Ford Performance Chief Engineer Tells Why New Shelby GT500 Is Pinnacle Of Ford Performance
Say what you will about the late Sixties being the heyday of the muscle car, that era didn't hold a road flare to the performance cars that are available on the market today. One of the most impressive is the just-introduced Shelby GT500, which just happens to be the most powerful street-legal Ford in history. Its 5.2-liter supercharged V-8 engine delivers 760 horsepower.
As we can attest, the car’s straight-line performance is eye-opening. It will vault from zero to 60 mph in about 3.5 seconds and rocket through the quarter-mile in less than 11 seconds. What might be more impressive is the fact the Shelby GT500 is equally at home on a road course. Among its badges of honor are the largest brakes of any domestic sports coupe and a dual-clutch transmission that is not only the first in its segment but is also absent of the around-town woes that beset many DCTs.
Ford calls the Shelby GT500 the "pinnacle" of any pony car — and thus virtually any performance car — produced by the company. It isn't simply an advanced Mustang; it is an advanced performance machine that can hold its head up in any company, foreign or domestic, at any price. The fact that you can get the highest performance version of the GT500 for less than $100K is whipped cream on the sundae.
After a lengthy drive of the car, I recently had a chance to sit down with Carl Widmann, performance chief engineer at Ford Motor Company, to talk about the new Shelby GT500 in depth. The following is that interview, slightly edited for clarity and length.
