Ford has kept most details regarding the new GT350 a very closely guarded secret. They wouldn’t even confirm the car’s 8,200 RPM redline, that we and many other members of the media, photographed on the car’s tachometer at the LA reveal a few weeks ago. In a recent interview with Fox News car reporter Gary Gastelu, Ford Global Performance Vehicle Chief Engineer, Jamal Hameedi, let a few details slip about the new top of the line Mustang and its engine.

The interview segment is over 8 minutes in length, and Hameedi was interviewed via video phone. During the interview there are a few details and what could be confirmations of rumors we’ve reported on if you can weed past what Mustang die-hards already know of the car.

One area is benchmarking. Hameedi, comments that the benchmark for the GT350 was not the cross town competitor Z/28 Camaro, but rather the Porsche 911 Carrerra S. This is an indicator that Ford is going after sports car customers, the ones who probably wouldn’t have even considered a Mustang before.

Racing

Gastelu, also asked about whether the GT350 name would go racing much like variants of the BOSS name have been racing for several years. Hameedi seemed to confirm that Ford will be sending the GT350 name into their racing program. This likely includes IMSA and World Challenge racing, we wouldn’t doubt if we don’t see the GT350 name referenced in NASCAR’s former Nationwide racing series.

Halo Car

Hameedi also seems to confirm that the GT350 name will be the Halo car for the next few years for the Mustang lineup, likely for the S550 platform duration. Hameedi comments that Mustang fans will see a “different” kind of halo car this time around. He doesn’t outright dismiss a GT500, but he seems to push the idea of one aside.

Redline

Remember the fuss about the flat-plane redline? Hameedi gives us the first on the record mention of the GT350’s redline. He states that the car has a redline over 8,000 RPM. This matches up with our photos of the 8,200 RPM redline on the  tach, confirming what we already new.

Pricing

Hameedi also seems to offer some confirmation of the pricing rumor we’re seeing lately. In his interview he talks about the previous generation GT500 starting at around $55,000, and that the GT350 should represent a good value to buyers. He seems to hint that the new car should have a starting price less than the previous generation GT500. Only time will tell if this is true.

Crate Engine

One of the more interesting questions in the interview is about whether the Voodoo engine will be available as a crate engine through the Ford Racing catalog. At first Hameedi seems to brush this idea aside, stating that several special things were done to the GT350 for the Voodoo engine. Hameedi doesn’t say what these things were, but we can garner some of it probably has to do with the high NVH that flat-plane crank engines are known to generate. Hameedi then goes on to state however, that he could see interest from various racers, and some enthusiasts in having the Voodoo engine in their own vehicles and that the Voodoo engine will likely make it to the Ford Racing parts catalog. We had wondered about this, and can think of a few projects we’d love to do with the Voodoo engine without even knowing its specs yet.

We hope to get more details out of Ford either ourselves, or otherwise in the near future. For now, this is the latest we have, and we’ll keep bringing more to our readers as we hear it.