On this episode of Ignition
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MotorTranscript
00:00 What we have here is the most powerful Mustang ever.
00:04 This week on Ignition, we're going to find out
00:07 if it's also the fastest.
00:08 Under the hood of the Shelby GT500
00:17 is a supercharged 5.8 liter V8 that
00:20 makes-- you may want to hold your jaw in place for this--
00:23 662 horsepower and 631 pound feet of torque.
00:30 Not only is that more than the Camaro ZL1,
00:33 not only is that more than the Corvette ZR1,
00:36 that output makes this the most powerful mass-produced V8
00:40 in the world.
00:41 And there's something more impressive than that,
00:43 if you can believe it.
00:44 This 662 horsepower Shelby doesn't get a gas guzzler tax.
00:50 Now, Ford's made some rather lofty claims about this car.
00:53 I think it's time we put them to the test.
00:57 Our first stop would be K&N Engineering,
00:59 where we dyno the monster Shelby.
01:01 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:04 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:08 [ENGINE REVVING]
01:37 There was one more thing we wanted to find out.
01:40 I already did the calculations, and it
01:42 looks like this car would hit 200 miles an hour
01:44 at the top of fifth gear at about 6,400 RPM.
01:48 We wanted to find out if that was the case
01:50 before we attempted it.
01:51 [MUSIC PLAYING]
01:55 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:01 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:05 [ENGINE REVVING]
02:08 So after a handful of dyno pulls,
02:34 we've got peak numbers of 583 horsepower and 590 pound-feet
02:39 of torque at the rear wheels.
02:41 Now, if you apply about a correction factor or a drivetrain
02:43 loss factor of about 12%, that means
02:46 that this engine is making horsepower
02:48 right as advertised.
02:49 But torque might actually be underrated
02:51 by as much as 30 pound-feet.
02:54 Even more impressive, this thing is
02:55 generating over 500 pound-feet of torque
02:58 at the wheels from 2,000 RPM to 6,000 RPM.
03:02 In terms of power delivery, there
03:04 is nothing that can match a supercharged big V8.
03:08 Now that we knew how much power we were working with,
03:11 we'd head to the test track to perform
03:12 our standard set of tests.
03:13 First thing about launching the Shelby GT500
03:19 is that the rear tires are very sensitive to temperature.
03:21 So we're going to get some heat in them really quick.
03:24 [ENGINE REVVING]
03:27 Second thing to note is that you hit 60 in first gear.
03:33 So that means ringing the thing all the way out
03:35 to 7,000 RPM on the red line, and then just hit your shift
03:37 as fast as you can.
03:39 Thirdly, we have launch control, which
03:42 is a very nice thing to have in a car with 662 horsepower.
03:48 Let's go into the menu, into the Track App settings,
03:51 select Launch Control.
03:53 And through the display, you can choose your RPM
03:56 between 2,500 to 5,200.
03:59 I've been launching about 3,800.
04:00 It seems to match the surface right.
04:03 And that's what we'll do.
04:04 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:07 Traction control gets you out of the hole without an issue.
04:10 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:14 60 comes in 3 and 1/2 seconds.
04:18 Quarter mile, 11.6 seconds at 125.7 miles an hour.
04:25 It's about half a second faster than the ZL1.
04:27 And it feels every bit like it.
04:29 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:32 Now for our 60 to 0 braking test.
04:36 Our best stop from 60 took 101 feet,
04:39 but following stops took longer and produced a lot of brake
04:42 odor.
04:43 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:46 Let's begin the figure 8 test in the Shelby GT500, shall we?
04:50 [ENGINE REVVING]
04:53 Oh my god, this thing accelerates so hard.
04:56 Out of corners.
04:57 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:01 This thing's taking some effort just because of how fast it is.
05:05 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:08 I didn't think it would be that great mid-corner,
05:11 but I'm really surprised at how capable this thing is
05:14 around a figure 8 track.
05:17 It doesn't want to power slide, which
05:19 is great if you want to sit down fast lap times.
05:21 It doesn't want to understeer.
05:22 It just wants to grip and go.
05:24 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:27 [LAUGHS]
05:29 If you get a little carried away, it will do that.
05:32 But that's all on the throttle.
05:33 That's not on the chassis.
05:34 [ENGINE REVVING]
05:38 [TIRES SCREECHING]
05:41 Man, this thing's fun.
05:43 [LAUGHS]
05:45 I was honestly surprised.
05:47 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:50 Ford claims that this car saw 200 miles an hour
05:53 at the Nardo testing facility in Italy.
05:56 We're not in Italy, of course, but we're
05:58 going to test that claim.
06:00 So we're off to Arizona towards one of Chrysler's proving
06:02 grounds.
