At long last, Ford has furnished the world with more details about its new 5.2-litre supercharged V8 and, by extension, the range-topping Mustang Shelby GT500. According to the automaker’s initial descriptions, it would to deliver more power and performance than any other street legal production engine the company has ever produced.
You may imagine, then, that leaving many of us in the lurch about the finer details on this new Voodoo-based motor - even after seeing the car in action - would be testy on our limited patience. Thankfully, we have yet more drip-feed details to quench our thirst temporarily:
In addition to producing a 567kW, the supercharged V8 also generates peak torque of 847Nm, though Ford does not specify where in the rev range this starts and ends. Regardless, it endows the GT500 with incredible acceleration.
“The range of brute-force drag acceleration, seamless road shifts and amazingly smooth shifts on the track further highlights how the soul of the Shelby GT500 is elevated in our most advanced Mustang ever,” said Ed Krenz, Ford Performance chief program engineer.
No 0-100km/h times were revealed, however they do confirm that the car manages a 0-100mph-0 time of 10.6 seconds. From a dead stop, with launch control engaged, the range-topping Mustang will sprint to 160km/h and back to a halt again in about the same time a Honda City needs to reach 100km/h.
That impressive feat is in no small part made possible due to the car’s formidable brake package, where it’s fitted with massive 420mm Brembo front rotors and six-piston callipers which they claim to be the largest fitted to any sports coupe sold in North America.
There are other factors too, such as its tyres and transmission. Regarding the former, each car is fitted with a set of Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 that’s been developed alongside Ford Performance specifically for the GT500.
It’s no wonder either as the rear pair are saddled with the punishing task of planting all that power and torque to the road surface as effectively as possible lest all that effort will be lost in a cloud of smoke.
Enthusiasts might wince at the prospect of a GT500 lacking a manual transmission, but Ford has certainly not taken the move to an exclusively dual-clutch setup lightly. The TR-9070 DCT has been design and developed by Tremec alongside Ford and features 7 forward ratios and a novel wet clutch system with five friction plates for the odd-gear pack and 6 plates for the even-gear pack.
Seven non-sequential helical forward gears with advanced triple cone synchros are carefully matched to the engine’s torque curve and are pre-selected by an electro-hydraulic shift mechanism using energy-efficient low-leak solenoids that can execute shifts as quick as 80 milliseconds in sport mode.
“In many ways, this is like having two transmissions in one,” said Pat Morgan, Ford Performance powertrain manager. “On one hand, it enables performance at the outer reaches of straight-line quickness with minimal torque interruption, yet provides an incredible amount of finesse and control in track environments for maximum stability and predictability at the limits of lateral acceleration.”
“Contrary to popular belief, fast shifts do not always equate to better road performance,” said Morgan. “In every driving situation, we emulated what professional drivers do, whether it’s a smooth, precise heel-and-toe shift of a professional track driver or a much more forceful powershift like drag racers. We’ve designed the perfect shift every time.”
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