang you can drive off a dealer lot--the 620hp S302 Extreme.

Also extreme is the $79,995 sticker price, which rumbled right along on our demo car with the addition of a $2,799 chrome wheel upgrade, as well as $1,550 worth of destination and delivery charges for an MSRP of $84,348. This doesn't include $2,660 Gas Guzzler tax, nor sales taxes ($6,537 in our corner of the country), licenses, or dealer prep charges. That exceeds $90,000, and should you opt for one of Saleen's enticing $18,000 special paints you'll have ushered in the era of the $100,000 Mustang. Actually, you'd be playing catch up, as we saw an '07 Extreme convertible with Liztick Red paint, chrome wheels, and speedster tonneau at Saleen's Irvine facility last year, and it was clearly 100 large.

Yes, we did say "'07 Extreme." Curiously, it's not new for 2008, but is rather mainly a carryover from 2007, when the company quietly produced small numbers of the uber-Mustang essentially in its current form. For reasons unknown, this was done without press coverage, especially in the screwdriver magazines such as this one. The '07 Extreme was on the Saleen Web site, however, so it wasn't as if it were a total secret.

Whatever the rationale for keeping the Extreme out of the limelight last year, we're glad Saleen chose to highlight the car at its '08 model introduction. We're even happier we were able to take the demonstrator home for a week of real-world evaluation following the introduction. It's a persuasively seductive machine; a car that suavely demands you come back for another dip into the power pool, a bit of transport even jaded enthusiasts look forward to driving. And in its power and refinement, it's also a new sort of performance Mustang, one that straddles the traditional ponycar enthusiasm with luxury intentions and an overwhelming dose of tire-smoking muscle. The Mustang has never bulged a tuxedo quite like this before.

Naturally enough, the pleasantries begin underhood. Saleen engineers need go no farther than the all-forged Saleen/Parnelli Jones engine for the power foundation. Stroked, but not bored, to this magazine's favorite displacement, the short-block is topped with five-axis, CNC-ported, Three-Valve cylinder heads and a pair of Saleen-specific camshafts. It's these cams that largely differentiate the engine and give it such a powerful personality.

Pushing 12 pounds of boost into all this is Saleen's own twin-screw supercharger. Saleen buys the critically machined twin-screw rotor pack from specialty blower manufacturers in Sweden, but the remainder of the system is Saleen's. It follows the familiar Saleen layout, with the supercharger floating in the engine valley, suspended under the intake manifold and water-to-air charge cooler. Thus, you can't see the blower, but you can sure feel it.

The intake air system starts with a Saleen airbox and high-flow mass air meter, runs up to the stock throttle body, and enters the supercharger/intake manifold casting by crowning over the intake package and curving down into the rear of the supercharger. Mere 39-lb/hr fuel injectors are employed; they seem part of Saleen's philosophy of using relatively low boost and supporting equipment to get big jobs done. The smallish fuel injectors--at least compared to mega-power tuner practice--no doubt have something to do with idle quality and emissions.

We're not sure precisely which clutch Saleen uses, but it's likely the Shelby GT 500 piece. The transmission is a Tremec 6060 six-speed manual, which is straight out of the GT 500, and the final drive is via the time-tested 8.8-inch solid rear axle with 3.73 gears rotating in the Saleen MaxGrip limited-slip differential. As a historical note, the '07 Extremes used 4.10 gears, but they proved too short.

Saleen's chassis-tuning sophistication has been improving for years, and the Extreme arrived at a spring-shock-swaybar tune that not only gives a pleasing ride, but does a commendable job of hanging on to the pavement. The Extreme further benefits from Saleen's stout Watt's link rear-axle locating device, and superb 20-inch Pirelli ultra-high-performance P-Zero tires.

Saleen engineers confirmed the P-Zero rubber was a particularly happy marriage with their chassis, but also emphasized the Watt's link as a significant upgrade. The previous Panhard bar arrangement limited the workable spring-shock-swaybar tune, and when they brought the Watt's link online, they were able to stiffen the rear swaybar. This tightened the rearend, reducing understeer at the frontend, which is one of the Saleen chassis' notable accomplishments.

Given the huge power, Saleen's choice of 15-inch front and 11.8-inch rear brakes doesn't seem outlandish. The front binders sport equally macho six-piston calipers while the rear calipers, ABS, and vacuum power assist systems are stock Mustang GT.

Inside, the Extreme displays the increasing competence Saleen has gained in fit and finish. We noticed the seats first. They're upholstered in black leather with white stitching, and the workmanship was excellent--absolutely worthy of a mainstream OEM. While the Extreme is all about performance, Saleen chose large but not obtrusive bolsters to maintain daily driver access.

Across the dash is the usual array of Saleen-faced instruments, including its traditional 200-mph speedometer that doesn't look quite so silly anymore. Atop the dash is a twin-gauge pod housing boost pressure and charge-cooler temperature information. A tastefully subdued serial number plaque is glued to the far right of the dash. We enjoyed its semigloss black finish, but in this price league we'll bet a more sophisticated material than molded plastic would be appreciated by customers attracted by the Saleen's exclusive, serial-numbered nature.

With 200 Extremes slated for '08 production--an optimistic number given the economy these days--our tester carried a S302E 2008 010/200 serial number. Descriptive, but a mouthful.

Looking down the stock center stack of familiar Shaker 500 sound and HVAC controls brings us to the shifter, which Saleen has fitted with a nicely turned-out leather boot to match the seat upholstery, along with a smallish, tapered cylinder of a shift handle, also done in hide-like trim. Acknowledge the Saleen script door thresholds, floor mats, and aluminum pedal pads and that's about it for interior modifications. The affect is quietly upscale, with a masculine purposefulness. Clearly Saleen recognized the S197 Mustang interior is already a nice place to be, and they did a good job of moving it up a notch while avoiding the dreaded tacky or boy racer pitfalls.

Impressively, turning the key and setting the moving parts in motion doesn't dispel this tony mood. There's a touch of firmness in the clutch effort, but nothing serious. Likewise, the exhaust has a purposeful growl, not enough to render the stereo totally useless but absolutely part of the environment. The Extreme continues Saleen's habit of providing the exhaust with two outlets. The first is under the car, a set of dump tubes mounted right at the end of the mufflers, which are in the standard S197 location. These dump tubes are not visible to casual observers. At high engine outputs, a valve opens an additional set of tailpipes terminating at the visible center-outlet exhaust tips. This dual exit design reduces backpressure when it counts, aiding power when the supercharger is doing its thing.

Another noise maker is the supercharger itself. It lightly grinds and gear whines at idle such that non-enthusiasts will think things are mechanically noisy underhood, but true believers will just grin in anticipation. This is precisely the noise an OEM such as Ford would fall on their sword over, but it's the joy of specialty manufacturers.