06:03 There, we'll find a five-mile oval and the chance
06:06 to see 200 miles an hour.
06:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:11 So we've logged a couple hundred miles in the Shelby GT500 now.
06:15 And what's really impressive is that this doesn't feel
06:17 like some ragged-edge supercar.
06:20 You don't get a sense that this thing is a 600-horsepower,
06:23 200-mile-an-hour-capable Mustang.
06:26 In fact, on the freeway, it just feels
06:28 kind of like a normal Mustang.
06:31 You have this super long six-gear overdrive,
06:35 which means at 75 miles an hour, the tach's
06:37 barely spinning 1,500 RPM.
06:40 And you don't really get that edge of horsepower
06:43 until you roll into the throttle.
06:46 But even then, in six gear, that just
06:47 means you can pass anybody whenever you want
06:50 without downshifting.
06:52 It's impressive that a car with this kind of power,
06:56 this kind of capabilities, feels totally normal on the street.
07:01 It's almost like grand touring levels
07:03 of comfort and performance, even though the performance is
07:06 so great.
07:08 Thing is, we've got to get to Arizona quick.
07:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
07:17 You don't just try and go 200 miles an hour.
07:20 Especially in a Mustang.
07:21 Every component of the car must be analyzed and prepared.
07:27 The undercarriage must be inspected.
07:29 The tires have to be up for the task, heat cycled and free
07:32 of scratches or excessive wear.
07:34 And then you have to consider the environment.
07:43 The Proving Grounds location in Arizona
07:45 is about 2,000 feet above sea level.
07:47 And it's hot out.
07:49 That means the Shelby's supercharged V8
07:52 won't be able to breathe as much air,
07:54 but also that the air is less dense
07:56 and won't be resisting the car as much.
08:00 Well, we're at the Chrysler Proving Grounds
08:02 in Kingman, Arizona with a Shelby GT500.
08:07 I'm skeptical.
08:08 I come here to this test skeptical.
08:11 But I'm excited because the whole prospect
08:14 of getting up on the high banks on a five mile oval
08:16 and just going flat out until the speedometer
08:20 quits climbing.
08:21 That is exciting.
08:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]
08:51 So we have the results from one of Randy's first few attempts
08:53 here.
08:54 This red line represents speed.
08:56 This is his attempt.
08:57 Let's see how fast he went.
09:00 That's 190.73 miles an hour.
09:04 Not bad for over 100 degrees that we're going to try again
09:07 a little bit later.
09:08 [ENGINE REVVING]
09:10 [MUSIC PLAYING]
09:13 [ENGINE REVVING]
09:17 [ENGINE REVVING]
09:20 [ENGINE REVVING]
09:24 the heat of the day is a little bit of a problem.
09:27 We're going to have to get a little bit of a break.
09:29 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:31 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:34 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:36 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:38 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:41 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:43 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:45 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:48 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:50 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:52 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:55 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
09:57 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
10:00 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
10:02 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
10:04 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
10:07 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
10:09 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
10:12 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
10:14 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
10:17 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
10:19 We're going to have to do a little bit of a test run.
10:21 [ENGINE REVVING]
10:25 92, 93, 94.
10:51 95.
10:51 196.06.
11:14 I think that's about all.
11:15 That's all we're going to get.
11:16 You think?
11:17 Yep.
11:19 At this point, I think it's a matter of just either a longer
11:21 straightaway or lower elevation.
11:23 We got so close, so close.
11:31 The goal was a 190, 190 miles an hour on the banking
11:34 as we entered the straightaway.
11:36 And then throughout the whole straight,
11:37 which is over a mile, we got six miles an hour.
11:41 We got to 196, and proud of it.
11:45 This car is a 200 mile an hour car.
11:47 It's fair to say that.
11:49 We are at altitude.
11:51 We're in the heat.
11:52 It's less than ideal.
11:54 If the straightaway was another probably mile or two longer,
11:58 we'd get there.
12:00 While we didn't hit 200 miles an hour,
12:02 it's hard to call this car a failure.
12:05 Quite the opposite.
12:06 This Shelby GT500 represents one of the most incredible
12:10 performance per dollar ratios we've ever seen.
12:13 And on top of that, despite being the fastest Mustang ever,
12:16 it's usable and drivable in ways you could never imagine.
12:20 We were four miles an hour away from the 200 club in a car
12:24 with a base price under $60,000.
12:27 That's something you can only get in America.
12:29 What's wrong?
12:35 Can you hear me?
12:38 Can you see me?
12:41 Stay strong.
12:43 Hold on.
12:46 Just one moment, and we're going to be back home.
12:53 All my life, I've been searching for you, baby,
12:58 with the windows rolled down and the heater turned on.
13:05 What's up?