TriShield
04-07-2009, 03:04 PM
Quicker, Smarter, Nicer — Yet Still a Bad Boy
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/spinaroundtown/10.ford.shelby.gt500/10.ford.mustang.gt500.actfront.500.jpg
Flush fit for the aluminum hood emphasizes the look of the fascia itself; functional extractor vents deal with the heat of supercharged power.
By Chris Walton, Chief Road Test Editor
Date posted: 04-05-2009
Supercharged, intercooled 5.4-liter V8 - 540 hp; 510 lb-ft of torque - 6-speed manual transmission - 3.55:1 final-drive ratio - 19-inch forged-aluminum wheels
It's something like trying to drive the 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 on a roller-coaster, only there are no steel tracks to keep you from slithering off the pavement and ending up in a flaming heap of 540-horsepower Mustang.
You can't even see where you're going, really. Hard on it, the GT500's rear tires begin spinning just as you can see nothing but sky in the windshield. You're on top of the hump at the entrance to Infineon Raceway's Turn 6, and as your stomach and both right-side tires go weightless, you start a long, long dive to the left, sliding sideways all the way down the hill and around the 180-degree corner.
The Shelby GT500 is so torqued up with the cornering force from the low-profile 19-inch tires and the drive from the supercharged V8 that you can practically hear the welds popping in the chassis. But something is different this time — palms are not slick with sweat, tires are not threatening to let go at the most inopportune moment and steering left in order to go right is a joy and not a reflex of self-preservation.
The 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 gets 2 mpg more on the EPA highway cycle this year. The Ford engineers are really proud of this. But every time we make another lap and slide down Turn 6, we have our doubts that fuel economy is what this car is about.
Serving Our Inner Adolescent
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/spinaroundtown/10.ford.shelby.gt500/10.ford.mustang.gt500.actbrn.1.500.jpg
Stability control can be dialed in for different surfaces, while a launch rpm can be pre-determined electronically as well.
We're behaving like adults as the Ford engineers tell us all about the 2010 Ford Shelby GT500, even as we hear a couple of the cars making shake-down runs on the quarter-mile strip at Infineon Raceway a few hundred feet away. And in many ways, the GT500 itself is trying to act more like an adult, casting aside the muscle-bound character of the 2007 Ford Shelby GT500.
As the Ford people tell us, they started with the limited-production 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR, the exclusive (1,700 examples built) and revenue-enhancing (MSRP $79,995) Mustang produced last year. And aside from a few fewer Shelby badges (the KR had many to spare), the GT500 is like the KR in almost every way, except it's built at the Mustang plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, rather than at the Shelby facility in Las Vegas.
You can tell as soon as you open the new GT500's hood, complete with hot-air extractors. The supercharged and intercooled DOHC 5.4-liter V8 with its truck-style iron block is still in place, but now it carries a conical air filter in its own sealed cold-air box behind the left-side headlight, an innovation that increases airflow while resisting power-sapping heat soak. For the GT500, this new cold-air intake required the migration of the iconic Cobra badge on the grille from the left side to the right side.
With premium fuel and more aggressive ignition timing plus a less restrictive exhaust, the result is 540 hp at 6,200 rpm, an 8 percent increase. Torque output goes up fractionally to 510 pound-feet at 4,500 rpm. Thankfully, the telltale supercharger whine has been significantly diminished with clever intake plumbing, while the idle burble and bad-boy tailpipe blat have been accentuated by the 4-inch exhaust system.
Totally Awesome
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/spinaroundtown/10.ford.shelby.gt500/10.ford.mustang.gt500.actr34.2.500.jpg
The brake pedal doesn't feel right at first, but the brakes can be modulated very well and there's a crazy amount of capability.
It's not a lot of extra power, but your inner adolescent can put it to good use because the final-drive ratio is 3.55:1, 7 percent shorter than the former 3.31:1 rear-end gears. This means a useful increase in twist at the new, 19-inch forged-aluminum rear wheels, and the result is a blast to 60 mph from a standstill in a blistering 4.3 seconds (4.0 seconds with 1 foot of rollout, like on a drag strip). In comparison, the 2007 Ford Shelby GT500 made the run in 4.6 seconds, while the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS did the deed in 5.0 seconds (4.7 seconds with rollout) and the 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T recorded 5.5 seconds (5.3 seconds with rollout).
