New Shelby American GT350

[BlkMach10510]

I rarely silence or defriend people, but there are a very select few that I give up on and use the "ignore" feature in this forum. So I can't see their content anymore;)

I started with rarely but now I can't believe I can still see anyone on here, lol.

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[Ewheels]

I'm not sure that the flip is true. Shelby American products have always been part swap cars. We just shifted the baseline and expectation with the 6th Gen 350/500 projects because those were Ford cars licensed by Shelby. Ford Racing didn't just take a regular GT and swap a few usual suspects, they started with a bunch of different components.

Now everyone has that in their mind as what these "Shelby" variants should be, a very unique car.

But the reality is the SA products have always been a regular Ford production car with some parts swapped out.

So I'm not sure they've gone downhill so to speak, they're just doing what they've always done and everyone's expectations are higher now because of the license product program.

A super snake was always just a swapped car. Unique and badass at the time before the widespread proliferation of blown motor models.

Now, slapping a blower on it and some wheels and a wing doesn't punch as hard anymore. ESPECIALLY when the license product programs gave us stuff like the TR3160 and the DCT. For all their glory, the SA products of the past decade have been saddled with the god awful MT82 (or the autos).

In summary, Shelby American is simply doing what they've always done. The problem for them is that we've all been spoiled by the licensed product and now our expectations are higher.

I meant that they're going downhill in the sense that they think a supercharger and some stiffer springs alone makes a GT350 (which should be track-focused).

 

[qwiknotch]

I rarely silence or defriend people, but there are a very select few that I give up on and use the "ignore" feature in this forum. So I can't see their content anymore;)

Testing

 

[Angrey]

Testing

Haha, no, it's the obvious troll/isht stirrers.

 

[Angrey]

I meant that they're going downhill in the sense that they think a supercharger and some stiffer springs alone makes a GT350 (which should be track-focused).

Fair.

I think that blown mustangs have become so common that they're a bit yawnworthy now. No one's all that impressed with a blown motor anymore. So in that vein, they'd have been much better off taking that slug of money and putting it into track centric modifications.

 

[Bikeman315]

I meant that they're going downhill in the sense that they think a supercharger and some stiffer springs alone makes a GT350 (which should be track-focused).

There is a lot more than this that goes into making a Shelby American car than the brochures tell you. I learned a lot when I visited their Las Vegas facility and talked to some of their shop people. I learned even more when met Gary Patterson at the Mustang owners museum a couple of years ago. But it’s easy to just put them down without knowing all the facts.

 

[MAGS1]

Fair.

I think that blown mustangs have become so common that they're a bit yawnworthy now. No one's all that impressed with a blown motor anymore. So in that vein, they'd have been much better off taking that slug of money and putting it into track centric modifications.

And it’s not like they’re making anything more than you can buy off the shelf either

 

[robvas]

I meant that they're going downhill in the sense that they think a supercharger and some stiffer springs alone makes a GT350 (which should be track-focused).

I think if that's what they were trying to target, or if that's what their buyers wanted, they would. They'd also send out a test car to the magazines or invite them to the track to drive one vs a stock Mustang, or Dark Horse, or 1LE Camaro or whatever. But they don't.

It's a wonder that the big magazines don't review those cars or publish numbers for them.

One of the rare times I can remember is the 2015 SuperSnake. Back then it was only a $50k package!

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/road-tests/a26666/shelby-super-snake-road-test/

Again, it appears they just throw parts at the car and there's no actual testing or tuning.

The review basically talks about the mysterious lack of power, precarious handling, and even with 400 more horsepower and wizard tires, it couldn't beat a stock Boss 302 around the race track. And let's not forget that as great as the Boss 302 was, it got smoked by almost 10 seconds by a 2018 Mustang GT PP2 in the Car and Driver Lightning Lap.

The Super Snake is definitely a fast car. The numbers it laid down at our test track are strong by any measure. Problem is, they should have been better. A stock Camaro ZL1 is quicker (the 2015 ZL1, not the 2016+ Camaro ZL1 which is an even better car). In the Snake's defense, its gearing is short. We shifted to fifth to clear the quarter-mile, which hurt elapsed time. But there's more to it.

This is where things get murky, as they often do with tuner cars that lack SAE-certified horsepower and torque ratings. Despite the "750+ HP" billing, Shelby told us that our particular test car produces 850 hp at the crank. But the car's 12.3-second, 116-mph quarter-mile run speaks to a horsepower number far less than 750, let alone 850. Confused? So were we. Consider the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, with its SAE-certified 707 hp and a curb weight 627 pounds above the Shelby's. The last Hellcat we tested did a 12.0-second quarter-mile at 124.8 mph-enough to make any old drag racer doubt the Super Snake has anywhere close to the Dodge's beans. With a superior power-to-weight ratio, the Super Snake should be traveling faster than the Hellcat in the quarter.

