Customer deliveries of the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 only recently commenced and already, one example has benefited from a series of modifications.
Strapped onto the dyno at the Palm Beach Dyno facility, this Shelby GT500 pumped out 664 hp in standard form at the wheels. That represents roughly a 13 per cent drivetrain loss, which is to be expected. With the baseline now determined, the modifications began.
For starters, the car gets equipped with a K2 air filter and a tune for 93 octane fuel. Placed back on the dyno, the mega muscle car churns out 703 hp and 577 lb-ft (782 Nm) of torque at the rear wheels. The tuning crew then raised the rev limiter from 7,500 rpm to 8,000 rpm. This saw peak horsepower and torque figures to jump to 720 hp and 579 lb-ft (785 Nm) respectively.
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We expect this to be just the start of tuning upgrades that will be introduced by various companies for the new GT500. In the not too distant future, we’re sure that aftermarket specialists will also start to work on upgrading the internals of the car’s 5.2-liter supercharged V8 engine and before long, there will probably be examples that churn out in excess of 1,000 hp.
As standard, the car delivers 760 hp and 625 lb-ft (847 Nm) of torque at the crank and will hit 60 mph (96 km/h) in a claimed 3.5 seconds. Ford is clearly quite keen to ensure its customers are up to the task of controlling all that power, and recently announced it will offer complimentary driving instruction to owners at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina.