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2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Spied Wearing Less Disguise

After some appearances in the U.S., Ford's Special Vehicle Team seems to have finished the first phase of testing of the upcoming Ford Mustang Shelby GT350. The hot version of the pony is currently at the Ring for suspension and other fine tuning jobs and it wears less camouflage than the prototypes spotted Stateside.
2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 10 photos
Photo: SB-Medien
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Some of you may remember that the performance version of the sixth-gen Mustang will be marketed under the GT350 moniker according to a Ford dealer promo site. It's not known if the GT350 will be followed by a take-no-prisoners GT500 model, which will need at least 707 hp to rival the mighty 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, but the GT350 itself promises to be a pretty potent pony.

From the pictures we've been provided by our team of carparazzi, we can tell that the prototype GT350 spied lapping the Nurburgring wears low profile rubber wrapping 19-inch alloys at the front and 20s at the rear, an aggressive rear diffuser with two exhaust pipes sticking through on each side, a subtle boot lid spoiler and in-your-face side skirts. But the visual drama doesn't here - the front is way more theatrical.

Even though the fog lights have been deleted, the prototype spied wears a deep chin splitter and a sportier radiator grille design. There's an obvious power bulge on the hood as well, which signals the possibility of a supercharger bolted on top of the engine. Speaking of which, some voices hint that the powerhouse will be a souped up version of the 5-liter Coyote V8 from the 2015 Ford Mustang GT or a reworked variant of the supercharged 5.8-liter Trinity V8 propelling the outgoing Ford Mustang GT500.

The upcoming pony gets a tachometer indicating a 6,500 rpm redline and an over-rev region topping at 7,000 rpm, similar to what you might find inside the 2014 Mustang GT500. Sporty bucket seats and a six-speed manual are also expected, along with a blistering fast lap round the Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit. The upcoming 2016 Ford Mustang GT350 might spawn a Mustang Mach 1 variant sometime next year, which could be offered as a highly collectable edition for the most enthusiastic fans of the 50-year old breed. C'mon Ford, get on with it!

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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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