TriShield

Just all ate up with power.



BY AARON ROBINSON
June 2009

At 86 years old, Carroll Shelby should consider putting his name on something more appropriate. Bags of prunes, perhaps? But there it is, pasted across the rump of a 540-hp, Corvette-priced, mega-Mustang. The faithful rejoice.

The 2010 Shelby GT500 goes on sale in May at a base price of $48,175, replacing the 2007–2009 Shelby GT500, as well as the limited edition, $80,000 2008–2009 Shelby GT500KR.

All 2010 Mustangs get new, curvier sheetmetal over bigger shoulder pads. The Shelby GT500 gets mostly the same, plus a distinct face and an aluminum hood gouged by a single large heat vent. A trapezoidal grille cap finishes off the nose as one big flaring nostril. This cap “traps” the hood behind it, in industry parlance, helping seal up the front end to better deliver cold air to the radiator and engine intake. It also looks far more evocative of past ponies than the base ’10 Mustang with its “shingle” hood overhanging the grille.

Big Ol’ Engine, Should it be Quicker?

Lifted from the limited-edition Shelby GT500KR, the 5.4-liter four-cam 32-valve V-8 with its Eaton 2300 intercooled supercharger turns a new twin-disc clutch that is easier on the left leg and has smoother take-up. A resonance chamber in the intake snorkel dampens supercharger whine while letting pass more of the V-8’s bellicose bawl during 4.6-second blasts to 60 mph.

Remember when 540 horses were enough to win Indy or set a Bonneville record? The Shelby lunges forward with a fearsome roar when you mash it, the acceleration making you startlingly heavy in the seat. Even so, Ford thought our 12.9-second quarter-mile was slow by a half-second, but after two test sessions in imperfect conditions—and after letting Ford’s own hot shoe take the wheel—we were unable to better the times. Ford figures the car should run 12.5-second quarters, maybe quicker. Maybe so—we await the proof. Meanwhile, it’s no quicker than a Chevy Camaro SS, which is about $17,000 cheaper.

We found the Shelby’s modest times even more surprising considering the friction-type limited-slip differential was shortened to a 3.55 ratio from a 3.31 in the previous GT500 for quicker jack-rabbiting. The 155-mph (electronically governed) sixth gear in the Tremec TR6060 transmission also is taller. The resulting 22-mpg highway rating cuts $300 off the federal guzzler penalty, now a mere $1000.

A Shelby Built by Ford

Actually, Shelby doesn’t build this Shelby. The authors are keen young engineers in Ford’s 60-member Special Vehicle Team. Tall, slender, Nordstrom’s-dressed Jamal Hameedi, 39, led the GT500 project—he should really have his name on the trunk, but that might cause trouble at border crossings. And Shelby is the ol’ Shel, the ol’ Snake, and this may be the last, live revelation from the Church of Shelby’s ancient deity, so he gets top billing.

Sweat expended to stiffen up the steering and body control pays off with a firmer on-center feel, more natural weighting, and less body teeter in corners. In GT500 coupes (the more flexy convertible makes do with older, softer settings), spring rates rise over last year’s GT500 to cut roll and pitch, but the front anti-roll bar has a thinner wall to make it less rigid, which quells understeer, we’re told. Steering-shaft flex was reduced with a firmer coupling at the steering-wheel tilt-joint, and a new type of Tokico front strut paired with new Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires delivers graceful path control and sticky cornering grip if not the twitching, telegraphic steering of a Honda (with 58 percent of almost 4000 pounds on the nose, could it ever?).

Confident in Corners

Considering it’s basically a humble, blue-collar suspension of front struts and a rear live-axle, the Shelby thunders confidently through corners without the disconcerting rear-end dance we’d expect from so much horsepower laden on such a simple chassis. The Dearborn Iron Works has learned how to make their Mustangs behave.

Details: Hand-applied body stripes—echoed by matching leather stripes in the seats—can be optionally deleted if you’re only buying a GT500 because they’re out of Tauruses. Twin four-inch exhaust tips blow the gasses out below a wide spoiler with a Gurney flap to cut rear lift. The retro shift **** is glued up from several small pieces by a company that makes billiard *****.

This GT500 promises the same straight-line performance as the limited-edition KR for perhaps $30,000 less. Well, it wouldn’t be the ol’ Shel without a little snake oil on tap.



Highs: All ate up with power, Shelby provenance, more composed than a Mustang should be.

Lows: Corvette money gets a live axle, nose heavy and feels it.

