Mustang Shelby GT500 to top 700 horsepower
Ford won’t say exactly how powerful its newest supercar challenger will be
This is, says Ford, the fastest street-legal Mustang it has ever produced. The company won’t say exactly how fast — or even how powerful — the new Shelby GT500 will be, but the numbers Ford is willing to stand by are pretty darned impressive.
For instance, the 2020 Mustang GT500 will hit 60 miles per hour (96 km/h) in under 3.5 seconds. It will also cut the quarter mile timing lights in less than 11 seconds. That is all thanks to its 5.2-litre supercharged V-8 pumping out “more than” 700 horsepower. How much more, the company’s not saying, but some think the big GT is undergoing some last-minute tweaks so Ford can guarantee it can out-dyno Dodge’s 707-h.p. Challenger Hellcat.
Better yet, it looks like the new Shelby will also be an excellent sports car — as opposed to just a straight-line demon — thanks to some technology transfer from the Ford’s GT supercar and the Mustang GT4 racing program.
These benefits include — and this, I suspect, will upset more than a few traditionalists — the segment’s first seven-speed, dual-clutch paddle-shifted transmission. On the handling side, Ford says that, thanks to its race-bred chassis, custom Michelin tires and the largest front brake rotors ever available on an American sports car, the Shelby will have the fastest track times and the best cornering of any domestic coupe.
The details behind all these superlatives read like a what’s what of motor-racing technology. The 2.65-L roots-type supercharger, for example, was inverted so it and the air-to-liquid intercooler could be tucked neatly in the V-8’s engine valley. Along with high-flow cylinder heads, upgraded forged connecting rods and wide-arc cylinder liners, the oil pan has a new, patented baffle system in anticipation of all that synthetic oil sloshing about more than normal. More controversially, the new Shelby is the first Mustang with a paddle-shifted transmission, the Tremec dual-clutch seven capable of shifting gears in less than 100 milliseconds. So yes, all you Mustang traditionalists, there will be no stick offered … or needed.
On the chassis front, the GT combines revised suspension geometry, next-gen active MagneRide suspension and some specially designed Michelin Pilot tires — either Sport S or Sport Cup 2, depending on the package ordered — to deliver the highest-ever lateral acceleration from a Mustang.
The larger brakes are some whopping 420-millimetre front rotors coupled with Brembo six-piston calipers.
For those who need to go even
With its Ford Performance racing tech, supercharged engine and ability to surprise supercar owners, I think (Carroll Shelby) would love this Mustang more than any other.
faster, Ford offers two packages for the new Shelby. The basic Handling package adds adjustable top strut mounts and a spoiler with a Gurney flap. The more comprehensive Carbon Fiber Track package is obviously meant for hardcore Porsche-challenging, with upgrades that include lightweight 20-inch carbon-fibre wheels, Sport Cup 2 Michelins, and an adjustable carbon-fibre GT4-inspired wing. This package even deletes the rear seat to save weight.
Ford is not unaware of the responsibility of naming yet another Mustang after the legendary racer and entrepreneur who, among other legendary accomplishments, led Ford to its famed Le Mans wins and built the original GT500 powered by the famed 428 Cobra-Jet. But “Carroll (Shelby) was a takedown artist, always working on the next, faster Shelby,” says Jim Farley, Ford president, global markets.
“With its Ford Performance racing tech, supercharged engine and ability to surprise supercar owners, I think he would love this Mustang more than any other.”