Monterey, California -- This is
not just another Mustang. It is not some candy-colored, muscle-bound,
consumer-grade arcade game for the young and dumb. It is up to something
entirely different. The
2016 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 is the Mustang reinvented.
From
the moment in 1964 when the cover came off the Mustang, Ford has always
wanted this car to become more like America’s sports car, less like
America’s ride to the golf course. Yet decades of good intentions always
have yielded to the understandable obligation to make a profit, and so
the Mustang has always been undone by the limited performance that could
be delivered at an affordable price. But now the 2016 Shelby GT350
finally delivers, no excuses. It’s a sports car, not a sports coupe. And
even better, it’s affordable, too.
Enzo, there is troubling news from Detroit
In 1965 Ford commissioned Carroll Shelby to create the GT350 for road
racing competition, and this car still has such a hold on the
imagination 50 years later that there were no fewer than 40 examples
speeding up the straightaway here at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca just two
weeks ago during the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, most of them
twisting their decidedly non-stock 4.7-liter V-8s to a frightening 7,000
rpm.
We’re pretty sure
that the 2016 Ford Shelby GT350R Mustang would have had the measure of
any of them. This occurs to us because we’re on the track right now, and
the head-up display of the shift lights reflected in the windshield are
already blinking furiously in third gear just before we climb the hill
to high-speed Turn 1, which means we’ve got another gear to use before
Turn 2 looms ahead. These would be the shift lights
that call for your attention to the approaching redline, which would be
8,250 rpm. As Carroll Shelby would say, you can’t get anywhere without
bending the rules a little, and the GT350’s V-8 pushes the limits of
practical physics, not to mention the bounds of propriety.
At first, the
Ford engineers went down the usual path to more power from the familiar
Coyote V-8, increasing the piston bore to 94.0 mm, installing bigger
valves and then making the cams lift them open some 15 mm (yikes!). But
then the engineers went all the way and created a racing-style
flat-plane crankshaft, which not only quickens throttle response but
also the helps the engine breathe better at extreme high rpm, creating
more power. Ferrari adopted this technology for its 4.3-liter V-8 in the
Ferrari California, but even Italian engineers shudder at the thought
of such a thing in a 5.2-liter V-84, in which vibration caused by the flat-plane crank could rip apart the larger, heavier components.
Of course, all we care about is way the earth shudders as the Mustang GT350R
passes by. Instead of the Ferrari-style scream that you might expect,
the new Voodoo V-8 has a powerfully percussive roar. As the rpm climb to
the torque peak of 429 lb-ft @ 4,750 rpm, the engine seems to smooth
out and yet become even meaner and more insistent, and then you ride a
broad plateau of torque to the power peak of 526 hp @ 7,500 rpm. The
creamy throttle response over nearly 3,000 rpm helps you drive the
Shelby GT350 like a hero in long-duration corners at Laguna Seca,
hustling the car just a fraction to help it zing down the following
straightway.
Maintaining an even strain on California Highway 1
Of course, we weren’t conscious of any potential threat to propriety
when we first saw the 2016 Shelby GT350 Mustang waiting for us in the
paddock at Mazda Raceway. Once you get past the way the different colors
in the GT350 palette shout at you, you appreciate the way the car
itself appears to be re-sculpted, even though the shape remains
familiarly Mustang. Every little bit of the bodywork seems to have a job
to do, notably so on the track-ready Shelby GT350R with its front aero
splitter, prominent rear wing, and a clever rear aero diffuser that
accommodates a special venturi to improve the efficiency of the special
cooler for the limited-slip differential.
Even without
direct-injection, the Voodoo V-8 with its tall 12.0:1 compression ratio
V-8 fires up quickly and idles happily, apparently because the massive
throttle body is carefully tapered to flow smoothly even at low rpm.
Choosing a gear and setting off holds no terror because this six-speed
Tremec manual transmission has a smoother, light-effort shift action
than before, while the clutch requires so little effort that the pedal
practically falls to the floor of its own accord. (At the same time, the
engagement point is no longer detectable, and we’re not sure this is a
good thing.) As we drove over Laureles Grade and into the wild outside
the racetrack, we selected Sport among the five choices in calibration
for the MagneRide dampers. The car rides well despite its low-profile
tires, and once we switched to Normal for the drive down Carmel Valley
Road, the chassis grew calmer (less fore-and-aft pitch) even as it
remained alert and eager.
The Shelby GT350
is a pretty nice ride for sightseeing purposes, as we discovered on
California Highway 1. The Mustang itself already has a taller greenhouse
and a wider field of view that such cars as the Chevrolet Camaro and
Dodge Challenger (much less the Ferrari California T and Jaguar F-Type).
Meanwhile, the GT350’s specially configured Recaro seats comfortably
hold your midsection rather than annoyingly confine your shoulders. We
were in a totally relaxed frame of mind all the way to Big Sur, except
for a few moments when our driving companion demonstrated that the GT350
does indeed have the dragstrip credentials that its line-lock
electronics promise, when he put down about 100 feet of rubber with an
old-fashioned dragstrip getaway.
