2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Is a True Track Weapon at Last
The last GT500 was a cartoon. Good for turning the quarter-mile inside out and little else. This is not that.
It’s early summer, the air thick enough to hold, and there are better than 200 miles of go-nowhere two-lane ahead, all tangled up in the Appalachian foothills. The route unravels to an empty track that’s mine for the day, and there’s nothing between here and there but a few deer, a line of thunderstorms, and the kind of asphalt that demands a little courage. The fastest, most advanced production Mustang in history is beneath my heels, its supercharged V-8 firing out 760 hp. Its massive Michelins reek of fresh rubber. The tank is full.
This 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is only the ninth to roll off the line. The plaque on the dash says so. This may glide across an auction block somewhere decades from now, massive engine silent, a vulgar curiosity from the gilded age of petroleum. But why linger on that dark future when there are miles to eat?
The road uncoils into a rare straight. I press the throttle to the floor. The acceleration is violent, the car trying to shove the universe through my eyeballs. There is a gear change. Another. They register somewhere past my consciousness: important, but less so than keeping the car between the lines. The rear goes loose as the tach smacks redline with each shift. Officially, 60 mph falls in 3.6 seconds. But that figure doesn’t tell you what it’s like to grab this car by its hide and hold on.
Seven hundred and sixty horsepower. The most powerful production Ford engine in history. A full 100 horsepower more than the twin-turbocharged V-6 in the Ford GT supercar. The V-8 uses the same block, bore, and stroke as the engine powering the fantastic GT350 but replaces that car’s flat-plane crank with a cross-plane design. Workers hand-build each powerplant, bolting a 2.65-liter Eaton supercharger on top, complete with an air-to-liquid intercooler.
(photo credit: Camden Thrasher - Road & Track)
