RE: Ford teases its most powerful road car ever

RE: Ford teases its most powerful road car ever

Tuesday 16th January 2018

Ford teases its most powerful road car ever

New Mustang Shelby GT500 will go beyond 700hp when it launches next year



There's been rather a lot of go-faster Mustang talk recently - we had the reveal of the Bullitt just yesterday - but Ford saved the real peach for last; revealing an all-new Shelby GT500 in a teaser video in the final moments of the Detroit show's second press day.

Of course, when we say 'reveal' we mean it in the teaser trailer sense (the car isn't actually due until 2019, and there isn't an actual car in the video). But computer renderings or not, the salient news is hammered home with no mistake: the next Shelby will have more than 700hp, making it by some margin the most powerful street-legal model Ford has ever produced.

That's rather appealing, and even - when you think about it - rather necessary given that the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat already outputs 707hp and the Challenger SRT Demon, 840hp. Rumours have the manfacturer supercharging its rather lovely 5.2-litre V8 to achieve the target; suggesting that 700hp is at the lower end of its expectations. It makes no bones about the car's intended destination either: the accompanying press release insisting in the headline that the GT500 will "attack tracks, drag strips in 2019".

Given the Shelby name's long and illustrious history with motorsport, that's nice to hear, too. Somewhat less pleasing is the unlikelihood of the model ever making an official on-sale appearance at a Ford dealership in the UK. The GT500 will be a limited volume prospect (probably built by a third party) making export to Europe highly improbable.

That's not an insurmountable barrier for a determined (and cash-rich) individual, of course. And there's undeniable appeal in the idea of shipping yourself a Mustang with more power at the wheels than a Ford GT. Alternatively, if the Blue Oval's direct involvement isn't a deal-breaker, you could pay a little trip to the classifieds right now, and ponder dropping £129,750 on a 2017 750hp Shelby Supersnake.

 

Author
Discussion

RoverP6B

Original Poster:

4,338 posts

127 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
Pointless. The chances of ever being able to give it full throttle for long enough that it can actually put the power down and hurl you to the horizon, in the real world, are close to nil. 500bhp should surely be more than adequate in the vast majority of circumstances. Leave the drag-strip tuning to the aftermarket.

Dr G

15,159 posts

241 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
RoverP6B said:
Pointless. The chances of ever being able to give it full throttle for long enough that it can actually put the power down and hurl you to the horizon, in the real world, are close to nil.
...my mid-range hot-hatchback allows me a maximum of about ~6 seconds of full throttle before I'm at illegal speeds so by that definition anything with more than 200 BHP is pointless.

Hellcats run high-11s on standard tyres and dip into the 10s on drag rubber.

It'll be a complete hooligan of the car (and not for everyone of course) but the world needs a little madness now and then.

RoverP6B

Original Poster:

4,338 posts

127 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
And my 282bhp furniture-hauler is a similar story, from normal road speeds at low RPM, 6 seconds of full throttle will land me in license loss territory unless I'm going up my local very steep hill... and that's a near-2-ton car. Imagine how much more fun the Ford could be if it was made as light as possible, kept naturally-aspirated, and had a small-block V8 displacing no more than about 4 litres? Get the gearing low enough and you'll still be able to have all the smoky shenanigans and be able to use full throttle rather more... and, let's face it, how many drivers are capable of handling a 700bhp RWD car safely? Frankly, I wouldn't trust the majority of Mustang owners (if YouTube is anything to go by) with my 540i, never mind something with 2.5x the power...

jontysafe

2,351 posts

177 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
the views atop mine don`t represent mine and I feel truly sorry for you.

I say hurrah that cars like this exist and people outside of your limited paradigm exist as well....

Why are you on ph? Is it to celebrate wardrobe movers? (which I love I might add, own a particularly nice XC70).

Does it have to have a point? My 800bhp/tonne Westfield has absolutely no point and it terrifies me and wants to kill me but I love it.

greggy50

6,161 posts

190 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
RoverP6B said:
And my 282bhp furniture-hauler is a similar story, from normal road speeds at low RPM, 6 seconds of full throttle will land me in license loss territory unless I'm going up my local very steep hill... and that's a near-2-ton car. Imagine how much more fun the Ford could be if it was made as light as possible, kept naturally-aspirated, and had a small-block V8 displacing no more than about 4 litres? Get the gearing low enough and you'll still be able to have all the smoky shenanigans and be able to use full throttle rather more... and, let's face it, how many drivers are capable of handling a 700bhp RWD car safely? Frankly, I wouldn't trust the majority of Mustang owners (if YouTube is anything to go by) with my 540i, never mind something with 2.5x the power...
Buy a GT350R then...

Drag racing is huge in America this will no doubt sell out pretty much instantly.

AndySheff

6,630 posts

206 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
jontysafe said:
the views atop mine don`t represent mine and I feel truly sorry for you.

I say hurrah that cars like this exist and people outside of your limited paradigm exist as well....

Why are you on ph? Is it to celebrate wardrobe movers? (which I love I might add, own a particularly nice XC70).

Does it have to have a point? My 800bhp/tonne Westfield has absolutely no point and it terrifies me and wants to kill me but I love it.
yesclap

The point is it's fking powerful and fking fast. So if it gets you to illegal speeds quicker. That's better. It will most likely look and sound awesome too.