Slipping the shifter into gear is different than standard Mustang practice. Mounted completely on the transmission, the shifter has a short, precise throw, but with an unexpectedly light effort. It's a snick-snick sort of shifter, the kind of thing sports car fans and road racers enjoy, and not the long-levered slam-it-home device seemingly in favor with drag and circle track fans. Clutch take up is normal, engaging in mid-travel with perfectly standard street-car action.

So is simply driving around, which is a major part of the Extreme accomplishment. This really is a daily driver Mustang with easy ingress/egress, normal sight lines (save for the quarter-window covers--more on which later), a plushly elegant cabin, relatively low noise, no racy rattles or vibrations, normal control efforts--in short, all the comforts of home.

But mat the gas in any gear and it's anything but normal. First thing that happens is the supercharger wails a scream that's applause to the enthusiast's ear. At the same time, the exhaust ramps up the volume and all the traffic on the freeway begins rolling backward. This is a fast car.

Much of the excitement is the way the Extreme makes rivers of torque from above idle to redline. This is the vaunted "torque on demand" marketing types love to kick around in press conferences, except this time there really is meaningful thrust underfoot. Helping considerably are the 3.73 rear axle gears. The Extreme, like all current hot-rod Mustangs, is no lightweight at 3,645 pounds, but the steep gearing ensures it jumps out of the hole like a teenager. The rest, of course, is due to the 600 lb-ft of torque at 4,400 rpm, a most assuredly satisfying figure.

As expected, even with the weight and sticky tires, the massive power is more than adequate in First gear. Even walked carefully off the line, squeezing the throttle gently to the floor results in wheelspin at the top of First. Best acceleration comes with an abbreviated launch, then quickly jumping into Second where full throttle requires no further driver management unless the surface is slippery. You're home free in Third, except by this point you're already felony-fast. Sixty miles-per-hour comes up in around four seconds from a dead stop and in about half that given a roll. With such willing energy, the acceleration rush lasts far into the triple digits.

In other words, the car is so fast, the fun is over about as quickly as it starts. As with other mega-powered cars, the Extreme thrust is so intoxicating that it takes willpower to lift off the loud pedal, even when scattering third graders in a school zone. This is definitely a car for the mature enthusiast.

So much of this accelerative pleasure comes from the instant torque. The power is always there and needs no winding up to get rolling. This would be dangerously explosive, in the old Shelby Cobra roadster sort of way, except the power is wonderfully linear and childishly easy to dial in or out as needed. The driver is in full control, backed up by the traction control, which understands that power-induced wheelspin is necessary for the expert driver, but is ultimately not going to let things get out of hand.

So reassured, we found the Extreme a great partner even when it came time to jump into busy traffic flows from side streets or merge onto flying freeway traffic from long uphill ramps. It makes fabulously usable power.

This is in contrast to Saleen's earlier big-bore Mustang, the storied S351SC from the mid '90s. Those SN-95-based war-wagons relied on hulking, centrifugally supercharged 351 Windsors, which were a real rush but required some driving technique. They casually blew the tires off in First, which was a nearly useless gear, and spun madly in Second before pulling like a warp drive in Third and beyond. They were real cage-rattling animals, and not half as civilized, daily driver tolerant, or easy to drive as the Extreme. But brother, did they rage.

In contrast, the Extreme passed finishing school with honors, and it's absolutely ready for daily duty. As a cruiser it does relax, but never slumbers. The transmission gearing is not stratospheric in the upper cogs. Therefore, unlike a six-speed Corvette, which falls to nearly 1,500 rpm at freeway speeds, the Extreme keeps about 2,000 rpm on the clock in Sixth while rolling with traffic. Delicate, off-boost lane changes and such occur as eagerly as they would in a stock Mustang GT; alternately, kept in Fifth, the Extreme strains to run hard. Of course, boosted power is only a tickle of the right foot away.

Just as Saleen has been upping its power game, its Mustang chassis engineering has been improving as well. The Extreme carried itself confidently, with more than expected responsiveness.

As a performance street car, the Saleen is almost plush, but with noticeably more control and precision than, say, Ford's GT 500. In daily driver mode, there's some feel to hard-edge obstacles, but nothing objectionable or out of the daily driver category. The steering is light and precise, with slightly improved feel over a civilian GT, and the turn-in and mid-corner grip is confidence inspiring. Encouraged to a fast touring clip on secondary roads, the Extreme is a rewarding companion.

Pushed harder, the Extreme exhibits surprisingly good balance before signing off with modest to moderate understeer almost at the limit. The limit is high, and the understeer remains in the background until nearly the end. Thus, the Extreme doesn't have that unfocused, musclecar apathy when spurred. Likewise, body roll, while there isn't an issue and in general, roll, pitch, and overall traction balance are nicely harmonized. The frontend doesn't feel so heavy. If anything, the Extreme pitches up and down with the throttle, but 600 lb-ft of torque will raise the nose, won't it? Movement no doubt aids corner-exit traction, and again, with this much umph, a bit of telegraphing from the chassis aids driver confidence.

Designed strictly as a street car, the Extreme's precision and grip are just short of today's best pure two-seat sports cars, but miles ahead of the GT 500 musclecar paradigm. Sure, it could use more spring and shock should you venture out on open-track day (we didn't and probably wouldn't). On the street we found the grip and handling confidence-inspiring relative to the massive power. We'll admit we quickly adopted a point-and-squeeze driving style; it's perfectly natural in this car, as there's always so much power that trying for that last bit of cornering power doesn't seem worth the risk. You can just go faster down the next straight if you're really that late to the airport.

Braking was nearly stellar. Our demo car stopped nicely in casual use, but had just a hint of pedal softness when pushed harder. Asked to perform across a huge speed range, we'll bet close attention to pad maintenance would pay off for the Extreme owner. A few truly hard stops on occasion ought to keep the glazing rubbed off. He'll definitely need all the braking power when inevitably exploring the time-bending upper speed ranges this car is so easily capable of.

Given the willing chassis and killer power, it's easy to understand how we found it difficult to sit at the computer while the Extreme was in our driveway.

Of course, it's never all sweetness and light, and there are Extreme nits to pick, or opinions to express. We'll cite the rear quarter-window covers; Saleen diligently pointed out how our test car was fitted with such styling aids, and how they were strictly for evaluation at this time (they were the only non-stock items on the entire car). After a few thousand blind lane changes our opinion on these window covers remains the same: They stink. Visibility is notably reduced, and we're not excited by that entering-the-cave darkness in the back-half of the cabin. Besides, this car doesn't need such a styling add-on. The Extreme already has a subdued forcefulness to its exterior design, especially in silver. It doesn't need window covers.

