Ford Mustang Cobra Jet Concept

First Look: Ford Mustang Cobra Jet Concept 

Twin turbo replacement for displacement.

Ford’s first Cobra Jet production drag cars 4 decades ago had carbureted 7.0-liter V-8s. When the Blue Oval came back with a modern rendition in 2008, it used supercharged V-8s to clear the quarter, but as of this year's SEMA Show it has taken another approach.

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The 2.9-liter blower on the 2013 Cobra Jet can suck as much as 100 bhp just to drive that supercharger, which, Ford explains, is a major reason it made the switch to a pair of turbochargers for the SEMA Cobra Jet Concept. It doesn't hurt, of course, that turbocharged EcoBoost engines are now a major part of Ford's product lineup.

Ford Mustang Cobra Jet Concept

So what about the dreaded lag associated with turbochargers? Ford employs a pair of small Borg-Warner turbos based on the units used in the production Focus ST. The turbine wheels are made of lightweight titanium aluminide with shafts that spin in low-friction bearings, and can whiz to 150,000 rpm in a flash. The wastegates are the same production components used on production EcoBoost engines.

After the SEMA show the Cobra Jets will be back at the drag strip for still more testing.

Ford Mustang Cobra Jet Concept