Murphy16

254 posts

81 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
Definetly suits the US, pointless car over here though. Lots of want.

redroadster

1,729 posts

231 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
Negative comments think some should be on knitting world's forum

LuS1fer

41,086 posts

244 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
I like the way Ford promote their cars as though they were a new planet forming.
The 650hp Camaro ZL1 is already available and lighter and better handling and with a Nurburgring time the Mustang is probably unlikely to challenge (not that that is important). Trouble is it isn't a "Mustang" which is all most people want to see or know.

steve-5snwi

8,593 posts

92 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
Its a V8 Mustang with silly power, yes its pointless in terms of power but does that make a Toyota Aygo pointless because it can crack 70mph

VR6 Eug

628 posts

198 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
I'd like one in metallic grey please....

IanH755

1,849 posts

119 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
The existing Mustang can hit 700hp with a supercharger (there's a few in the UK) so this seems to be a reasonable power level for Ford to drag out themselves and should be bloody hilarious on the roads biggrin

birdcage

2,838 posts

204 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
Yawn....Another car we can't buy and will be LHD....bullst

Jeff_Enthused

48 posts

74 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
They should learn to make the crap cars they already got work before getting more excited with other stuff!!

Gecko1978

9,603 posts

156 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
love it wish I could afford one or even a Sutton CS800

RoverP6B

Original Poster:

4,338 posts

127 months

Wednesday 17th January 2018
quotequote all
Where are you going to use 700bhp though? Not at the Nürburgring, that's for sure. You're going to struggle for traction, courage and talent, unless you're a professional test/racing driver. On your average race track, with a 1km main straight, you're not going to be much further ahead than the 500bhp car come the next corner, and in the tighter sections, the 500bhp car is going to be quicker than you. Take it drag racing? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that I read somewhere that you're required to have a full roll cage, fire suppression, race seats, HANS etc at that level.

Track day toy? You'll get black-flagged for drifting if you try it, and your traction issues mean that the guy in the 911 GT3 is going to be much, much quicker than you. If you try using the power to overtake anywhere other than the straights, black flag again - so most of the time you'll be using no more than half throttle to avoid tripping over a Clio 197 (that's if you're not sitting there bonfiring your tyres or oversteering wildly as you try to accelerate out of the corner).

As a road car? Well, maybe in Germany... otherwise, it's just a one-way ticket to license loss. Even in the wilds of Australia or the Nevada desert, police speed traps are increasingly common.

The original Mustang was 183mm narrower, 81mm lower, 175mm shorter overall and 23mm longer in wheelbase. Smaller, lower, with shorter overhangs and more of its weight within the wheelbase. Oh, and it was about half a ton lighter. In terms of width, it's 3mm narrower than a current MX-5 (although the Mazda is a lot shorter). Now, imagine a long-wheelbase 2+2 MX-5, think RX-8, but with the classic Ford styling and a V8... a sub-1400kg kerb weight should be doable even with the V8...

As for the engine, a 4.3 or 4.7 litre (260/289ci) displacement would carry historical resonance... if the old 260/289's short stroke of 72.9mm were to be retained, a redline of 10,500rpm could be doable with modern materials, optimised heads, valvetrain etc, running about the same piston speed as the modern Voodoo motor...

2ndclasscitizen

296 posts

116 months

Wednesday 17th January 2018
quotequote all
You are mistaken. Lots of strips allow cars to run without cages despite doing times that should require them if the car can do the time as standard.

I also fail to see how having 700hp rather than 500hp would allow the 500hp car to corner faster. The GT350R is pretty well regarding for its handling so the addition of a supercharger isn't going to have a massive effect on that.

Edited by 2ndclasscitizen on Wednesday 17th January 04:05

FN2TypeR

7,091 posts

92 months

Wednesday 17th January 2018
quotequote all
RoverP6B said:
Where are you going to use 700bhp though? Not at the Nürburgring, that's for sure. You're going to struggle for traction, courage and talent, unless you're a professional test/racing driver. On your average race track, with a 1km main straight, you're not going to be much further ahead than the 500bhp car come the next corner, and in the tighter sections, the 500bhp car is going to be quicker than you. Take it drag racing? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that I read somewhere that you're required to have a full roll cage, fire suppression, race seats, HANS etc at that level.

Track day toy? You'll get black-flagged for drifting if you try it, and your traction issues mean that the guy in the 911 GT3 is going to be much, much quicker than you. If you try using the power to overtake anywhere other than the straights, black flag again - so most of the time you'll be using no more than half throttle to avoid tripping over a Clio 197 (that's if you're not sitting there bonfiring your tyres or oversteering wildly as you try to accelerate out of the corner).

As a road car? Well, maybe in Germany... otherwise, it's just a one-way ticket to license loss. Even in the wilds of Australia or the Nevada desert, police speed traps are increasingly common.

The original Mustang was 183mm narrower, 81mm lower, 175mm shorter overall and 23mm longer in wheelbase. Smaller, lower, with shorter overhangs and more of its weight within the wheelbase. Oh, and it was about half a ton lighter. In terms of width, it's 3mm narrower than a current MX-5 (although the Mazda is a lot shorter). Now, imagine a long-wheelbase 2+2 MX-5, think RX-8, but with the classic Ford styling and a V8... a sub-1400kg kerb weight should be doable even with the V8...

As for the engine, a 4.3 or 4.7 litre (260/289ci) displacement would carry historical resonance... if the old 260/289's short stroke of 72.9mm were to be retained, a redline of 10,500rpm could be doable with modern materials, optimised heads, valvetrain etc, running about the same piston speed as the modern Voodoo motor...
On the A96 biggrin

RoverP6B

Original Poster:

4,338 posts

127 months

Wednesday 17th January 2018
quotequote all
With a scamera-enforced 40mph limit? Yeah right!

HedgeyGedgey

1,281 posts

93 months

Wednesday 17th January 2018
quotequote all
Is it 700bhp US power which is probably more like 500bhp over here, or is it actualyl 700bhp in the UK?