To tilt at windmills, with the $84,000 Extreme it's long past time to remove the boy racer Saleen graphic atop the windshield. Not that we really expect it to go away, as we made the same comment 21 years ago when we drove our first Saleen, and you can see how much good that has done.

As good as the Extreme's fit and finish is--Saleen's best--there are a few vestiges of its cottage-industry roots. The gauge pod's white instrument lighting doesn't fit in with the MyColor Ford lighting, for example. And some things never seem to change, such as the Saleen-specific HID headlights that were maladjusted to shine about a yard in front of the hood, or the check engine light that lit for no apparent reason. We won't count the tire-pressure-monitoring fault code, as those seem to illuminate with every new car we test.

In the end, those concerns faded to the rear, just as the scenery does when the Extreme throttle opens wide. What does stay with you is that Second gear rush. Believe us: You never get tired of it.

To verify the tremendous acceleration we were all agog about, we ran our S302 Extreme tester over the Dynojet rollers courtesy of Magnaflow Performance Exhaust.

The results were encouraging, with a maximum torque of 494 lb-ft, and max of 524 hp. Adequate, as the man from Rolls Royce used to say, and a real accomplishment in a 50-state legal, EPA ultra-low-emission vehicle. Furthermore, these maximums came after driving the car an hour and a half to the chassis dyno. The power was simply read out; no icing, extended cool downs, or other tricks were employed.

Magnaflow's wideband O2 sensor also showed the Extreme was running a rich 10:1 air/fuel ratio at wide-open throttle throughout the meat of the powerband. This is a point and a half richer than optimum for supercharged power, but protective against detonation--a requirement with a production supercar. So, even more power could be made from this combination should the driver be willing to carefully monitor temperatures and environmental conditions, which we highly recommend against in a street car.

As it is, the power curve is wonderfully linear and easy to drive, and the lie-detector Dynojet shows the Saleen power ratings are correct assuming an 18 percent driveline loss or slightly more power under ideal test conditions.

Saleen has been owned by Hancock Park, an investment and holding firm, for approximately four years. Until late spring of 2007, Hancock Park remained in the background to outside observers behind company founder and front man Steve Saleen. When Steve left the company, along with engineering head Bill Tally, designer Phil Frank, and others, Hancock Park stepped into a more visible position.

In the summer of 2007, Hancock Park bought American Sunroof Company and has since combined the management of Saleen and ASC using mainly ASC personnel. After evaluating and reorganizing Saleen throughout the summer and early fall of 2007, the new regime made its public debut with a press introduction of the '08 Saleen model line. Held at the former MCAS El Toro--another proud entity undergoing fundamental change (the runways being pounded by ploughshares to twist a phrase)--the press intro was our chance to meet with Saleen/ASC President and CEO Paul Wilbur, Saleen General Manager Marques McCammon, Vice Chairman and Chief Technical Officer Chris Theodore, Saleen Powertrain Lead Rob Simon, and Saleen Chassis and Dynamics Engineering Lead Derk Hartland.

While it was our pleasure to meet Paul and Marques for the first time, Chris was familiar from his previous career at Ford, where he had a lot to do with bringing the Ford GT to fruition. Likewise, Rob and Derk are old friends with years of Saleen employ under their belts.

Many changes have taken place, not the least being the shift of all production to Saleen's Troy, Michigan, facility. This will contain shipping costs and make best use of Troy's up-to-date production facilities.The plant also installs Saleen superchargers on Ford's Harley Davidson F-150 as an OEM vendor, along with painting and sub-assembling the Dodge Viper SRT-10 for Chrysler.

Saleen engineering continues at the Irvine, California, headquarters, which seems empty now that it houses just engineering, the small S7 build team, the pranksters in the fabrication shop, and headquarters staff. No Mustang or truck production remains in Irvine, although Saleen service, modification and prototyping activities remain. Saleen will remain in the current Irvine building, but will no doubt retain a California presence in a smaller, more rationally sized building when it's time to leave 76 Fairbanks.

Saleen management positions the brand as "America's premiere niche car manufacturer" and vows to "under promise and over deliver." Its message is of "reawakening" and "a new vision."

That new vision was summed in the press materials: "We remain true to the careful balance and integration of Saleen products, but we are raising the bar: creating the one true American exotic automotive designer and manufacturer. Now, we are free to pursue this audacious but well-in-reach goal.

"Saleen is no longer the vision of one man--it is the collective passion of each employee," the press release concludes. Our thought is Saleen is headed upmarket, similar to the migration Porsche made from curio sports car maker to exotic marque decades ago.

As for Steve Saleen, he's no longer associated with, represents, or has any position in the company that bears his name. Currently, he's involved in importing Chinese cars and trucks into the U.S., an effort that hasn't quite reached the publicity spotlight, but will soon. This is keeping him fully occupied, but having known Steve for 20 years, we don't believe he's left high-performance cars behind forever.

By far, 2008 marks the largest Saleen lineup in the company's 25-year history. It's organized into two basic Mustang lines--Heritage and Saleen families--and the two-model truck line. Yes, 25th Anniversary cars are promised, but haven't been announced.

Heritage cars "honor Mustang heritage" says Saleen. A careful examination shows the H302 Three-Valve is mechanically the popular Saleen/Parnelli Jones of last year, but available in a variety of exterior colors and with the PJ's orange seat insert upholstery replaced by gray Alcantara. The H302 Supercharged fits the exciting all-forged internals 302ci Saleen Three-Valve engine with Saleen's twin-screw, charge-cooled blower. We always knew Saleen would be offering the PJ's bodywork and expensive engine in future models, as both were far too pricey to develop and certify for a mere 500 model run. As the PJ was a favorite of ours, we're happy to see it continue under the Heritage name.

The core Saleen line begins with the familiar naturally aspirated S281 Three-Valve with its lightly enhanced Mustang GT engine. This car carries the signature Saleen nose and extended tail styling debuted in late 2005. Adding Saleen's twin-screw, charge-cooled blower predictably results in the S281 Supercharged, which to many is the quintessential Saleen, boasting the full Saleen body kit, massive 15-inch brakes, and Racecraft suspension.

While escalating Saleen prices don't seem to be a particular bother to its market positioning, abandoning the lower end of the specialty market to Roush, Steeda, and other Mustang tuners is hardly in Saleen's interests, hence the decontented S281RF Supercharged, or Red Flag. By foregoing the S281 Supercharged's vented aluminum hood and big brakes, the Red Flag squeaks under the $50,000 mark to hopefully prevail in the battle of the blower Mustangs. The Red Flag is limited to a 100-unit run, and is available in black or silver.

At the other extreme is the Extreme, an aptly named Mustang if there ever was one. Clearly the S302 Extreme is the ultimate Saleen Mustang, with only 200 available in 2008.