Quarter-mile performance is totally awesome as well, as the GT500 makes its best pass in 12.4 seconds at 114.7 mph. That's not only a useful margin over the '07 car with its 500-hp powertrain, which did the deed in 12.8 seconds at 112.6 mph, but it also makes the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger look like weak-ass sissies. The Camaro turned the quarter in 13.0 seconds at 110.9 mph and the Challenger did 13.9 seconds at 103.2 mph. We might have gone even quicker and faster in the Shelby GT, except for the 14-mph headwind we faced at this track close to San Francisco Bay.
While it's as easy as ever to haze the rear tires off the line, the new softer tire compound has improved the bite. If you value bracket-racing consistency over all-out performance, the AdvanceTrac stability control's new Sport mode will do its best to optimize (though somewhat limit) traction for you. You might even select the launch rpm electronically for varying surfaces.
Adulthood Comes to the Shelby GT500
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/spinaroundtown/10.ford.shelby.gt500/10.ford.mustang.gt500.actf34.2.500.jpg
The steering doesn't have a lot of feel, but there's plenty of front grip and you can now flick the Shelby GT500 into a corner.
Though the GT500 has that big beat from under the hood that gets your attention, it has the tractable character of the KR, so it's easy to drive.
You can feel it in the controls. Everything operates with an easier, friction-free feel, so you don't feel like you're riding some kind of beast that's trying to spit you off at the first opportunity. The steering shaft is stiffer to deliver crisper response, even though the steering ratio remains at 15.7:1. The effort level for the brakes is scaled to humans, not superheroes. The shift action of the short-throw Tremec six-speed manual is short and sharp, not stiff. Even the clutch is surprisingly easy to modulate thanks to the use of larger, more robust copper/fiberglass plates that engage more progressively.
Compliance and balance are the secrets here, an approach more grown-up than the former Shelby's brawny, stiff-legged tuning. Where the previous GT500 and especially the KR would hop over a lane line if there were a twig at the apex of a corner, the 2010 GT500 acknowledges road irregularities, but those events don't linger and oscillate more than once. Bam, and it's done.
It begins with a compliant suspension tuned to deliver lots more roll control, only it comes from nearly twice as much rebound damping than before rather than simply stiffer springs. More negative camber at the front wheels also helps the steering bite with more effect when you turn into a corner, especially since the revised Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires carry a softer compound.
Balance comes from a revised aerodynamic profile meant to improve high-speed handling and stability. A revised front splitter reduces front-end lift by 31 percent, while the rear wing is trimmed out to actually increase lift. Downforce can be tuned with the small Gurney flap.
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/spinaroundtown/10.ford.shelby.gt500/10.ford.mustang.gt500.actfront.500.jpg
Flush fit for the aluminum hood emphasizes the look of the fascia itself; functional extractor vents deal with the heat of supercharged power.
By Chris Walton, Chief Road Test Editor
Date posted: 04-05-2009
Supercharged, intercooled 5.4-liter V8 - 540 hp; 510 lb-ft of torque - 6-speed manual transmission - 3.55:1 final-drive ratio - 19-inch forged-aluminum wheels
It's something like trying to drive the 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 on a roller-coaster, only there are no steel tracks to keep you from slithering off the pavement and ending up in a flaming heap of 540-horsepower Mustang.
You can't even see where you're going, really. Hard on it, the GT500's rear tires begin spinning just as you can see nothing but sky in the windshield. You're on top of the hump at the entrance to Infineon Raceway's Turn 6, and as your stomach and both right-side tires go weightless, you start a long, long dive to the left, sliding sideways all the way down the hill and around the 180-degree corner.
The Shelby GT500 is so torqued up with the cornering force from the low-profile 19-inch tires and the drive from the supercharged V8 that you can practically hear the welds popping in the chassis. But something is different this time — palms are not slick with sweat, tires are not threatening to let go at the most inopportune moment and steering left in order to go right is a joy and not a reflex of self-preservation.
The 2010 Ford Shelby GT500 gets 2 mpg more on the EPA highway cycle this year. The Ford engineers are really proud of this. But every time we make another lap and slide down Turn 6, we have our doubts that fuel economy is what this car is about.
Serving Our Inner Adolescent
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/spinaroundtown/10.ford.shelby.gt500/10.ford.mustang.gt500.actbrn.1.500.jpg
Stability control can be dialed in for different surfaces, while a launch rpm can be pre-determined electronically as well.
We're behaving like adults as the Ford engineers tell us all about the 2010 Ford Shelby GT500, even as we hear a couple of the cars making shake-down runs on the quarter-mile strip at Infineon Raceway a few hundred feet away. And in many ways, the GT500 itself is trying to act more like an adult, casting aside the muscle-bound character of the 2007 Ford Shelby GT500.
As the Ford people tell us, they started with the limited-production 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR, the exclusive (1,700 examples built) and revenue-enhancing (MSRP $79,995) Mustang produced last year. And aside from a few fewer Shelby badges (the KR had many to spare), the GT500 is like the KR in almost every way, except it's built at the Mustang plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, rather than at the Shelby facility in Las Vegas.
You can tell as soon as you open the new GT500's hood, complete with hot-air extractors. The supercharged and intercooled DOHC 5.4-liter V8 with its truck-style iron block is still in place, but now it carries a conical air filter in its own sealed cold-air box behind the left-side headlight, an innovation that increases airflow while resisting power-sapping heat soak. For the GT500, this new cold-air intake required the migration of the iconic Cobra badge on the grille from the left side to the right side.
With premium fuel and more aggressive ignition timing plus a less restrictive exhaust, the result is 540 hp at 6,200 rpm, an 8 percent increase. Torque output goes up fractionally to 510 pound-feet at 4,500 rpm. Thankfully, the telltale supercharger whine has been significantly diminished with clever intake plumbing, while the idle burble and bad-boy tailpipe blat have been accentuated by the 4-inch exhaust system.
Totally Awesome
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/spinaroundtown/10.ford.shelby.gt500/10.ford.mustang.gt500.actr34.2.500.jpg
The brake pedal doesn't feel right at first, but the brakes can be modulated very well and there's a crazy amount of capability.
It's not a lot of extra power, but your inner adolescent can put it to good use because the final-drive ratio is 3.55:1, 7 percent shorter than the former 3.31:1 rear-end gears. This means a useful increase in twist at the new, 19-inch forged-aluminum rear wheels, and the result is a blast to 60 mph from a standstill in a blistering 4.3 seconds (4.0 seconds with 1 foot of rollout, like on a drag strip). In comparison, the 2007 Ford Shelby GT500 made the run in 4.6 seconds, while the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS did the deed in 5.0 seconds (4.7 seconds with rollout) and the 2009 Dodge Challenger R/T recorded 5.5 seconds (5.3 seconds with rollout).
Quarter-mile performance is totally awesome as well, as the GT500 makes its best pass in 12.4 seconds at 114.7 mph. That's not only a useful margin over the '07 car with its 500-hp powertrain, which did the deed in 12.8 seconds at 112.6 mph, but it also makes the Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger look like weak-ass sissies. The Camaro turned the quarter in 13.0 seconds at 110.9 mph and the Challenger did 13.9 seconds at 103.2 mph. We might have gone even quicker and faster in the Shelby GT, except for the 14-mph headwind we faced at this track close to San Francisco Bay.
While it's as easy as ever to haze the rear tires off the line, the new softer tire compound has improved the bite. If you value bracket-racing consistency over all-out performance, the AdvanceTrac stability control's new Sport mode will do its best to optimize (though somewhat limit) traction for you. You might even select the launch rpm electronically for varying surfaces.
Adulthood Comes to the Shelby GT500
http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com//media/roadtests/spinaroundtown/10.ford.shelby.gt500/10.ford.mustang.gt500.actf34.2.500.jpg
The steering doesn't have a lot of feel, but there's plenty of front grip and you can now flick the Shelby GT500 into a corner.
Though the GT500 has that big beat from under the hood that gets your attention, it has the tractable character of the KR, so it's easy to drive.
You can feel it in the controls. Everything operates with an easier, friction-free feel, so you don't feel like you're riding some kind of beast that's trying to spit you off at the first opportunity. The steering shaft is stiffer to deliver crisper response, even though the steering ratio remains at 15.7:1. The effort level for the brakes is scaled to humans, not superheroes. The shift action of the short-throw Tremec six-speed manual is short and sharp, not stiff. Even the clutch is surprisingly easy to modulate thanks to the use of larger, more robust copper/fiberglass plates that engage more progressively.
Compliance and balance are the secrets here, an approach more grown-up than the former Shelby's brawny, stiff-legged tuning. Where the previous GT500 and especially the KR would hop over a lane line if there were a twig at the apex of a corner, the 2010 GT500 acknowledges road irregularities, but those events don't linger and oscillate more than once. Bam, and it's done.
It begins with a compliant suspension tuned to deliver lots more roll control, only it comes from nearly twice as much rebound damping than before rather than simply stiffer springs. More negative camber at the front wheels also helps the steering bite with more effect when you turn into a corner, especially since the revised Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires carry a softer compound.
Balance comes from a revised aerodynamic profile meant to improve high-speed handling and stability. A revised front splitter reduces front-end lift by 31 percent, while the rear wing is trimmed out to actually increase lift. Downforce can be tuned with the small Gurney flap.