Specifications

PRICE AS TESTED: $50,895 (base price: $48,175)

C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 4.6 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.9 sec @ 113 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 182 ft
Roadholding, 200-ft-dia skidpad: 0.89 g

SSNISTR

iTrader: (10)

12.9 @ 113 for 51K......ha.

WECIV

Beautiful car but cannot wait to hunt them down in a 2010 SS

W

unit213

C&D is notorious for pathetic testing. I'm sure guys like you and I will have those cars running right. A simple blower swap gives you a 10.50 at 135mph car that drives like stock and that will last forever. Overall, the GT500's are awesome cars. The 2010 model is even better. We'd all like them to weigh less and to be less expensive, but $50K isn't really all that much anymore.

Motortrend went 12.7 @ 118mph into a strong head wind. Still, that's not very good. Ford claims 12.30's @ 118mph. The 118mph traps are better though. That's 11 second territory at least. It's pulled 0.96g on the skidpad too.

I'm just happy that we have OEM's cranking out high HP vehicles. Hopefully GM can scrape enough (taxpayer) money together to get the blown Z/28 to market.

Gaunt

iTrader: (11)

Agree with everything, but they went 113 mph trap and didn't mention anything that would have caused that ~_~ Car and Driver is really shitty I know, but trap speed should be somewhere higher.

unit213

There's the problem!

This car isn't very impressive in terms of straight line performance in stock trim. However, it has tons of potential. I think that's what that car is really all about. A $40K price tag sure would be nice though.

Marc 85Z28

iTrader: (8)

I suggest a few of you read that article again. After C&D drove it, one of Fords drivers stepped in and did WORSE. While the GT500 may not be, that particular car is a dud.

Gaunt

iTrader: (11)

Oh I know about the potential, I don't know if it was you or someone else who showed a GT500 that somebody swapped twin 67 mm turbos onto and it made 1000+rwhp on stock internals. And ran fast as ****.

99_Z28

iTrader: (3)

Nice looking car, for just another $7k+ it might be able to keep up with a stock C6Z.

Blakbird24

iTrader: (24)

When you pay $50k+ for a car, you're not looking for potential. Your looking for performance. They need to deliver more performance at that price point. Period.

It's also ridiculous that this thing has 540hp and can't break into 11's stock. That's insane. This is one of the many problems that make American muscle cars look so wasteful. It's one thing if they are only tops in a straight line...I can deal with that because muscle cars are about more than just performance...there's an aura to them also. But they have got to do better with the power they have in this car.

El es one

A 12.3 1/4 mile is what I expect from a 50k car.

I guess you can blame the weight for them not going into the 11s but I believe the 2011 Gt500 is going to get a aluminum block which is going to make it save around 80 lbs so we can expect alittle better numbers.

Im also impressed by the skidpad numbers and like others said the potential in this car is amazing.

mj114679

WEAK!!!!

stevesws6

I think the 2010's look so much better than the previous models. It's got a lot of potential for sure.

Blakbird24

iTrader: (24)

Well you'd be hard pressed to get that out of this car. I guess if you can launch like Evan Smith or Ranger...you'll get those numbers every saturday night...but to the rest of the world, this is a mid-twelves car at best. For 540hp and $50k, that's a ripoff. Hell, the C6 can be had cheaper and will run mid-low twelves for even a driver just lightly acquainted with the concept of launch technique.

Basically, i'm just saying that it's the principle of this car that bothers me. It's very cool in appearance and stature...no doubt. But Ford should have realized an issue when the first GT500 could barely break mid-twelves with 500hp. Instead of working on reducing weight or tweaking the driveline...they just heap on more power. More power that does very little. THAT'S what bothers me with this car.

HioSSilver

iTrader: (8)

I aint impressed with any of ford's driveline. When I go to the local dragstrip all Ford's stuff typicaly goes slower than mag tested times. GM stuff typically goes faster.

unit213

Not even the T-56? ...which happens to be the exact same trans that's in your car.

There is no LSx in the world that can keep up with Ford's that run the same class. That is a fact. Just keep that in mind.

unit213

How can you possible know that? No one has even run these things on an actual drag strip yet. That's pure speculation.

If you can't afford one, don't buy one. If you don't like it, don't buy one. It's pretty simple.

It's just a car. Why do you sound so pissed off?

Sarge_13

iTrader: (1)

Its not a T56 anymore unit....TR-6060.
I'm not impressed by the performance for the price, but the potential is astounding.

BLUE OVAL TURBO

What's the local dragstrip that you see all these less than impressive Ford's at ????

1BDHWK

iTrader: (18)

I could see myself picking up a used one of these in the future.