The Ferocious New Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Attacks Yet Again!

Ford and Carroll Shelby both shared one awesome wish:  to build a production Mustang that would reach at least 200 mph, yet be tame enough to drive around town.  Their wish finally came true, and Carroll Shelby lived to see it happen!

The all-new, epic-cool Mustang GT500 weighs almost 3850 pounds (down by almost 50 from last year’s model), can do burnouts 24/7, reach 205 mph in 5th gear (as Ford claims), have almost as much torque as a Dodge Ram 2500 with the optional Cummins Turbodiesel, and get 18 mpg.  That’s gonna be kinda hard for Chevy and Dodge to beat.  It has more horsepower than the 638-horsepower Chevy Corvette ZR1, and makes ten MORE horsepower than the new Dodge Viper!  Plus, it gets pretty much the same gas mileage as a Challenger R/T.

To handle all that ludicrous power, Ford had to beef up the Tremec TR60 transmission to a 3.31:1 final drive ratio.  Because of all that power pounding the ground, Ford has HUGE brakes that have a 14 INCH diameter on the front.  The brakes are Brembo vented disc brakes with a six-piston caliper.  The back is almost as scary, with 11.8 inch vented discs with one piston calipers.  That’s what you’ll need when you need to stop from 205 mph on the Interstate 5…

The massive supercharged 5.8 liter engine was first fired up in late December.  It took almost two months of constant tuning to get the engine power consistent in power delivery.  The supercharger is the same one that GM uses on their blown LS9 Corvette engine.  That supercharger is an Eaton TVS Series 2300 supercharger.  Ford’s SVT (Special Vehicle Team) engineers went a bit crazy (in a very, very good way!) by cross-drilling the block and heads.  The camshaft profiles were updated, along with many other changes including making the block all-aluminum and carbon fiber.  They also added a larger cooling fan, a higher-flowing intercooler pump, and a much larger intercooler heat exchanger.  All of this contributes to the 200+ mph top speed (UNGOVERNED) of the GT500!

Ford states that the new GT500’s engine is the most powerful production V8 in the world.  Of course, the ridiculously fast Koenigsegg Agera R and SSC Aero TT both best 650 horsepower, delivering well over 1000 horsepower EACH!  But, if you define production as mass production, Ford’s strong statement DOES ring true.  The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is faster, lighter, seats two, has only 638 horsepower, yet 604 lb-ft of torque (four more than the GT500).

Just about anybody who has driven the previous GT500 will tell you that it had WAY too much power for the tranny to put down at one time.  Ford apparently realized this large problem and ditched the ancient 3.55:1 final drive ratio in favor of a better 3.31:1 final drive ratio.  The 0-60 times of the old GT500 were often electronically limited, and were not much faster than the less powerful GT.  SVT also optimized every gear except fourth to get maximum power down to the ground as quickly as possible.  To keep the transmission from burning out too quickly, SVT added a dual-disc clutch and a carbon-fiber driveshaft.

For those interested in beating a Camaro ZL1 on a road course should get the optional Performance Package, which adds a Torsen limited-slip differential, and an SVT-designed Bilstein suspension system.  The suspension has electronically adjustable dampers with two driver-selectable modes:  Normal and Sport.  Normal will allow more comfort on the underfunded roads of the U.S., while Sport tightens up the suspension, basically eliminating body roll in corners at track days.

The Track Package is also available when you click the Performance Package option.  The Track Package further adds onto the Performance Package by adding an:  external engine cooler, rear differential cooler, and a transmission cooler to fight heat soak at track days.  The seemingly chubby 3850 pound GT500 rides on second Generation Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperCar tires that are positioned on 19-inch front and 20-inch rear forged aluminum wheels.

Because of an all-new Mustang coming out for the Mustang’s 50th anniversary in 2015, this will most likely be the last major update for this amazingly successful pony.  Here’s to hoping that there will be an AMAZING 2018 Mustang GT500 (as 2018 will be the 50th birthday of the GT500)!  See ya suckas!  VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Here’s the link to the Ford website (which does have the Mustang GT500).

http://www.ford.com/cars/mustang/