SUPER SNAKE
Built by Surrey-based Bill Shepherd Mustang, this 850bhp Shelby ‘Super Snake’ is undoubtedly the most brutal incarnation of the modern-day Mustang that you can currently get your mitts on. But be warned: it bites…
A look at the UK-spec, 850bhp Mustang tuned by Shelby.
It’s fair to say the most recent, sixth-generation Ford Mustang has successfully put this rather iconic, long-standing badge back on the automotive map with a bang over the last four years or so.
Acting as that tantalising ‘wildcard’ for those looking for their next sensible European sports coupé, the fact you can still pick up a 5.0-litre V8 muscle car – complete with a good ol’ manual gearbox – in this day and age makes it unsurprising to hear that
it’s been a bit of a sales success for Ford, too (especially when the base price for that aforementioned spec starts at a similar level to what you’d snap up a basic German saloon car for).
Still, it clearly seems like even this burbling slab of Americana just isn’t enough for some heroic petrolheads out there looking for their octane-addled fix of crude grunt. With countless upgraded variants of the ‘Stang being unveiled seemingly every single day from third-party firms – each offering more eye-watering amounts of power than the previous – it’s left us wondering here in the FF office just where the lunacy will ever end. But you know what? We think that we might’ve just found the answer…
Welcome to the Super Snake: currently the most powerful multiple-production Ford Mustang model money can buy. The latest model to be fettled by Shelby – the Fordaffiliated powerhouse that’s been producing unstoppable road and race Mustangs since the car’s conception all those decades
ago – it’s a machine that takes the muchloved muscle car formula and cranks it to its most extreme setting.
Luckily, we don’t have to book plane tickets to Detroit to sample the magic for ourselves: it’s in fact the leafy suburbs of Surrey where this mythical machine begins its life. You see, this is where Bill Shepherd Mustang is located – a small and unassuming outfit that happens to be the only place in Europe that’s officially allowed to upgrade vanilla Fords to the fabled Shelby spec.
Billy Hines, the General Manager at
Bill Shepherd Mustang, is the man who introduces us to this particular Ingot Silver beast, which just so happens to be the very last 2015-2017-shape Super Snake the company will ever produce (and is currently for sale on its website – thank us later).
With ‘Super Snake’ badges on
“Pop the hood and you won’t be disappointed, as a huge 3.2-litre Whipple twin-screw supercharger now sits atop of that V8...”
seemingly every single one of its rippling flanks, as well as a hefty dose of carbon fibre vents, splitters and spoilers, it’s instantly clear upon first glance that this is no ordinary Mustang GT.
“We bought the car as a standard modelyear ’17 GT brand new, before putting our full Super Snake kit on it,” Billy is keen to explain. “This is the fifth and final car of this generation to receive this work here, and until we wait for Shelby to release something similar for 2018-spec cars, is the most powerful Mustang you can currently buy – even more so than the recently-released Shelby GT500.”
All of that carbon fibre is one thing, but what’s lurking under that hugely vented bonnet now to give this car such a significant claim to fame? Pop the hood and you won’t be disappointed, as the Super Snake’s party piece – a huge 3.2-litre Whipple twin-screw supercharger – now sits atop of that V8 lump, complete with comprehensive Shelby cooling and breathing systems to ensure everything is kept in check.
With a correlating Shelby tune to the Mustang’s ECU, Billy reveals the headline performance figures we’ve all been waiting for: somewhere well upwards of 800bhp and 640lb ft of torque – all being transmitted through an honest manual gearbox exclusively to the rear wheels – pure heaven!
The thing which sets the Super Snake apart from other big-power Mustangs is the fact that this monstrous powerplant is only one part of the story, with practically every other aspect of the car also upgraded to a similarly impressive level to ensure this isn’t the one-trick drag-strip pony you might initially think it’s going to be – not on race veteran Carroll Shelby’s watch.
“...Upwards of 800bhp and 640lb ft of torque – all being transmitted through an honest manual gearbox exclusively to the rear wheels – pure heaven!”
“The back end of the standard GT has been criticised for being quite vague, even at low speeds,” Billy explains as we begin to dissect the Super Snake’s re-worked chassis. Now boasting much tauter Shelby-branded springs, dampers and anti-roll bars that’re all crucially tied together with a bespoke geo setup by Bill Shepherd Mustang, the underside is finished off with some huge Shelby-branded Wilwood stoppers both front and rear, as well as only the stickiest of Michelin rubber on those specialist and heavily-dished forged alloy wheels.
Enough talking, though; we just had to get this car out and see how all of these changes translated on the nearest B-road. Fire up the Super Snake, and you’re left with that familiar thrumming idle gracing your eardrums that’s perhaps a little more purposeful than the standard car’s even at these low revs. At low speeds, you’re soon filled with confidence with the sharp and predictable way the chassis responds to your inputs in a way that seems far more capable than before – reassuring when you remind yourself of the ballistic missile that the car’s bolted to up front.
It’s when you get above 2500rpm that things begin to get really interesting, however. There’s not as much of a whine from that supercharger as you’d expect, but the jaw-dropping way the Super Snake gains momentum is the only thing you’ll be thinking about as you tentatively push further into the throttle pedal’s line of travel anyway. You might find it unsurprising to hear that it’s possible to hilariously light up those rear tyres even in fourth gear if you’re not careful, but charm this snake and you’ll be rewarded with what can only be described as a seriously capable and rewarding performance car in its own right.
With the stock Mustang GT representing fantastic value-for-money, does the Super Snake follow suit? This particular car is currently priced at £115,000 – meaning a £60k+ premium is added to the GT’s price tag to benefit from this work. “When you think of the other exotic cars that you can buy that boast 800bhp and how much these costs, it soon becomes a bit of a bargain, though…” Billy puts it best.