Indeed, our drive along the cliffs
above the Pacific Ocean might have been done in a conventional Mustang.
We didn’t note any unpleasant vibration from the V-8, something that
such flat-crank engines are noted for. Still, it was clear that the
GT350’s gearing is a little shorter than a conventional Mustang, partly
due to the final-drive ratio of 3.73:1 and partly due to the six-speed
transmission itself, which is like a close-ratio five-speed (fifth gear
is 1.00:1) with an overdrive sixth. Also the GT350’s wide front tires
nibble a bit at pavement imperfections parallel to your direction of
travel, while the steering feel is a little heavy immediately
off-center.
At the end of the day, everyone wants a track car
It’s hard to say what it is about a track car that engages the interest
of everyone you meet. Of course not everyone drives such cars on the
track, and yet the idea of a car dedicated to speed never fails to be
intriguing. Because the $47,795 Shelby GT350 is notably more affordable
than the $61,295 Shelby GT350R, some might think that it’s not really
track-ready, and really is better suited to the kind of thrills you get
from the $7,500 option package with its premium audio system and
assorted electronic stuff plus racey hardware rather than the optional
$6,500 Track Package that does without the electronics.
But
we weren’t noticing any compromises in the GT350’s setup as we
blistered up the straightway and under the pedestrian bridge at Laguna
Seca. The Voodoo V-8 gives you its all, and the Tremec six-speed still
has that reassuring bolt-action feel to its shift linkage, only now the
shifts come quicker thanks to lighter effort. And when the car dove
downhill into the Turn 2 hairpin, we stepped deep into the brake pedal
and the racing-style, two-piece iron rotors did their stuff, thanks to
six-piston Brembo calipers on 15.5-inch rotors in front and four-piston
fixed calipers on 12.6-inch rotors in the rear. The 295/35ZR-19 Michelin
Pilot Super Sport front tires always stayed under the car in the
corners, and there was no trace of the slither and wobble that you might
otherwise expect from a car that weighs 3,760 pounds.
When you step up
the Shelby GT350R, you’ll find that the dynamics are the same, only the
package has been toughened up enough so the driver will run out of
breath long before the car will. The lighter, 3,655-pound GT350R still
faithfully follows its front tires in Laguna’s long-duration corners
just like the GT350, only the wider and grippier 305/35ZR-19 Michelin
Pilot Sport Cup front tires hang on even longer. The GT350’s new,
cast-aluminum front steering knuckles deliver a different offset to give
you more control of so much contact patch (a little more steering
castor comes as part of the geometry as well), yet you can steer with
your fingertips instead of your biceps.
What really makes
the difference in the GT350R is its suspension setup, which like
everything else about this car has been created as a system, not just a
collection of pieces. The R-type’s lightweight carbon-fiber wheels
represent half the unsprung weight of the GT350’s conventional
cast-aluminum wheels, which helps the R-type’s standard MagneRide
dampers react even quicker to ride inputs. Meanwhile, heavy-duty front
springs provide a little more support when you hit the brakes hard,
keeping the car from standing on its nose just as you want to steer into
a corner. The overall effect isn’t so much supple as it is steady,
almost as if you were riding on an active suspension instead of
conventional springs and dampers. The Shelby GT350R just flat gets after
it on a track, and our spies tell us that it cuts quicker lap times at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca than a Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.
The Mustang reinvented
The 2016 Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang
is still a Mustang, and we shouldn't make light of it. Even as a
two-passenger fastback coupe with big tires, you can still drive it to
the store and expect 14/21 mpg EPA city/highway. Mustang guys created
this car, as we were reminded when two engineers mentioned that they had
only recently quite driving their 1980s Fox-body Mustang 5.0s, each
with nearly 300,000 miles on the odometer.
The most important part of the whole process
might have been the creation of the one-page memo that proposed this new
car in the first place. The Ford Motor Company of 10 years ago couldn’t
have undertaken such a project even if it wanted to (and it wouldn’t
have wanted to). That the 2016 Shelby GT350 exists at all is a kind of
miracle.
2016 Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang Specifications
| Price: | $48,690/$56,190 (base/as tested) |
| Engine: | 5.2L DOHC 32-valve V-8/526 hp @ 7,500 rpm, 429 lb-ft @ 4,750 rpm |
| Transmission: | 6-speed manual |
| Layout: | 2-door, 2-passenger, front-engine, RWD coupe |
| EPA Mileage: | 14/21 mpg (city/highway) |
| Suspension F/R: | Strut-type, coil springs/control arms, coil springs |
| Brakes F/R: | Vented discs |
| Tires F/R: | 295/35R-19/305/35R-19 Michelin Pilot Super Sport |
| L x W x H: | 188.9 x 75.9 x 54.2 in |
| Wheelbase: | 107.1 in |
| Weight: | 3,791 lb |
| Weight Dist. F/R: | 56/44% |
| 0-60 MPH: | N/A |
| 1/4-Mile: | N/A |
| Top Speed: | N/A |
