American car giant Ford have just announced the newest and most powerful Shelby Mustang GT500, Eleanor’s latest avatar, to date. The car has achieved cult status among mankind well before Nicholas Cage ran his mitts down the side of the vehicle in the iconic movie ‘Gone in 60 Seconds’.
Ford have said that the design of the car is inspired by modern fighter-jets, albeit, sticking to what the car actually is, a mental muscle machine. However, there is method to the madness as the new Shelby Mustang GT500 has been wind-tunnel tested. Fenders, spoilers, splitters, the works are slapped on and all play their part in making this a serious performance car.
“With a double front grille opening and 50 per cent more cooling pack airflow versus the Shelby GT350, along with the most advanced aero components and downforce we’ve ever offered, every millimetre of Shelby GT500’s fastback design is aimed at improving performance,” said Melvin Betancourt, Ford design manager.
The new car has been engineered by Ford’s performance based faction called, well as you may have guessed, Ford Performance. These men and women in their white coats have concocted a hand-built, supercharged 5.2-litre, aluminium-alloy V8 creating over 700 PS and equally potent torque figures which could power a cruise ship. Ford Performance have done this by taking their experience and expertise derived from the Ford GT and Ford Mustang GT4. The transmission chosen is a Tremec dual-clutch seven-speed unit that is capable of shifting through the gears in under 100 milliseconds. Take that, Usain. All the madness makes contact with the road by two tyre options – custom Ford Performance-spec Michelin Pilot Sport 4S or the aggressive Pilot Sport Cup 2. This mixed rubber is wrapped around 20-inch rims, with the rear wheels being a bit wider than the front, half an inch wider to be precise. This is a new Mustang, hence the bells and whistles of the 21st century pop up everywhere with the car getting a bunch of different driving modes such as normal, weather, sport, drag and track. Other features such as launch control and ‘Line-lock’ drag-prep are also available through selectable Track Apps.
So how about the creature comforts? one may ask. Well, Ford have covered that, too, with race-inspired premium materials all around the cockpit. Suede, carbon-fibre, and racing seats which have Miko Suede inserts as an option. In the tech department, the car comes with a 12-inch LCD instrument cluster and a 12-speaker B&O Play premium audio system controlled by an 8.0-inch SYNC 3 touch screen that features SiriusXM and FordPass Connect. Colour options are Red Hot, Twister Orange, and Iconic Silver and, obviously, are all available with the famous painted racing-stripes.
Story: Zal Cursetji
