Place: 5
James Hensch • '12 Mustang GT The '11-'12 Mustang GTs are proof positive that efficiency goes a long way. James Hensch brought his Lava Red '12 GT, and the tech sheet read mostly "stock." James took the car to Kesatie Motorsports in Sarasota, Florida, to have a ProCharger D1-SC centrifugal supercharger installed. When the crew at Kesatie caught wind of our shootout, James was brought on board and the car was prepped for the dyno.
Aside from the supercharger, Kesatie installed a full exhaust system, including Dynatech headers and X-style mid-pipe, and Magnaflow mufflers. The stock clutch was ditched in favor of a Spec Super Twin twin-disc setup, and a Snow Performance water/methanol kit.
James' drew the first slot, so the least modified car would be the one to set the tone. Matt Kesatie finished the tuning at 2 a.m. the morning of the shootout, and the spark plugs still had to be regapped, which they did as we were strapping the car to our Dynojet.
With the work finished, we made the first pull. A conservative tune produced 668 rwhp and 573 lb-ft of torque with the air intake and filter completely removed. Matt reinstalled it for the next run, and horsepower dropped to 645 rwhp and 561 lb-ft. For the last run, Matt added 6 degrees of timing, and removed the air intake and filter. He was nervous as he put the new 5.0 on what he thought was the edge. He was thrilled with the 735 rwhp and 582 lb-ft, but he was also glad the rods stayed in place. Although James' car took the bottom spot for the day, it had the least amount of modification, and it made the lowest boost of all the cars—735 rwhp is very impressive!
| James Hensch • '12 Mustang GT |
| Engine Displacement |
302 ci (Four-Valve) |
| Transmission |
MT-82 |
| Power Adder |
D1-SC ProCharger Centrifugal Supercharger |
| Cylinder Heads |
Stock |
| Camshaft(s) |
Stock |
| Fuel Injection System |
Stock EFI |
| Rear Gear |
3.31:1 |
| Tires |
Nitto NT555R Drag Radials |
| Max Power |
735 rwhp |
| Max Torque |
582 lb-ft |
| Max Boost |
15.67 psi |