FIRST DRIVE I FORD PERFORMANCE SHELBY GT 350
Stouter Stoppers
→ When you are blasting down the straightaway at triple-digit speeds,
confident braking under your foot is an absolute necessity. The 2019 Shelby
GT350 braking is under control thanks to robust front and rear calipers
from Brembo that clamp down on new, smooth brake rotors measuring 394
mm in front and 380 mm in back.
In practice, the pedal is firm and predictable, and that is attributable to a
new front caliper designed for the GT350 and carried over to the Ford GT.
“It’s a fixed aluminum caliper with a radial mount, which helps for stiff-
ness of the caliper. And they also added the rear calipers. So this is the first
time the Mustang had the front and the rear fixed opposed calipers,” Tom
Grant, engineer at Brembo, explains. “Basically what we tried to optimize
was stiffness and weight. Our goal is to make it as stiff as possible, but not
increase the weight significantly.”
The front caliper in question is a six-piston, monoblock aluminum unit
featuring an inner tie rod for maximum stiffness. Their pistons measure 34
by 36 by 38 mm. Meanwhile, the rear calipers are fix-mount aluminum units
with 30 and 32 mm pistons.
Grant says, “Everything was thought through, even the external cross
pipe, which helps us reduce fluid displacement. When you’re applying the
pedal, you want to have the least amount of fluid pushed through the sys-
tem so that when the brakes are applied you are not getting too much travel
from the pedal. Then you also have the feedback, so you understand where
you are modulating.”
Much like the tires built for this and other Ford Performance applica-
tions, Brembo has also designed a bigger, more robust caliper designed just
for the 2020 Shelby GT500.ate drifts at corner entry—not that I
would know about that.”
Those calibration changes required
new hardware, so they are not
backward compatible with the prior
GT350s, but their presence is apparent.
While we weren’t brave enough to drift
the tight confines of the M3 Concourse
track, the brakes were firm and predict-
able, and easily allowed your author’s
rusty heel-toe actuation to get the job
done. There was always plenty of brake,
even after a wide-open run down the
straight.
On corner exit, it was easy to
squeeze on the Voodoo power and as
the tires started to break free a little.
The car slid in a predictable, control-
lable fashion and never once felt like
it would snap and bite. The steering
was precise with just the right assist,
making it easy to direct through the
challenging passages.
As we noted previously, giving
a direct comparison with the prior
version would be tough, but we have
no trouble believing this one is better
and closer to the holy grail of R-model
performance. Of course, who better to
ask than the man who drives fast in all
of them?
“The 2019 GT350 is significantly
faster, more well-balanced, has better
response and braking performance,
and is more fun to drive,” Billy Johnson
says. “While not as fast as the GT350R,
it’s a big improvement that will still
be significant over the 2015-2018 cars,
even if they have the newer Cup 2 tire.
The whole development team really
loves the new car, and I agree. It’s
fantastic.”
After some laps on the track, we
headed out Woodward Avenue in
search of a photo spot. It gave us a
moment to marvel that the same car
that could rip up the track was so docile
on the street. It even gave us time to
appreciate those touch points like the
Alcantara wheel, softer console, and
nicely actuating shifter on the Tremec
3160 six-speed manual.
There was no time to sample
the optional 12-speaker B&O Sound
System by Bang & Olufsen when you
could just listen to the flat-plane music
coming from the Active Valve Perfor-
mance Exhaust. Plus, I had to squeeze
in just one more track session before
the airport shuttle dragged me away. In
short, the latest GT350 is fun and easy
to drive in both environments.