The new-generation Ford Mustang is on the horizon, due to arrive in Australia before the end of 2023. It will bring with it the most powerful naturally-aspirated Mustang yet, the all-new Dark Horse with its 372kW (500hp) 5.0-litre V8.
But that’s not where the Mustang range will likely end, because above the Dark Horse will sit the even more powerful and more track-capable Shelby models.
For anyone not familiar with the Shelby name, this is the company started by former racer Carroll Shelby, which made a name for himself building and racing Fords in the 1960s - specifically the Mustang and GT40. Ford took control of the Shelby name in ‘68 and has been creating its range-topping Mustangs in-house since.
Unfortunately though, when the sixth-generation Mustang was made available in right-hand drive from the factory and sold in Australia the Shelby models were amongst the options we were given. And, sadly, there’s no word yet on whether that will change with the new-gen ‘Stang.
The good news is, the Shelby models are expected to continue with a new model due in 2024 or ‘25. And, before that happens, we got to drive the last example of the sixth-generation range, the 2023 Shelby GT500.
Our test drive was limited by time but it doesn’t take long to get a memorable impression of the GT500.
From the moment you see it this is a car that makes a statement. It’s clearly a Mustang but looks far more muscular thanks to the unique Shelby bodykit, and the example we drove looked like it had spent even more time in the gym because it was fitted with the optional ‘Carbon Fibre Track Pack’.
This means the GT500 looks different from the nose to the tail, with a deeper front splitter, unique grille with the Ford blue oval replaced by the Shelby snake, and a bulging bonnet with vents down the centre. At the rear there’s a carbon fibre wing inspired by the Mustang GT4 race car and a diffuser.
The wheels are 20-inches in size and are made from exposed carbon fibre and wrapped in sticky Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres (305/30R at the front and 315/30R on the rear).
The suspension features the advanced MagneRide damping as standard, to allow for you to tailor it to a variety of conditions.
It needs plenty of downforce and grip to handle what’s under the bonnet - the most powerful street-legal engine Ford has ever installed in a vehicle. It’s a 5.2-litre supercharged V8 that makes 566kW of power and 847Nm of torque, paired with a Tremec seven-speed dual-clutch manual and Torsen limited-slip rear-differential to get it all to the road via the rear wheels.
That’s 760hp, in the old money, and Ford also claims this makes it the most powerful “and torque-dense supercharged production V8 engine in the world.”
Pulling out of the Henry Ford Museum car park around the corner from Ford’s world headquarters in the GT500 it doesn’t take long to believe the company’s claims about the engine. Bury your right foot and the engine shrieks and growls as the supercharger forces air into the V8 and produces enough grunt to launch you forward at an alarming rate.
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It’s an addictive feeling, both the rush of power and the sound it makes. Electric motors may be able to replace the former but simply nothing will ever replace the noise of a supercharged V8 being revved hard.
While our drive in the GT500 was short, appropriately we ended up on Carroll Shelby Way, one of the roads that runs past some of the seemingly countless Ford facilities in Dearborn, on the outskirts of Detroit.
Shelby was a larger-than-life figure whose name has lived on past his involvement in the cars but whose spirit remains at the core of what Ford does with these models.
Fingers crossed that whatever impeded the Shelby models from making it to Australia with the out-going model are changed, because this kind of muscle car certainly has a place down under.
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