2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is Quicker without Track Tires. Here's Why ...
Anyone chasing quarter-mile times is better off skipping the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500's $18,500 Carbon Fiber Track Pack.
In Car and Driver testing, the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 hit 60 mph and 100 mph 0.2 second quicker on the standard street tires than on the optional track tires.
A Ford engineer who works on the GT500 confirmed that the standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires tend to have better longitudinal traction than the optional Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires.
The Cup 2 tires deliver their big benefit in lateral grip, a boon for road-course lap times.
It might seem intuitive that if you're trying to run the quickest straight-line times with Ford's most powerful production car ever — the 760-hp Mustang Shelby GT500 — you'd want to spend the money to upgrade to the optional performance tires. Car and Driver testing reveals that hunch is wrong, though. A GT500 is quicker — to 60 mph, to 100 mph, and through the quarter-mile — with the standard Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires than with the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires that are part of the $18,500 Carbon Fiber Track Pack.
(photo credit: Michael Simari - Car and Driver)
