Bringing a brand-new, Shelby GT500 with just 300 miles on the odo at the drag strip may sound like a bad idea, but that's how they did it back in the day. Range-topping muscle cars were usually designed with drag racing in mind in the 1960s and owner would often drive them from the dealership to the strip.
This isn't an ordinary GT500 either. This muscle car is fitted with the Carbon Fiber Track Pack, a $18,500 bundle that makes the GT500 lighter and more nimble at the race track.
It includes exposed carbon fiber wheels wrapped in Michelin Pilot Cup Sport 2 tires, carbon GT4-spec rear wing and dashboard, adjustable strut top mounts, and Recaro leather front seats. The coupe also features splitter wickers and a wheel-locking kit, as well as a rear-seat delete to shed extra weight.
It's not an ideal package for the drag strip since the Michelin Pilot Cup Sport 2 tires make the GT500 a bit slower toward 100 mph, but all that carbon fiber makes it look really cool.
Apparently driven by a young girl, the Shelby GT500 does a couple of runs against older Mustangs. It first lines up against a Fox-body powered by a turbocharged LS and it then goes against a modded fourth-generation 'Stang. The GT500 driver is a bit slow to launch, likely due to lack of experience, but it pulls solid 1/8-mile runs.
Her best ET is at 7.39 seconds to go with a 101.52 mph (163.38 kph) trap speed. A quick conversion to a quarter-mile time reveals a 11.71-second tun at 125.88 mph (202.58 kph), which isn't far off the 11.3-second sprint that Ford advertises for the 2021 Shelby GT500. Sadly, due to strong winds Byron Dragway track management decided against quarter-mile runs that day.
While these runs seem to be just for fun, it's great to see a brand-new GT500 being pushed at the drag strip. These cars shouldn't spend their lives as garage queens. It's also great to see new blood giving drag racing a go.
As a quick refresher, the latest Shelby GT500 debuted for the 2020 model year with a supercharged, 5.2-liter V8 engine rated at a whopping 760 horsepower and 625 pound-feet (847 Nm) of torque.
Ask Ciprian about cars and he'll reveal an obsession with classics and an annoyance with modern design cues. Read his articles and you'll understand why his ideal SUV is the 1969 Chevrolet K5 Blazer. Full profile
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