“Hooked up!” repeated Randy Pobst, while driving the latest Ford Performance vehicle in MotorTrend’s Head 2 Head matchup between the 2016 Shelby GT350R and the Camaro Z/28, referring to how well the new Shelby Mustang puts down power.
This is a comparison many of us have been waiting for since the two vehicles have similar price points, performance specifications and target demographic. These are two pony cars that many will be looking at side-by-side whether in a showroom or in any real or imagined head-to-head competition.
After driving the canyons of Southern California, Jason Cammisa of MotorTrend called the R-variant “the far better car on the road,” but how did it fare on the race track? This is where pro race car driver Randy Pobst comes in — testing its mettle at the 2.68-mile Chuckwalla Valley Raceway in Desert Center, California, against its Chevy counterpart.
Before the timed laps, Randy and Jason took it for a few hot laps around Chuckwalla, with Pobst beaming, “there are cars like this GT350R that handle so well that it’s not work, it’s just a pleasure to drive fast… The ride-handling balance is exceptional. It has the body roll but it’s happening so slowly because it’s so well damped, so well controlled. Ford has done a great job with this shock system. I would love to go around this racetrack in this car all day, it’s so satisfying. It puts a smile on my face.”
Asked what he would change about the GT350R, Randy’s response was simply, “I don’t have any complaints.”
With a final lap time of 1:57.87, or 1.16 seconds faster than the Z/28’s 1:59.03 time, it was clear the GT350R is the superior corner-carver. But what of the drag strip? Here again, the GT350R easily dismissed the competition with a pass of 12.1 @ 119.6 MPH versus the 12.3 @ 116.1 MPH posted by the Z/28.
With an as-tested price that is $9,180 cheaper than the Z/28 and superior performance metrics in nearly every respect, the GT350R was the clear winner by a landslide and has set the bar very high for its competitors.
Watch the MotorTrend video and join the discussions in the forums.