Saleen's truck offerings are expanded in 2008 with the addition of a SuperCrew four-door version of the standard S331 Supercharged SuperCab. These are great trucks, with enjoyable power in supercharged form (last year's naturally aspirated S331 variant apparently slipped out the back door after modest, if any, sales) and retaining all the towing and hauling functions of the F150s they're built from. Sharp looking, filled with handy extras such as optional rear airbag load-leveling, heavy-duty bumpers, and Class IV hitches, the S331 is the satisfying way to tow the ski boat to the lake.

To put the '08 Saleens in quick perspective:

While Saleen pricing has left the majority of us who previously bought their products behind, you have to love a car company that supercharges six of its eight models and has a company-wide average power rating of 469 hp.

Finally, the super exotic S7 has been discontinued as a street car in the U.S. because it lacks an airbag--recertifying it with one is far too expensive. The S7 continues as a race car and in European sales, however. Production of the '07 Saleen/Parnelli Jones has also ceased, as all 500 cars in that program were built and sold in 2007.

Horse Sense: You'll notice the '05-and-up Saleen's bumper covers and side skirts are made from a material we won't even pretend to know about. From what we've been able to gather, the material is called TPO, which stands for Thermoplastic Polyolefinic elastomers. In a nutshell, the patented material is comprised of at least one thermoplastic polyolefin polymer with at least one dynamically vulcanized rubber material.

Sometimes certain events have a way of not turning out how we planned. When we have high hopes for an idyllic ending, the wheels fall off and we end up in life's version of a ditch. Even life itself sometimes hits a rough patch, sending us into a tailspin until we right the ship, cut our losses, and go on with the show.

Mike Osinga knows something about things not going his way. He's currently fighting for custody of his daughter, Alyssa, and he's hoping his second trip down the aisle, this time with Harmony Howell, is his last. Mike is a hard worker, though. He pounds the pavement as a salesperson at Black's Automotive Group in Casselberry, Florida. Black's specializes in the cars we hold dear to our hearts. It sells lesser vehicles, too, but Mustangs are the stars on the dealership lot.

Through his position at Black's, Mike heard about the Saleen you see here. It was traded in at a local dealer. His time with this car has mirrored his personal life to a great extent.The first time we saw this Saleen was at the '05 PRI show. Mustang Dynamometer had two dynos set up in tandem showing off its drag race function. One Mustang was an '03 Cobra, and the other car was this Saleen. Former owner David Kicklighter was pounding the Saleen for all its worth during the dyno shootout. Predictably, he and the Saleen had no problem laying waste to the mostly stock Cobra. Having heard about the car from Jake Lamotta of Lamotta Performance and seeing the car in action, we returned to the Longwood, Florida, area with our cameras for a closer look.

When we photographed the car, it was still owned by David, but then it was traded in. That's when Mike entered the picture.

Mike heard about the car and bought it on the spot. He already had a single-turbo Fox coupe, and hoped the Saleen would be the perfect car to cap off his small yet powerful collection of Mustangs. Somewhere along the line, the car's tune fell off the tracks because Mike says it wasn't running well when he bought it. He wished Real Street Performance's Jay Meagher could've checked out the car prior, but there wasn't any time. It was March, the start of the race season, and Jay was busy at his new shop.

Mike hoped it was just a tuning issue, so he had SCT's Michael Schimmack look at the car. It was checked over from a tuning standpoint, but nothing electronic stood out as the problem. At one time, the car had a returnless fuel system, but that had been changed to a return-style system. The car was getting plenty of fuel, so that was ruled out. Everything pointed to mechanical ills, so the car was sent to Jay's shop for a thorough mechanical analysis.

Jay discovered a dead cylinder and three melted spark plugs were keeping the car from running its best. He fixed the cylinder with a new sleeve and piston and put it all back together. Once running again, everything was right with the car. It made six-hundie on the dyno, but Jay turned it down to a safe 510 to the wheels.

Now that it's fixed, wouldn't you know the economy goes south, bringing with it stagnant car sales, hurting Mike. To right the ship, he decided to sell the Saleen. However, with auto sales flat, the car is probably not going anywhere fast-unless Mike's driving it.

Central Florida Machine and Speed built the short-block using a Cobra crankshaft and Manley rods, pistons, and piston rings. After Chris Starnes ported the stock Three-Valve heads, they were fitted with Crane Cams custom-ground blower cams, stock followers and adjusters, and custom valvesprings. A stock intake resides up top with a Blue Oval twin 62mm throttle body. An SCT Big-Air mass air meter reads incoming air prior to entering a Vortech V-2 S-Trim supercharger capable of providing the built engine with 13 pounds of boost. When David Kicklighter owned the car, the combination was good for 584 hp and 10.70s in the quarter-mile. Since the engine's rebuild, Mike hasn't had it back to the track.

Horse Sense: As we were writing this, Modular Powerhouse's Tim Barth sent us spy photos of an S197 Mustang GT destined for the KOTS 2008. If initial photos are any indication, it will be a strong group. One thing we learned this year is that we will need to find a dyno capable of more than 1,000 hp for the '08 event. The KOTS 2007 was basically a contest to see who could get as close to 1,000 hp without going over.

The Nitto Tire King of the Street has grown by leaps and bounds since the first competition was held in 2002, appearing in the May '03 issue. That first King of the Street article covered 12 pages, but it was in black and white, mostly due to the forces of nature raining on our parade during the competition. John Garner's '90 Mustang GT convertible won the inaugural competition and made 607.5 hp with 638 lb-ft of torque. "In the end," Editor Turner said, "what impressed us most about this car was that you could toss the keys to someone, and they could drive it without the usual list of dos and don'ts required by most big-power street cars." Funny--that's exactly what we still look for in a winner.

These days, John's GT would be 300 hp shy of current Nitto Tire KOTS top dogs. That's how far this competition has come. Now we have 800-900hp cars featuring the same characteristics of John's car, with better driveability thanks to improved tuning technology.

Back then, of the five cars, only two of them were modular-powered. For '07, of the 10 competitors, only two cars featured pushrods. It's safe to say the modular engine has taken over with the '03-'04 Cobras getting a lot of the credit for making available gobs of power at the fingertips of many. For that reason, the majority of entries revolve around Four-Valve modular Mustangs, with '03-'04 Cobras dominating the application list. It almost gets to the point where we get bored with all the twin- and single-turbo Cobras out there, but as you can see from the '07 competitors, it's not run-of-the-mill anything when it comes to Nitto Tire King of the Street competitors' cars. Here's a closer look at the '07 Nitto Tire King of the Street. We can't wait until next year.

