W
e’ve just declared the GT500 a
game changer. But how does
it compare to the GT350, the
Shelby that just earned second place in
this year’s Best Driver’s Car competition?
They’re both so good, it’s almost like having
to choose your favorite child—albeit one
that costs $12,460 more than the other.
If we simply look at specs, the base
GT500’s supercharged V-8 trounces the
GT350’s naturally aspirated one, with a
234-hp advantage and 196 lb-ft more
torque. At the dragstrip, the GT500 runs
low-11-second quarter miles at more than
130 mph, whereas the GT350 manages 12.1-
second passes at about 120 mph.
The GT500 is fitted with enormous 16.5-
inch two-piece brake rotors plus Brembo
six-piston calipers that are larger and
stiffer than the GT350’s, with 20 percent
more swept area and better pedal feel.
Because the refreshed GT350 now
comes with Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires
and the base GT500 has Michelin Pilot
Sport 4S, base car to base car, the GT350
has a slight edge in grip despite having
slightly narrower contact patches.
Both get an improved electric-assist
power steering rack this year. Does the
added weight on the GT500’s nose hurt its
handling? Understeer arrives only on over-
cooked slow corners. Otherwise, their crisp
responses make them equals; inch-precise
placement is possible in either.There’s nothing like a well-sorted manual
to connect the driver to a car, to make the
car need its driver. The Tremec TR-3160
is the only transmission available in the
GT350, and it works exceedingly well. The
clutch uptake is intuitive, it doesn’t mind
being hurried on a dragstrip, and there’s
something immensely satisfying about
nailing a matched-rev downshift while
operating all three pedals simultaneously.
But the new Tremec TR-9070 seven-speed
dual-clutch auto mandated in the GT500 is
in a different category, really. This is world-
class stuff; it’s a close second or third place
to the benchmark Porsche PDK or McLaren
“seamless shift” dual-clutch units. In Sport
or Track mode, the GT500 cracks seamless
80-millisecond upshifts. In braking zones, it
blips the throttle and smoothly downshifts,
never upsetting the chassis.
So is the extra 12 large worth it?
The GT350/GT350R was a revelation
when it made its debut, marking the
first time a pony car could legitimately
be called a sports car. It was—until this
year—the best Mustang ever. The new
GT500 is a supercar hunter in the way the
last Dodge Viper ACR was. It’s amazingly
capable yet easy to drive right up to its
astronomical limits. There hasn’t been such
a fierce-but-friendly sports car since the
Mercedes-AMG GT S. The GT500 is the one
to get. Find the extra money, and you won’t
be sorry. Chris Waltoneffectiveness of a front splitter and dive
planes into one cohesive piece.
Combined with the rear diffuser and a
manually adjustable exposed-carbon-fiber
rear wing, the car’s downforce is up to 550
pounds at 180 mph. Part of the added light-
ness comes at the expense of deleting the
rear seat. Altogether racy, to be sure, but
also livable, and with less of the telltale
bare-bones road noise and tramlining one
would expect from sticky 305mm-wide
front and 315mm-wide rear tires.
Early rumors surmised that the GT500
would be running a forced-induction
version of the GT350’s aluminum 5.2-liter
flat-plane-crank V-8, which makes 526 hp.
The GT500’s block, indeed, has the same
bore and stroke as the 5,163cc Voodoo, but
it spins a traditional cross-plane crank.
Engineers on hand said they didn’t want
the inherent vibration and didn’t need the
high revs (8,250 rpm) or high compres-
sion ratio (12.0:1) of the Voodoo to make
the Predator V-8’s targeted hp and torque;
rather, they accomplished it with a 7,500-
rpm redline and 9.5:1 compression ratio.
Indeed, intake air is compressed, as Ford
succinctly puts it, by an “inverted 2.65-liter
Roots-type supercharger that generates up
to 12 psi of maximum boost with an air-to-
liquid intercooler tucked neatly into the
V-8 engine valley.” Inverted, meaning the
pulley and heavy aluminum supercharger
vanes are unconventionally positioned
below the chilled airbox, thus lowering
the center of gravity of the approximately
50-pound blower by a few inches. Inciden-
tally, the supercharger draws 90 horse-
power at its peak speed.
Now let’s get to the bragging rights: hp
per liter. The GT350’s naturally aspirated
figure is impressive at 101.9 hp/L, but the
blown GT500 makes 147.2 ponies with
each liter. For reference, the 715-hp Aston
Martin DBS Superleggera 5.2-liter twin-
turbo V-12’s specific output is 137.4 hp/L.
Think about that for a moment.
How does that translate in the real
world? Ford invited us to the adjacent
prepped dragstrip to see if its claim of a
sub-11-second quarter mile was possible
in a base GT500 fitted with the Michelin
PS4S tires. Ford chose the base car over
the R because it said the PS4S has nearly
the same longitudinal grip as the PSC2,
and the R’s aero drag would produce
slower trap speeds.
After a primer on accessing Drag
mode—using the standard line-lock to
heat the rear tires—and learning how
to set the launch rpm, times began
appearing on the big board. Mid 11-second
runs were common. Low 11s began to
appear, but in our group of 14, none of
us managed to do the deed. I saw onePICK ’EM: GT 350 or GT500? GT^500
GT 35038 MOTORTREND.COM FEBRUARY 2020