2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 first drive: The icon, elevated

The identify “Shelby” has at all times meant one thing particular when utilized to a Mustang. For over 50 years, the model that Carroll constructed has taken often humble pony automobiles and turned them into issues somewhat extra formidable. In current years, with the Shelby GT350, these issues have been totally elegant.That present GT350, not too long ago up to date and retooled, is a machine that handles — and sounds — like no Mustang that got here earlier than. But the GT500 was at all times meant to be king of the hill, the most important and baddest of the Shelby Mustangs. And this, pricey reader, is the most important and baddest Shelby Mustang of all. It’s the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, with a whopping 760 horsepower from a 5.2-liter supercharged V8.Not that way back that one determine can be all you wanted to know when speaking concerning the GT500. But for this newest era we have to dig deeper, as a result of Ford says this is not simply the corporate’s strongest manufacturing automotive ever, but in addition the most effective dealing with GT500 in historical past. Join me as I hit the street, the monitor and the drag strip to see whether or not it delivers.
The recipeLet’s begin with the numbers, as a result of they’re mighty spectacular and naturally nonetheless fairly necessary. The 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 packs 760 hp and 625 pound-feet of torque, produced from its 5.2-liter V8. That’s the identical fundamental block as discovered on the GT350, now requested with dealing with 12 psi from the Eaton supercharger nestled down properly contained in the engine’s V. To get it to suit, and to decrease the middle of gravity, Ford engineers truly flipped the supercharger, so the dual scrolls are on the underside and the air-to-water intercooler is mounted up high. Engine internals are up-rated too to deal with that energy, however the tweaks do not cease there. To the oil pan, Ford added what its engineers name “active baffles,” mainly spring-loaded doorways that hold the oil from working the flawed method throughout high-G maneuvers on the race monitor.That’s simply the primary of many, many tweaks that present the intent for this GT500 to be pretty much as good on a race monitor as it’s on a drag strip. The suspension is radically improved during the last GT500, adaptive dampers entrance and rear that, whereas they do not make the automotive notably compliant on their softest settings, make it manageable on the street and superb on the monitor. But extra on that later.Opt for the Carbon Fiber Track Pack, a courageous click on within the configurator at $18,500, and issues get much more purposeful. An enormous, adjustable, carbon-fiber wing seems on the trunk and, within the inside, the rear seat magically disappears. Most spectacular, although, are the carbon-fiber wheels, which save 15 kilos per nook regardless of being completely large. They’re 20 inches in diameter and a whopping 11.5 inches on the rear, wrapped in Michelin Pilot Cup Sport 2 tires, 305/30 R 20 entrance and 315/30 R 20 out again. That’s quite a lot of sticky rubber rolling on the street.But it is wanted, as a result of the Mustang Shelby GT500 is quite a lot of automotive. How a lot automotive? Try 4,171 kilos price, about 300 greater than a GT350. Yep, that is one large pony.Smoke ’em when you and so on. and so on.