Scoring at Home

We have several categories we judge when finding a Nitto Tire KOTS winner. Their percentage of importance breaks down as follows:

Horsepower: 25 percent
Ride and Drive: 25 percent
Engineering: 15 percent
Drag Race: 5 percent
Fit and Finish: 15 percent
Popular Vote: 15 percent

All these add up to 100 percent, and they're graded as such according to their percentage. As you can see, the Horsepower and Ride and Drive categories are more heavily weighted. However, no one will ever win the Nitto Tire KOTS by concentrating only on those two categories. Most often, the KOTS winner performs well in all 6 categories, but the last two winners have laid an egg in the Drag Race category. It's not as important as the more heavily weighted categories, and many competitors treat it as such.

What we do to arrive at final scores is tabulate each competitor's score in every category and do the math. We come to the competitor's score just as your teacher did in high school--on a 100-percent score scale.

Horsepower (we use SAE corrected numbers, as you can see), Drag Race, and Popular Vote are all scored according to how the competitor finishes in those categories. However, the Ride and Drive, Engineering, and Fit and Finish categories are scored at the discretion of the 5.0&SF staff. Don't worry--we're subjective, and we don't take bribes featuring free Mountain Dew 24-packs, Dickies apparel, or Just for Men hair coloring. This is all in good fun, but we take the KOTS just as serious as the competitors who build these cars. Sound like fun?

Tires are Pretty

For the past few KOTS competitions, we've had the pleasure of Nitto as the event sponsor. We like to use Nitto tires for the KOTS because they offer an excellent transition from the track to the street, and they have a lot of Mustang fitments. We've heard many people realizing a lot of miles with the Nitto 555R Extreme Drag radials, which is what Nitto provided for the rear of every KOTS competitor's Mustang. However, Nitto also has a full lineup of street and road race tires as well. We've also heard Nitto is testing a more aggressive Extreme Drag radial, as well as a new line of drag slicks. Hopefully we'll see them on the market soon, as well as a new ultra-high-performance tire in 2008.

For 2007, Jeff Mingledorf made the most of the Nitto Extreme Drag radials by putting 932 hp to the Nittos, and scoring well in almost every other category to take home the Nitto Tire King of the Street. Will you be in the 2008 King of the Street? Will you be able to try out Nitto's Extreme Drag radials for our cameras? Get your Mustang ready--we'll be calling you soon.

'03 Cobra convertible
Gainesville, GA
Horsepower: 10
Ride and Drive: 8
Engineering: 9
Drag Race: 3
Fit and Finish: 9
Popular Vote: 9
Total Score: 77.9

Score another Nitto Tire King of the Street victory for Modular Powerhouse. MPH customer Michael Kidd won the KOTS in the May '05 issue with his '03 Mustang GT. Michael's GT featured a Kenne Bell supercharger and nitrous; a combination for which MPH has become famous.

This time around, MPH brought Jeff Mingledorf's '03 Cobra stuffed with a twin-turbocharged Pro Line Racing Engines Four-Valve engine underhood. The squeeze remains an MPH staple, but MPH owner Tim Barth says the juice was never engaged during the KOTS.

Jeff purchased the car new in 2003 with plans to enjoy it in stock form. That lasted just more than a year, but Jeff says he started with the foundation--performing a solid-axle swap and a Maximum Motorsports install binge. After those additions, Jeff and Tim began adding horsepower and other goodies including stronger brakes, racing seats, a rollcage, harnesses, and a rear-seat delete. After some time, Jeff decided to get serious and make real power. MPH added the built engine, a custom twin-turbocharger kit with 61mm ball-bearing turbos, a new fuel system, and an upgraded T56 transmission. Jeff's favorite story is when he outran his brother at the dragstrip with the Cobra while his brother was at the wheel of his Viper. "I'm never gonna let him live that down," Jeff says.

So how did Jeff come to win the Nitto Tire KOTS, you ask? In a nutshell, his Cobra did everything well--except its quarter-mile performance, but that category matters little so MPH's Tim Barth didn't try that hard to post a big number. The one thing that stuck out with Jeff's Cobra was that the car felt solid, which is hard to do without a top to support structural rigidity. Everything about it felt connected, from the engine to the transmission to the car's suspension. The car acted as one main component, not many components bolted together. The road race-oriented suspension was tight, but conservative enough not to beat you up. The Cobra was stable on its feet.

Since Jeff's primary goal for the Cobra centers around road racing, the power doesn't come on down low. It comes on at higher rpm once the car is planted, which is what you want in a road-race car. Jeff's car was docile down low--almost stock-like. Once the turbochargers start doing their thing, the Nittos begin screaming for traction, and your pulse quickens with every gear change. By the time I had the car slowed down, my hands were sweating profusely. It's a good thing the Cobra had A/C to cool us down.

Speaking of staying cool, when Jeff and I arrived back at the track after the Ride and Drive portion, we had to sit in line for more than 30 minutes. How many 900-plus horsepower cars do you know of that could idle for more than 30 minutes without overheating? We know of one, and that's Jeff's Cobra. We kept waiting to see the water-temperature needle to head to the warm side, even with the air on, but it never happened. That was astonishing. We sat comfortably in the Cobra Misano seats until we were through the line.

There were two drawbacks to Jeff's Cobra that we noticed on the Ride and Drive. First of all, the on-off switch for a clutch the car possessed. It took some getting used to, and we never really mastered it before the end of our short trip. Second, the car shook too much at idle, but once it hit 1,000 rpm, the shake disappeared. We never figured out the origin of the shake, either.

Moving down the road, though, is when the car really shines. The car cruises well, and Fifth and Sixth gear make for a comfortable cruising rpm. Jeff's Cobra carried with it a nice crisp exhaust note, which made the Ride and Drive that much more pleasurable.

To bring home the KOTS crown, Jeff's car made a segment-leading 932 corrected horsepower to score a 10 in the all-important Horsepower category. With the aforementioned driveability concerns, Jeff's Cobra scored an 8 in the Ride and Drive category. Tech Editor Jones gave Jeff's Cobra a 9 in Engineering, and Editor Turner gave him the same score in the Fit and Finish category; ditto for the Popular Vote category. Jeff and Tim weren't too concerned with scoring well in the Drag Race category, and as such, scored a 3 in that category.

As you can see, Jeff's car did everything well--OK, maybe everything but going fast in a straight line, but in every other category he scored nothing lower than an 8. That's what it takes to win KOTS.

'04 Cobra
Willis, TX
Horsepower: 7
Ride and Drive: 9
Engineering: 10
Drag Race: 7
Fit and Finish: 9
Popular Vote: 10
Total Score: 77.1

We've come to expect automotive greatness from the Dynospeed Racing guys out of Memphis, Tennessee. After all, Mustangs they've built have won Nitto Tire KOTS two years in a row. When we were perusing its latest creation, Eric Chappa's '04 Mystichrome Cobra, all we could do was shake our heads at Dynospeed's Joe and John Beegle and Rick Spurr. The Cobra was Rick's baby, and it's a study in cleanliness. It was almost unfair how nice the car was. Every detail was covered in the Cobra's build. No component was left untouched. Well, except for the body, but what else could you do to the body of a Mystichrome Cobra except make it shine?

