The Ford Motor Company went overboard with the Mustang Shelby GT500 to close the gap to Dodge’s Hellcat-engined Challenger. From the factory, the Predator V8 cranks out a mind-bending 760 horsepower and a neck-snapping 625 pound-feet (847 Nm) of torque on 93-octane gas.
In other words, a Mustang that costs way less than the GT supercar is the most powerful road-going Ford ever produced. What’s even more impressive about the Shelby GT500 is how easily the aftermarket can squeeze out more from the V8 lump without modifying the internals.
The Hellion-equipped S550 in the following video is one of those aftermarket builds, and it’s definitely insane thanks to 1,252 horsepower and 867 pound-feet (1,175 Nm) of torque. For reference, the McLaren Speedtail rocks 1,035 horsepower and 848 pound-feet (1,150 Nm) from a twin-turbo V8 and an electric motor that was co-developed with Hewland.
In addition to stock internals, the orange-painted Shelby GT500 also features a factory-spec transmission. If the clutches give up the ghost during a quarter-mile pass, the peeps at Dodson Motorsport are much obliged to upgrade the Mustang’s dual-clutch tranny with hardened steel plates.
Dyno’d at Palm Beach Dyno, the strip-slaying machine develops the aforementioned output figures at 20 pounds per square inch of boost. Originally developed by Hellion Power Systems for the Coyote V8, the twin-turbo upgrade for the Shelby GT500 includes Turbosmart Comp-Gate 40 wastegates, bypass valves, and a large vertical flow core intercooler.
Hellion doesn’t mention how much these components cost, excluding installation and ECU remapping, but the Albuquerque-based tuning company does mention the potential for 2,000-horsepower-plus GT500 builds.
Ken Bjonnes, the owner of Palm Beach Dyno, says in the description of the following video that “we’ll be making some passes on this car very soon.” With a set of drag radials and a KellTrac Posi-Loc system for reducing wheel hop, it’s easy to imagine this GT500 dipping into the 8-second range.
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. Full profile
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