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At the stripIf a GT500 weren’t good on the drag strip, a type of existential dread would grasp concerning the automotive. It’s an important metric on this automotive’s success, and so when it got here time to actually put the automotive to the take a look at, I used to be glad to start out at a quarter-mile. The 2020 Shelby GT500 is formally rated with a 3.3-second zero-to-60 time, working the quarter in 10.7 seconds. Yes, Hellcat followers, that is a full second slower than a Demon, but it surely’s necessary to notice that the Mustang’s time was set on the automotive’s default Michelin Pilot Sport tires, not the gummy, sloppy-sidewall drag radials of the SRT. The GT500 additionally set that point with a full complement of 4 seats. Me? Well, regardless of a 30 mile-per-hour headwind and a rookie’s inexperience, I managed an 11.5 on my very first run. A roaring, livid, extremely thrilling run. A couple of runs later I managed to get right down to an 11.3. Not dangerous for a drag-racing beginner.Helping is the GT500’s built-in line lock mode, which makes picture-perfect burnouts as straightforward as urgent a couple of buttons. Configurable launch management permits you to run by way of 100-rpm increments, after which there’s the last word characteristic: the DCT.While it lacks some niceties an computerized can present on the strip, just like the Demon’s trans brake, Ford’s new Tremec-sourced DCT shifts in simply 80 ms. That’s a heck of a bonus over a standard guide and, when the automotive is in drag-strip mode, it even emulates energy shifting (retaining on the throttle between gears).But the true place the place I anticipated that DCT to shine was on the monitor, and I used to be not dissatisfied.You may be shocked…
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On the monitorThe street course Ford chosen outdoors of Las Vegas Motor Speedway had all of the elevation modifications and character of the parking zone that it clearly as soon as was. But that did not make it any much less of a problem for the GT500, and we courageous journalists who would attempt to wield its 760 horsepower with out spiraling off into the gravel. It’s a good course with a couple of quick turns that require bravery, many extra that require endurance. Yes, endurance, in a Shelby GT500. After a couple of sighting laps I used to be unleashed and virtually instantly I felt comfy at pace. The 16.5-inch entrance discs, squeezed by Brembo calipers, impressed unimaginable confidence regardless of the uneven asphalt, whereas the grip of these Pilot Cup Sport 2 tires on the rear meant the traction management stayed remarkably quiet regardless of my… often keen purposes of the throttle.Coming out of each tight flip the GT500 leaps ahead with a ferocity that many fashionable supercars lack. No worries about staying on-boost or within the energy band, simply put your proper foot down after which prepare for the following braking level.I’ll remind you that this can be a automotive weighing in extra of 4,100 kilos. Yes, it takes lots to maneuver that a lot mass round, however even by way of the monitor’s lone, quick chicane the GT500 fortunately danced, and later made straightforward work of the curbing once I obtained extra assured. And what concerning the DCT? It labored fairly effectively, higher than I’d anticipated given it is a first for the Mustang. In the curiosity of testing I pressured myself to depart it in computerized on the monitor. It did job of selecting the correct gear by way of corners, aggressively downshifting and rev-matching when braking and providing rapid-fire upshifts below acceleration.On the street, nonetheless, I discovered it a bit extra annoying. In sport mode, the automotive gave the impression to be continually looking for gears, dancing forwards and backwards till I gave in and tapped the “M” button within the heart of the rotary shifter and used the wheel-mounted paddles to select my very own.That’s simply one of many many elements of the automotive which might be simply personalized when you like. The automotive has 5 commonplace drive modes, controlling all the things from suspension stiffness to how outrageously loud you want your exhaust tone, however you possibly can roll your personal mode as effectively through the Shelby button on the steering wheel.The gauge cluster can be properly customizable, providing you with fundamental navigation or media data when you like, or extra racy stuff like a G-meter and an enormous, blinking tachometer. Paired with Ford’s easy however serviceable Sync 3 infotainment system and an out there 12-speaker B&O sound system, you have obtained your self a muscle automotive with admirable smarts. Sadly, although, these smarts do not prolong to the security aspect. Other than a blind-spot data system with cross-traffic alert, energetic security methods are absent.Will not disappoint; might very effectively scare. 
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Wrap-upWhat a automotive. The GT500 continues to be each bit the beast it ever was, however now it is a beast you possibly can fairly handle on the day-to-day and also have a heck of time round a race monitor. If you possibly can afford it, that’s. The 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 begins at $72,900, and totally optioned with the Carbon Fiber Track Pack you are knocking on the door of six figures. For my cash the $59,140 GT350 can be my choose, as that automotive gives loads of energy and much more dealing with prowess. Regardless, the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is a outstanding accomplishment and a brand new high-water mark for muscle automotive efficiency. Editors’ be aware: Travel prices associated to this story have been coated by the producer, which is frequent within the auto business. The judgments and opinions of Roadshow’s employees are our personal and we don’t settle for paid editorial content material.