Eric purchased the car while he was working at Bagram Air Base in Afganistan--talk about sight unseen. "The car was stock except for a twin-turbo kit," Eric says. He sent the car to Earl Schexnayder for a solid-axle conversion and a 4R70W automatic transmission install. Between the car getting worked on and trips to and from his Willis, Texas, hometown to Afganistan, Eric was seldom able to enjoy the car. However, he still saw areas of improvement, so on the advice of his friend Nick Owens, he sent the car to Dynospeed Racing. That's where the initial turbo kit was removed and a Turbo Horsepower twin 61mm turbocharger system was installed. Eric basically gave the Cobra's reigns to Dynospeed since he was still overseas.

Eric was even overseas when Joe and John asked him about entering the Cobra into the KOTS competition. He said if the guys thought it was worthy to go ahead. Obviously, we would've been stupid not to include Eric's Cobra in the KOTS. The car is the automotive equivalent to a Victoria's Secret model. The Mystichrome paint combined with iForged 18-inch wheels left no secret as to the Cobra's nature; this car was built to turn the head of even the most seasoned Mustang enthusiast.

Proving the Cobra wasn't built just to be a pretty face, it has the personality to match. It features fully operational A/C, probably the best audio system in the competition with a Pioneer AVIC-D3 head unit and a JL Audio amp, a simple gauge arrangement, stock seats, and a painted-to-match Mystichrome B&M Hammer shifter. Eric's Cobra boasts a Dynospeed custom 10-point rollcage, but it benefited from swing-out door bars. An added benefit from the 'cage is that the driver-side halo bar provided the perfect napping place for my head during the Ride and Drive portion.

Speaking of the Ride and Drive, Dynospeed once again hit a home run. Eric's Cobra featured zero driveability problems. It started right up and settled into one of the more robust exhaust tones in the bunch. That's surprising since the car uses twin turbochargers as its main source of power. Turbo cars are usually quiet, but in our notes we mentioned that the Cobra possessed a robust exhaust note.

Nearly everything was perfect on the Ride and Drive. One aspect that kept Eric's Cobra from scoring a perfect 10 in that category was that the 4R70W featured a manual valvebody, a switch for the transmission's overdrive function, and a switch for the lock-up torque converter. Meaning, you wouldn't be able to throw just anyone the keys to Eric's Cobra without any pre-flight instructions.

Yes, I did say "pre-flight." Dynospeed built a Mystichrome bullet capable of making light poles a blur. Under power, you'd better have one hand on the shifter ready for the next gear, and the other on the steering wheel to keep the car straight. The power delivery is linear, but it's so smooth that you don't really get the feeling of speed until you look out the side window at the aforementioned blurry mess. Once you hit triple digits in a few scant seconds, it's time to haul it down, and the stock Cobra brakes do an admirable job of doing so with minimal theatrics. Back at cruising speeds, we once again enjoyed the comfortable cabin. This car truly represents the best of comfort and speed, all in one package.

However, the package wasn't quite strong enough to bring home another Nitto Tire KOTS victory for Dynospeed. They had to settle for Second Place this year. A faulty nitrous box kept the system from engaging, costing the Dynospeed a couple hundred horsepower. Still, Eric's Cobra made 751 corrected horsepower to finish with a 7 in the Horsepower category. Because of the manual valvebody and switches for the overdrive and lock-up, we gave Eric's Cobra a 9 in the Ride and Drive category. Tech Editor Jones must've really liked the Dynospeed car because he gave it a 10 in Engineering while Editor Turner gave it a 9 in Fit and Finish.

For the Drag Race portion, the Dynospeed guys hoped to have a new nitrous box in the car, but they were unable to locate one in time for Saturday morning's drag competition. Even so, with Rick Spurr at the Cobra's wheel, it ran an 11.20 at 140 mph with the Nittos. That gave him a 7 in the Drag Race category. Dynospeed usually brings a posse to Bowling Green from Memphis, so it was no surprise to see they won the Popular Vote, scoring a 10.

In the end, Eric's Cobra had all the bases covered, but the horsepower shortfall is what kept the Dynospeed Racing gang from getting another Nitto Tire KOTS victory. We're sure to see them try again next year.

'03 Mach 1
Eastpointe, MI
Horsepower: 3
Ride and Drive: 10
Engineering: 9
Drag Race: 10
Fit and Finish: 8
Popular Vote: 8
otal Score: 63.6

Corey McComsey is also one of the Nitto Tire KOTS competitors who put his Mustang's street cred to the test by driving his '03 Mach 1 from his Eastpointe, Michigan, hometown to Bowling Green, Kentucky. Once we took Corey's Mach for a ride, we can see why it was able to make the trip, but let's step back before we get too far.

Corey bought the Mach 1 new with plans to add a blower right away. He wanted an automatic because he felt that would be the easiest route to go in his quest for driveability and straight-line speed. "I wanted to go as fast as possible with the least amount of parts," Corey says. His first supercharger was a ProCharger P-1SC, and that addition got the Mach into the 11s. A step up to a D-1SC netted him 10s. As of the KOTS, the Mach boasts a ProCharger F-1A for a run at the 9-second zone. However, he knew a built engine was in order, so he summoned Livernois Motorsports for a 298ci modular engine using an iron block, a pair of its Stage 3 ported heads, Ford GT Supercar camshafts, and a stock intake.

All along, Corey wanted the car to retain its stock looks. So far he's remained true to that idea, save for the aftermarket wheels. However, they resemble factory Mach 1 wheels, so he gets a bye on that one. The product of such work took two years to complete, and the finished product speaks of the quality of work we've become accustomed from Livernois Motorsports.

Corey's Mach may have surpassed the driveability of Dale Hawkins' S197 GT from last year's event. The only difference between the two was Corey's ProCharger-equipped machine boasted an ever-present blower whine, which we didn't mind since it wasn't overpowering. Dale's car had a hint of rearend noise, but Corey's was whisper quiet. With this Mach, you could throw anyone the keys, and they would be able to drive the car--and fast. A simple turn of the key results in an easy start with no cold-start issues.

Drop the stock shifter into Drive, and you're down the road. Under power, the transmission features set shift points, but when cruising, it's a normal automatic. Everything worked in Corey's Mach. It had cold A/C, while a stock stereo, gauges, and seats spelled minimal trouble navigating the surroundings. Corey's Mach was the quietest car next to Michael Kidd's Mystichrome Cobra, but it was also easier to drive. Want the windows down? Simply hit both buttons once, and both of them roll down in automatic mode, a la S197 Mustangs. That was the icing on this Mach 1's interior cake.

