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Ford builds USAF Thunderbirds Edition Mustang for charity

Each year since 2008, Ford has created a one-off Mustang to celebrate military aviation, and the cars have been auctioned off at the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) Gathering of Eagles charity event to raise money to inspire the next generation of aviators. This year's charity car is the 2014 Ford Mustang GT US Air Force Thunderbirds Edition, which also helps celebrate 60 years of Thunderbirds air show excellence.
Of all the EAA charity cars, this Thunderbirds Edition is the most in depth. Painted to match the F-16 Tomcat fighter jets used by Thunderbirds, this Mustang also gets a widebody kit and 22-inch Forgiato wheels to go with the cockpit's Recaro bucket seats, rear-seat delete and modified navigation screen and gauge cluster. Even the Mustang's projector puddle lights have been changed to show an aircraft silhouette - rather than the Mustang's galloping horse logo - when the doors are open.
Themes for previous EAA charity cars include the Blue Angels, SR-71 Blackbird and the Red Tails as well as the F-22 Raptor-inspired AV8R and AV-X10 "Dearborn Doll" models. Scroll down for the press release for the 2014 Ford Mustang GT US Air Force Thunderbirds Edition, and be sure to check out our galleries for all six aviation-themed Mustangs.

Shelby GT350R offers first mass-produced carbon fiber wheels

In the world of race engineering, reducing total weight is good, but reducing unsprung weight is flippin' fantastic. That's the reason Ford is pushing the envelope in terms of technology for the Shelby GT350R's wheels. Joining the likes of Koenigsegg in the offering, Ford has teamed with Australian outfit Carbon Revolution to produce the CF rollers en masse for the first time. Destined for the hubs of the new Shelby GT350R, the new hoops weigh just 18 pounds each, versus the 33-lbs weight of a similar aluminum wheel. On top of slashing up to 60 pounds in unsprung weight, there's such a reduction in rotational inertia – 40 percent, versus aluminum wheels – that Ford actually has to recalibrate the magnetic ride control system and springs. Thanks to, we're guessing, scenes of crashed Formula One cars disintegrating and spewing shards of carbon fiber all over the track, Ford seems quite keen to do away with the idea that CF is strong, but brittle. The company conducted extensive shock testing, ramming a wheel into a curb at speed. According to the Blue Oval, the lightweight wheel allowed the suspension to respond so quickly that the impact was "greatly diminished," causing the tester to run the experiment again, thinking there'd been a mistake. After recording brake rotor temperatures of 900 degrees Celsius (over 1,650 degrees Fahrenheit, or well past the point that aluminum or magnesium would melt) during testing, Ford and Carbon Revolution actually redesigned the wheels to "a thermal standard more suitable for motorsports," by adding an "incredibly thin, nearly diamond-hard coating that reliably shields the resin from heat." The same process was used to protect engine turbine blades on the Space Shuttle. While the work by Ford and Carbon Revolution should make GT350R customers excited, the work being done here could have serious implications for performance cars in the future. That's the real takeaway here, and is something that should leave fans of all performance vehicles excited.

Ford hybrids getting update to improve fuel economy

Ford has announced that it is introducing "calibration updates designed to improve on-road fuel economy for owners of the 2013 Ford C-Max Hybrid, 2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid and 2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid."
We can speculate that these changes are at least due in part to lawsuits over mileage claims of hybrid vehicles. The automaker is enhancing 2013 models starting in August by raising their electric cruising speed to 85 miles per hour from 62 mph, optimizing the use of active grille shutters and the climate control system, shortening the engine warm-up period by 50 percent and reducing electric fan speed to minimize the fan's energy consumption.
It bears mentioning that Ford is doing pretty well in the US electrified vehicle market this year. The company claims to have grown its share in the segment by 12 points to 16 percent while taking a high number of Toyota Prius trade-ins in the process. Conversely, Toyota has experienced a five-percent drop in new-Prius sales over the same period. Additionally, Ford states that it has increased its share of the US vehicle market by one percent this year, more than any full-line automaker.