As for braking performance, the Super Snake can definitely stop. It has an abundance of caliper and friction area, and even fancy floating rotors. What the numbers won't tell you is how difficult the brakes are to modulate. They're nearly an on-off switch. When you're on them, it's obvious the Mustang's factory anti-lock calibration can't compensate for the Snake's change in brake torque, its front to rear balance, or its larger, staggered wheels and tires.

On the skidpad, the Shelby returned numbers you'd expect from a 2015 Mustang with big tires, stiff springs, and big anti-roll bars. The only issue we encountered was a disturbing one-the car was virtually impossible to keep from spinning once it stepped out. In the end, however, we saw an impressive 0.98 g of lateral grip.

Going into this test, I expected the car to be unruly, unable to put all that power to the road. That wasn't the case. The Shelby never felt loose. But the real problem wasn't the numbers. It was how the package felt. The brakes are a battle-you find yourself constantly trying to breathe on the pedal so as not to remove the windshield with your head. The cross-drilled and slotted floating rotors are quite loud and noticeably rough in operation. Our test car surged under light throttle and offered pronounced bucking in sixth gear when accelerating from around 3000 rpm. And while it may have been engine tuning-or perhaps something to do with the car's half-shafts or driveshaft-our Snake seemed to have considerable driveline slop, along with a fair amount of vibration under load.

Through Grattan's Monza-style bowl, the Super Snake's rear suspension would bottom out and clunk, but it never got worse, so I drove through it. The chassis is heavily biased toward understeer, making a tight circuit like Grattan that much more challenging. A moderate stab of the throttle would usually rotate the rear enough to help, while a harder stab would rotate the rear a lot further. (And sometimes too far to get back.)

All of this made the Shelby a challenge to hustle. It doesn't perform like a car built for road racing, because it isn't. And while the car never got hot or threatened unreliability, it just didn't feel polished or composed. It felt like it needed less front anti-roll bar or less rear tire, and certainly a more balanced brake package. On a faster track, this would be far less noticeable-and the car's horsepower would be far more noticeable, shrinking lap times.

In the end, I was able to put down a 1:30.86 lap on the optional Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires. That's not slow, though it is slower than that factory Boss.

 

[Bikeman315]

And it’s not like they’re making anything more than you can buy off the shelf either

Remember what our old friend Aristotle said, "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

 

[robvas]

There is a lot more than this that goes into making a Shelby American car than the brochures tell you. I learned a lot when I visited their Las Vegas facility and talked to some of their shop people. I learned even more when met Gary Patterson at the Mustang owners museum a couple of years ago. But it’s easy to just put them down without knowing all the facts.

You can't read this but other people can. You might have met the nicest guy in the world (and a great salesman) but that doesn't change the fact that they don't actually build these cars to perform. They are just a couple boomers making easy money bolting parts on a Mustang GT and selling them with the fancy name.

 

[qwiknotch]

Fair.

I think that blown mustangs have become so common that they're a bit yawnworthy now. No one's all that impressed with a blown motor anymore. So in that vein, they'd have been much better off taking that slug of money and putting it into track centric modifications.

Exactly. I have less than 75k total into my car and could outrun this new GT350 or GT305r on any track.
I'd rather have a Mach 1 with a supercharger than the new GT350

 

[Bikeman315]

I have less than 75k total into my car and could outrun this new GT350 or GT305r on any track.

This is just hyperbole since you’ve never been on the track with one.

I'd rather have a Mach 1 with a supercharger than the new GT350

Interesting. Did you come to this conclusion after test driving both side by side. If not exactly how would you know?

I know your just clicking on your keyboard but, seriously, how can you make these comments about a car you never seen or driven?

 

[qwiknotch]

This is just hyperbole since you’ve never been on the track with one.

Interesting. Did you come to this conclusion after test driving both side by side. If not exactly how would you know?

I know your just clicking on your keyboard but, seriously, how can you make these comments about a car you never seen or driven?

I can take an educated guess by what has been released by Shelby themselves.
Could I be wrong? Of course, but I highly doubt it.

 

[robvas]

Remember when Throttle House ran a Supersnake convertible against a Demon, lost by a bus length, the car went into limp mode, and sideskirts on the front broke 'because of the torque'?

Pepperidge farms remembers.

 

[IPOGT]

I started with rarely but now I can't believe I can still see anyone on here, lol.

That’s actually pretty funny.

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