One thing we wouldn't be hungry for in Corey's Mach is speed and power; it has plenty of both. Leave the shifter in Drive, hammer down on the gas, and it gets going in a hurry. The Mach feels as though it's going to rip the rearend out of the car thanks to the prodigious power delivery, but it was never herky-jerky--that's a technical term. The tune was spot-on with no hiccups, hesitations, or anything. If every KOTS competitor's car was like Corey's Mach, we wouldn't sleep for a month when deciding a winner.

As such, here's how Corey's Mach fared when it came to final scoring. We thought it had plenty of power for our tastes, but in this competition, the more power the better. In the end, Corey's Mach made 648 corrected horsepower, which was in the lower tier among this competition. Unfortunately, that relegated his Mach to score of 3 in the heavily weighted Horsepower category. There were several cars in the 700hp range, so an extra 50 horsepower would've greatly helped his cause. He scored a perfect 10 in the Ride and Drive category, a 9 in Engineering, and an 8 in both the Fit and Finish and Popular Vote categories.

When it came to the Saturday morning Drag Race portion, Corey's Mach sat still in the designated KOTS area. Did he oversleep? Was he out too late the night before; too many adult beverages, maybe? OK--it was all of the above, but when everyone was about to make their second passes, we finally saw Corey's Mach in the staging lanes. Since he only had one pass, it had to be a good one, and boy was it ever. How about a KOTS 2007 best 10.46/135-mph blast on the Nittos to score a 10 in the category. Corey definitely knew his way down the track, and we were impressed by his time, especially under the pressure of only getting one run in.

Corey's Mach was one categorical finish short of possibly taking the crown, but he showed the best use of the horsepower on board with his quarter-mile time, and his Mach also featured the best driveability of the bunch. If there was one car we wouldn't mind driving everyday, Corey's Mach is certainly at the top of the list.

'99 Saleen Speedster S351R
Minnesota Lake, MN
Horsepower: 8
Ride and Drive: 9
Engineering: 9
Drag Race: 9
Fit and Finish: 8
Popular Vote: 2
Total Score: 62.65

Disco Dan Schoneck was back at this year's Nitto Tire KOTS, but this time with a customer's car. This '99 Saleen S351 Speedster was originally piloted by Liz Saleen, and painted Lizstick Red. Dan says the car was one of the Saleen press cars back when new, and one of two centermount exhaust cars built for that model. Bryant Sloss purchased the car, and sent it to APS Auto Works (Todd Hardy) in Chaska, Minnesota. In a move sure to send Saleen Melvins falling on their Speedlines, the factory engine and tranny were removed and sold. While at APS, the back half of the car was also taken apart to make room for widened Saleen wheels. Then Tinman Fabrications installed through-the-floor subframe connectors and welded-up torque boxes. Tinman also built a custom aluminum gas tank to clear the 3 1/2-inch exhaust, which is still a centermount orientation.

Back at APS, Todd hid the MSD ignition, the FAST system, and the fuel pressure regulator in the fenderwells. He finished off the car by assembling the Saleen's rearend, engine, transmission, and installing a Vortech YSi-Trim supercharger. Dan upgraded the supercharger from a 30mm cog pulley to a 50mm cog drive and added a custom tune to the FAST.

However, even after all that, the most interesting part is that this car was purchased by John King, a customer and good friend of Dan, the night before leaving for Bowling Green. John simply wanted to have a car to compete in the KOTS, and the easiest way to accomplish that was to buy this Saleen.

No matter who owns the car, this Saleen is the real deal, in more ways than one. First off, it's a real Saleen. Second, this brutal street car makes all the right noises at all the right times. The car offers no-excuses performance. We didn't have to wait on the power like with the turbocharged KOTS cars. Thanks to good ol' cubic inches and a big huffer, all we had to do was mash the gas, and we were off. The combination of Windsor power with a big blower had us as giddy as a 10-year-old at Christmas. We could hardly wait to unwrap the Saleen's horsepower on the Ride and Drive, and as soon as we did, there were smiles all around.

It wasn't just the horsepower that amazed us, though. The car was docile for having said cubic inches and a blower usually reserved for 8-second race cars. We should've known that would be the case given Dan's history with a FAST system and the attention to detail he shows to his cars. The car was equally at home on the street as it was on the track. The ride was as supple as the Saleen's Recaro seats, while the brakes were nothing short of spectacular. Given the car's Saleen heritage, we should've known those characteristics would be true as well. Even with all the power on board, the car was nice and comfortable. If we needed a Mustang to shake up the locals, we'd be hard pressed to find one better than this Saleen.

To summarize, the car scored an 8 in the Horsepower segment by making 779 corrected horsepower. On the Ride and Drive, the only thing we counted against was the lack of A/C. For that reason, it scored a 9. Tech Editor Jones obviously loved the car since he gave it a 9 in Engineering, while Editor Turner gave the Saleen an 8 in Fit and Finish. With an eye-opening 10.72/142-mph blast (at 3,995 pounds with Dan at the wheel), Dan also scored a 9 in the Drag Race category. He said the provided Nitto 555R Extreme Drag radials dead-hooked, and he was off to the races. Dan stayed in it all the way to the finish line to realize the top mph, possibly in KOTS history. Dan had few Children of the Korn fans at Bowling Green, resulting in a score of 2 in the Popular Vote.

If Dan gets into the next KOTS, he should bring some Children of the Korn with him because more votes from that constituent would've helped the final score. We loved the Saleen, and can easily see why it's so desirable among Dan's friends. We just can't wait to see what he dreams up for the next KOTS.

'99 Mustang GT
Arlington, TX
Horsepower: 9
Ride and Drive: 6
Engineering: 7
Fit and Finish: 7
Drag Race: 6
Popular Vote: 6
Total Score: 51.15

Randy Munoz's '99 GT was another of the unknowns we had coming to the Nitto Tire KOTS competition. Yes, we saw pictures of the car prior to selecting him, and it looked promising with a twin-turbocharged Four-Valve powerplant. However, we didn't truly know much about the car until we saw it in person. We can say it was the antithesis of most other KOTS cars. Many of those cars were built to be pretty, but Randy's was built more out of function. It came together really well, or you wouldn't be seeing it on these pages.

Randy built the car using other spare parts found laying around the shop at HPP Racing. Since he's a tech at HPP, Randy had first dibs on many of the discarded performance items when a customer was stepping up in power. Few components were actually bought new, and most of the fabrication work that went into the car was done in-house at HPP.

Randy was eager to get going with the competition as his was the first car tested on the Ride and Drive, and the first one on the dyno for the Horsepower segment. More on the horsepower results soon enough, but for the Ride and Drive one glaring reduction on Randy's GT was the exhaust. What we've found on the turbocharged cars we've driven is that the majority of them are obnoxiously loud or whisper quiet. This car was definitely the former. The exhaust dumped at the front, using the turbochargers as mufflers. If we could equate the driving experience to anything, it would have to be that of a grounded prop plane where the exhaust is released at the front.

