When the 2020 Shelby Mustang GT500 was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show in January, Ford gave us only a ballpark power output: “over 700 horsepower”. With every executive adamantly repeating the mantra, we figured it wouldn’t be much more than that.
Well, it’s been five months since then and Ford engineers have officially concluded their tuning and testing of the engine.
The 5.2-liter, supercharged V8 will produce 760 horsepower and 625 lb-ft of torque on premium fuel. It’s the most powerful production engine, and car, Ford has ever built.
With 146.15 horsepower per liter of displacement, the V8 offers the highest power density of any supercharged V8 currently in production.
The 1,000 hp Hellephant crate engine, which Mopar put on sale a couple of months ago, is clearly more powerful. But at 6.98 liters of displacement, it makes 143.27 hp per liter – so less power dense. Plus, it’s not going to go in a production Dodge and it’s only street legal on cars pre-1976 due to emissions
In terms of raw power, the 2020 Shelby GT500 slots between its main competitors – Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat at 717 hp and it’s more powerful Redeye version at 797 hp.
According to Dodge, the 2019 Redeye can accelerate from a standstill to 60mph in 3.4 seconds. Ford says mid-three seconds for the 2020 GT500 and sub-eleven seconds for a quarter mile. The official numbers will drop in due time.
Either way, Shelby GT500 was always a track-focused car and Ford wants the 2020 model to be unbeatable around any circuit.
In fact, the engineers have limited the top speed to 180 mph, claiming that’s the magic number for track performance, balancing straight line acceleration and handling in the corners.
We can’t wait to finally see the car in action. Hopefully soon.
