General Motors has the C8 Corvette for bragging rights, but that one is now in the mid-engine league. Traditional front-engine RWD American muscle car enthusiasts need to settle for a Mustang GT500 or the variety of Challenger Hellcats.
The Blue Oval automaker has envisioned the latest 2020+ Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 as something that’s readily usable both across winding racetracks and at the dragstrip. But of course, many have focused on achieving maximum success in the most traditional way. That would be going down the quarter-mile as quickly as possible.
A stock GT500 is clearly no slouch. Showcased for the first time back in 2019 at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, it packs a hand-built V8 wonder and screams power from every angle. It’s not an optical illusion either, as the 5.2-liter supercharged V8 churns out 760 horsepower and is rightfully nicknamed “Predator.”
Sure, it may not be the quickest stock production car in the world, but even when running on a stock pulley and packing very light mods it can still do wonders for its owner. As well as secure below 10s quarter-mile bragging rights. At least as far as this bright orange example is concerned.
It was caught on a couple of occasions by the videographer behind the Drag Racing and Car Stuff account on YouTube. And, according to shared details, the 2020 GT500 has Blue Oval’s Carbon Fiber Track Pack installed, along with an SPE cold air intake, Lethal Performance race pipes, a Palm Beach dyno tune, as well as the mandatory drag radials. And that’s about all.
As such, it’s rightfully impressive to see it go down the quarter-mile, even though it doesn’t have any company during the runs. The first one is at the 0:33 mark and was done on 93 octane pump gas, showing the GT500 remarkably close to its goal of crossing the 10s threshold with a 10.12s ET at 135 mph (217 mph).
The next one (at 1:12) is the real deal. It was done on E85 and allegedly makes it the world’s quickest stock pulley Mustang Shelby with a brisk 9.991s pass at almost 138 mph (222 kph). Although, of course, someone did find it appropriate to mention that a Tesla Model S Plaid is quicker. We knew that, as it already dipped below the 9s mark.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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