However, Randy's GT is probably much faster than a grounded prop plane. As we mentioned, it was the first on the dyno, and right away it was a resounding "game on" by pounding out 858 corrected horsepower. We don't think anyone saw that coming, but when it did, the competition became decidedly more fun to witness. A good time turned decidedly serious. While the other categories are great, the Horsepower category is the one feather everyone wants in his gas cap. Though Randy set the bar high, Jeff Mingledorf's '03 Cobra took the top prize in the Horsepower. Randy had to settle for a Second Place score.

In the Ride and Drive category, Randy and his GT didn't score quite as well. The car was smooth with a solid ride and excellent idle characteristics. However, the car's A/C was long gone, as was its headliner, and anyone who has been in a car without a headliner knows that's not a pretty sight. The Tremec TKO 600 shifted great; and the car featured a pistol grip shift knob, which was a bonus. The GT did boast a nice stereo with DVD player, but we noted the car's overall driveability was merely OK. The brakes were nice, and they really need to be: The car's power comes on at 3,500 rpm, and it doesn't stop until you tell it to with your right foot.

Taking all this into account, I gave Randy's GT a 6 in the Ride and Drive. What really impacted his score was the conversation-killing exhaust, the lack of A/C, and the missing headliner. However, Tech Editor Jones gave it a 7 in Engineering, and Editor Turner gave him the same score in the Fit and Finish category. With an 11.50/135-mph blast in the Drag Race portion, the car scored a 6 with that same score in the Popular Vote category.

Overall, Randy's GT did well for a car built using, as he puts it, "any leftover parts I could find." Had he been able to find a few more parts to complete the package, he would fared much better.

'91 Mustang GT
Palatine, IL
Horsepower: 1
Ride and Drive: 8
Engineering: 8
Drag Race: 5
Fit and Finish: 9
Popular Vote: 7
Total Score: 46.6

We saw CJ Williams' '91 GT in person at the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing at Joliet a few months prior to the Nitto Tire KOTS. We were dually impressed with the car, and knew he had a good chance of making it into the final call. Not only was it the lone Fox car, but it was also the only car using nitrous as its primary power adder. Those two features, and the fact that his GT was one of the nicest Fox cars we've seen, CJ and his GT made the trip from Palatine, Illinois, to Bowling Green for the KOTS.

Obviously, the first thing you notice is the paint. CJ says he has $24,000 in the paint alone. Incaudo's Auto Body applied the House of Kolors Wild Strawberry with Candy orange flames, but did so after shaving the door handles and adding a Cervini's Auto Designs cowl hood and Stalker front bumper cover. The car was painted in January 2006, but seeing zero harsh Midwest winter has enabled it to shine to this day. Of course, CJ's impeccable treatment of the car has a lot to do with that, too. The Weld Racing Magnum big 'n' littles also contribute to the exterior's persona.

Inside, you're greeted with an interior redone by Goldstar Automotive with custom leather upholstery, new carpet, new billet trim items, and a new headliner. After checking out the Auto Meter gauges, we turn the key only to hear perhaps the most intoxicating exhaust note coming from the 347 stroker. CJ's GT utilizes custom 1 7/8-inch long-tube headers and a 3-inch X-shape crossover, as well as Flowmaster three-chamber mufflers with dumps. Most dump systems beat you to death with sound pulses, but the GT's exhaust was perfect. You could still carry on a conversation while driving the car, which is usually impossible in so-equipped Fox Mustangs.

To summarize CJ's GT, the only two drawbacks we saw on the Ride and Drive was the lack of A/C and the presence of manual steering. The car featured awesome brakes, the aforementioned exhaust note, and custom interior to bolster the Ride and Drive experience, but the lack of those two creature comforts resulted in CJ's GT scoring an 8 in the Ride and Drive. Even with the nitrous-injected 347, CJ scored dead last in the Horsepower segment with a corrected 512 hp, and that really hurt his final score. He made up for that shortcoming by scoring an 8 in Engineering and a 9 in the Fit and Finish category. Thanks to a wounded tranny, CJ was only able to muster a 12.20 at 123 mph in the Drag Race portion, which resulted in a 5. However, the GT was also able to hang a wheel on the launch using the Nitto Extreme Drag radials. CJ had quite a few friends in attendance at Bowling Green, and scored a 7 in the Popular Vote category. The GT did well in most categories, but the lack of power compared to its fellow KOTS competition really hurt his final score.

'06 Mustang GT
Panama City Beach, FL
Horsepower: 2
Ride and Drive: 9
Engineering: 8
Drag Race: 1
Fit and Finish: 8
Popular Vote: 5
Total Score: 44.25

Joe Ottinger's '06 Mustang GT almost became a Nitto Tire KOTS casualty even before the competition started. The Panama City Beach, Florida, resident had his car at Modular Powerhouse for a final stab at more power only to suffer a bent supercharger snout when nitrous was introduced as a second power adder. A replacement snout was lost in shipping and Modular Powerhouse's Tim Barth couldn't rob one from another car so he had to make do with what it had. Tim fixed the snout as best he could and headed to the competition. Joe and Tim were late, but under the circumstances we didn't hold it against them.

We're glad Tim was able to get the car to the competition because Joe's GT was the lone S197 in the KOTS, and he represented the era well. The factory black paint looked deeper than Donald Trump's pockets. We're a sucker for black Mustangs wearing chrome wheels, so right off the bat Joe's car struck a chord. At the same time, the lack of any graphics or stripes may have hurt the car's Fit and Finish score, but more on that later.

The Ride and Drive segment is where Joe's GT really shined. The car features a DVD head unit, which not only controls the audio system (including an iPod interface), but the screen also provides a place to see what's coming up from behind. Yep, that's right--Joe's GT boasted a rear camera, although we were of the opinion it was set up backward because the cars were on the wrong side. Perhaps if the camera was flipped it would've corrected that problem, but by then it was too late. Nonetheless, the camera added a distinctive touch unmatched by any of the other competitors cars.

Even with the SPEC Stage 3+ clutch, the car was easy to drive, and the interior featured Speed of Sound gauge pods with Auto Meter's finest within them. Joe's GT featured a rollcage with swing-out door bars, so entry and exit was a nonissue without sacrificing safety. The car featured the stock seatbelts and more serious race-fare harnesses. Since we were just going for a Sunday drive during the Ride and Drive portion, we used the stock belts, and we were happy they were still in the car. Joe's GT scored a 9 in the Ride and Drive.

However, because of the supercharger snout issue and the inability to use the car's Zex nitrous system, Joe's GT was only able to muster 585 hp on the mobile Dynojet. That scored him a 2 in the Horsepower segmen