In your face AMG/GM/Dodge/anyone
Motor show media days are always a bit of a scrum and finding the right person to talk to isn't always easy. But PH struck gold whilst loitering, awestruck, beside the new
650hp Shelby GT500,
our designated representative turning out to be none other than Ford Special Vehicle Team chief engineer Jamal Hameedi.
As programme manager for the Ford GT, Hameedi knows his onions when it comes to fast Fords but, it's fair to say, doesn't exactly give much away. Standing next to the lurid blue GT500, all gaping grille-less front end, stripes and bonnet vents it's fair to say his product kind of does all the talking.
And if your jaw still hasn't quite retracted from the floor after reading our news story earlier in the week seeing the GT500 in the flesh is enough to have us singing the Star Spangled Banner and ready to turn our backs on featherweight Lotuses and finely balanced Ferraris. Shock and awe? Nobody does it better.
Go big or go home and all that
Hameedi does come out with some surprising descriptions though. You wouldn't expect the creator of car like this to be dropping words like 'holistic' into the conversation but recent hot Mustangs have been about more than just levering another few hundred horsepower under the bonnet. The
Boss 302 Laguna Seca
was developed with the specific goal of being quicker round said track than a BMW M3 which, big engine or not, is a fair aim for a live-axled leviathan like the Mustang.
It's still a shock to hear Americans getting all serious about 'ring laptimes but even Hameedi is getting stuck in, not least after record breaking runs by the Viper and serious hot laps in the Camaro ZL1. So, how fast? "Deep in the sevens" is Hameedi's slightly cryptic reply, the 200mph-plus top speed meanwhile a triumph for American muscle versus aerodynamics. Yes it's crude - in parts - and yes it's lewd. But the Boss 302 proves modern day Mustangs are more than just straight-line heroes and if the GT500 makes it to our side of the pond we'll be first in the queue begging to have a go.