autoevolution
 

Porsche GT3 RS Snaps the Whip on Two Rowdy Mustangs, and It's Not a Good Quarter-Mile Idea

Almost 250 years ago, a passionate gentleman from England founded an annual event that became the epitome of high-stakes racing. Things have changed a little in the last quarter of a millennium, and horses have gradually – but not completely – given up the spotlight to motorcars.
Porsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush Mustang 14 photos
Photo: YouTube/Sam Carlegion
Porsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush MustangPorsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush Mustang
However, the symbolism of high-paced thunderous competition is undiluted, and the horse's totem adorns some of today's most exhilarating cars. As it happens, three of them line up on a track in Canada for a contest on the quarter-mile sprint. Sam Carlegion is responsible for this occurrence – one of the best drag races he's ever put together.

The most iconic horse emblem ever to adorn a car is a perennial title dispute between Europe and the U.S.A. The Old World wins by two against one. While the Mustang is quintessentially American, things are more complex over the pond.

The Italians and the Germans pride themselves on a figure of a rampaging stallion – but today, only one takes the challenge to the Mustang. A Porsche stretches its flat-six legs against a pair of tuned Fords – Mustangs in their own right, but highly speed-addict ones.

Porsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush Mustang
Photo: YouTube/Sam Carlegion
A GT3 RS takes on a GT and a GT500 (it's a GT-exclusive event), and things couldn't be much more different. The Porsche is a track racer – meaning it lives on the apex and breathes red-hot braking and violent accelerations – while the Americans are straightforward straight-line runners.

The specs are vastly spread across the performance board. Going from the highest horsepower count downward, here are the details. First, a Shelby Mustang GT500 – technically a Mustang, practically a deadly Cobra – with 760 hp and 625 lb-ft of torque to the rear (770 ps / 847 Nm). 5.2 V8 liters, a Roots-type supercharger, seven speeds, and a dual-clutch tranny make this Ford one of the wildest ever to come out of Dearborn.

It is also the heaviest of the three competitors in this race, with 4,171 lbs. (1,889 kg). It sports intake and exhaust modifications – for even more rubber-vaporizing fun. Seconding it at the start line is a brother from another mother – a tuned 5.0-liter Mustang.

Porsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush Mustang
Photo: YouTube/Sam Carlegion
Factory-rated at 460 hp and 420 lb-ft, the iconic Ford is tuned to high-adrenaline levels by the magic of Roush Performance. By blackmailing the V8 with some wrench black magic and white-knuckle numbers, the tuners crammed 280 extra hp and 210 more lb-ft of crank-spinning force. As a result, the Roush Mustang packs 740 hp and 630 lb-ft (750 ps / 854 Nm).

Add a ten-speed automatic, and the 3,950-lb. (1,789 kg) Mustang is looking like the bookie's favorite. But it's never that simple when Germans are involved, as history has taught us many times by now. The Porsche GT3 RS completes this holy-moly piston trinity, although the paper puts it in a class – or two – under the heavyweights of the Blue Oval.

Not only is this GT3 RS not the latest gen, but it's also a track car with "only" 493 hp (500 ps), a four-liter boxer-six, and a rear wing of aviation proportions. That last attribute means plenty of downforce – critical for going fast while negotiating a sharp bend in the road, but not best of friends with top-end high speed.

Porsche GT3 RS v Shelby GT500 v Roush Mustang
Photo: YouTube/Sam Carlegion
339 lb-ft (460 Nm) of torque is a water pistol next to the industrial-sized scores of the V8s stacking up against it. But count in the 3,296 lbs. – 1,493 kg – and things start to get worryingly interesting. In terms of transmission, the Porsche sports the same number of gears as the Shelby and a similar architecture: A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, all to the rear wheels.

Paper math for this race is about as good as an umbrella during surfing. Instead of complicated equations, let's see what happened. In short, the Cobra is the best horse on the track – taking all wins, except a roll race, which it lost because of a miss-shift.

Otherwise, its immense raw power and blitz-like transmission leave the Roush in the dust and take the win against the Porsche. Surprisingly, the little German car holds its candle high to the mighty Fords. It shoots off the line like it doesn't care about the laws of physics. But the force-fed Shelby GT500 catches up and eventually pulls ahead.

Ironically, Porsche's aerodynamics are too good to be helpful in this event, and Shelby's recipe of mixing displacement with induction augmentation pays out. This is obvious in the roll races, where the Cobra-badged Mustang puts a train between its taillights and the runner-up.

If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Razvan Calin
Razvan Calin profile photo

After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories