Ford Scrapped Mustang Shelby GT500 Aircraft Carrier 0-100-0 MPH Test Ad

A Ford executive recently revealed that Ford was in the planning stages of a wild ad concept that, unfortunately, failed to materialize. The ad would have seen the Shelby GT500 running from 0 to 100 mph and then back down to zero over the length of an aircraft carrier runway.

“We had our brochure company reach out to a mothballed ship fleet and we mathematically knew we could do it,” Jim Owens, Head of Mustang Marketing, told Ford Authority recently. “So we penned it out, and really wanted to do it. But we didn’t realize it.”

It is unclear what sank the ad in the end, whether it was the global pandemic or something else, but that the concept is theoretically possible is no less impressive.

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Ford itself has said that the Mustang could complete the feat in just 10.6 seconds. It’s all made more impressive when you realize that the GT500 has been clocked at 10.6 seconds through the quarter mile with a 133 mph exit speed.

That kind of performance is achieved thanks to Ford’s supercharged 5.2-liter Predator V8 that puts out 760 hp, which are sent to the rear wheels via a 7-speed dual clutch transmission. That’s good enough to get the GT500 to 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds and to 100 mph in 6.7 seconds.

“The range of brute-force drag acceleration, seamless road shifts and amazingly smooth shifts on the track further highlights how the soul of the Shelby GT500 is elevated in our most advanced Mustang ever”, said Ford Performance chief program engineer Ed Krenz in 2019. “Effortlessly handling the 760 horsepower is our segment-first Tremec dual-clutch transmission, with an advanced control system that enhances GT500’s five drive modes to deliver a driving experience once reserved only for exotic supercars.”

The brakes, meanwhile, are 16.5-inches in diameter – bigger than the base wheel on a 2019 Fiesta. The calipers are made of aluminum and feature six-pistons squeezing those big discs to a halt and are produced by Brembo.