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UPDATED: 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R POV Hot Lap at Grattan Raceway Is Fast

With the Blue Oval on a mission to show the world its Mustang Shelby GT350/R can teach corners a thing or two about muscle cars, we now have the perfect video to illustrate this.
2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R POV Hot Lap 1 photo
Photo: screenshot from Youtube
A GT350R was recently unleashed in the Grattan Raceway, with Ford test driver Steve Thompson doing what he’s paid to do. The resulting POV hot lap footage shows us how poised this pony is.

As you’ll be able to see in the clip, the track special ‘Stang manages to follow the driver’s inputs with ease. In fact, the man behind the wheel seems to be far from the “handful” type of situation.

He does countersteer at times, but the situation never seems to go sideways, with everything being kept under perfect control. This was also a good occasion to see the track machine’s reactions to swift driver inputs, as performed by Steve.

This was also a perfect occasion to see the digital HUD shift light at work, helping the driver with the shifting points. It’s a simple toy that seems to work really well.

What about the playground that hosted the hooning episode?

Grattan Raceway is located 25 miles northeast of the Grand Rapids in Michigan, not far from Ford’s headquarters. Packing plenty of blind corners and elevation changes, this isn’t difficult to learn, but mastering it is another thing altogether. It also includes a decent main straight that allowed the flat-plane crank V8 to stretch its pistons.

Update: Ford says the GT350R managed to lap Grattan Raceway in the same time as a Porsche 911 GT3, while beating the Camaro Z/28 by one second. This reminds us of the chat we had with Dave Pericak, head of Ford Performance, back in January. Dave, who is also the Mustang’s Chief Engineer, told us the GT350R is “better” than a 911 GT3, so we were sort of expecting such an impressive lap time.

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About the author: Andrei Tutu
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In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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