USCarNut

The British TV show Top Gear recently had a segment on the Shelby GT500. Anyone familiar with the show will not be surprised to learn that they did not like it, as they normally rip on everything to do with America.

But this segment contained factual errors and outright stupidity:

1. They did a dyno test and concluded that Ford/Shelby lied about the horsepower rating of 500. They came up with the number of about 440. But they did a wheel hp test and 440 is about right due to the energy lost through the drivetrain.

2. They said the brakes were the same as the base V8 300hp Mustang. That cannot be true. Certainly Shelby would put bigger brakes on the GT500?

3. They ripped on the live rear axle, saying it can't handle well. But as you will see, the GT500 did pretty well on their test track. It beat out more expensive foreign cars, such as the Audi S4 and the Porsche 911 Turbo!

They really did a shoddy job on this. The horsepower thing is really pathetic on their part, not pointing out the difference between hp at the crank vs. horsepower at the wheels.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGbhKQlUhLo

Jurnymn

Those guys are dicks when it comes to american iron.

hammeron

i do watch the show for the cars, but i do think
they are a couple of bafoons in general

USCarNut

Agreed.

And yet the one hostbought a Ford GT and the guy driving the Shelby has that 60s Mustang Fastback and he also bought a restored 1969 Charger! It's obvious they are desperately jealous of American iron and they hate their crappy British roads and their crappy British driving laws.They rip on whatthey are jealous of and what they don't have. Get this--when you drive into certain parts of London, you have to pay a fee.

tokinGLX

you completely missed the point. did you just shut your eyes and go LALALLALLAALALA when they were talking about the roush¿ you know. less hp than the gt500, yet what was it, 2 full seconds faster around the track¿ call em crazy for actually expecting full performance from buying the car made by the factorys performance division.

imagine if the svt team actually put two braincells into the suspension of this car. it would be a whole lot better of a car, woulndt it¿

97 5.0L

You would think that he would realize the difference in crank hp and wheel hp after he put his mustang on the dyno expecting 325 and only got 250

USCarNut

That's a fair point. The GT500 with a suspension from the factory that is comparable to the Roush would have had a much better lap time. But again, even with the factory suspension, the car outperformed some high-priced, sophisticated cars on the track.

I'll let Carroll Shelby do the talking here. The following is from an interview with Road and Track, Jnauary 2006:

"R&T: Some feel the car should have an independent rear suspension, like the previous-generation Mustang Cobra — what do you think?

Shelby: That's bull. We proved a long time ago that for ordinary driving and going around a skidpad with a straight rear axle, you can do it as well as you can with an independent rear. It takes a lot of engineering, weight and cost to do an independent suspension. By not doing it, we took $5000 out of the car."

They also called the suspension on the C6 Corvette obsolete and awful, but most reasonable people would agree that the Corvette handles pretty darn well.


I would like your opinion on 3 things:

1. Why did Ford give the GT500, as you believe, a poor/outdated suspension?

And since you seem to be defending these guys on Top Gear:

2. What is your opinion of their horsepower screw-up?

3. What is your opinion of their false statement that the GT500 has the same brakes as the stock 300hp Mustang.

davemurray

Can't believe how much crap these guys talk.
at the end of the day Jeremy, Clarkson has a Ford GT and that little hamster has a 60's mustang.
Did they said that theshelby performed better than the subaru STI in the curves?
If my old school, prehistoric suspension, underpowered car could beat a high tech rally bred car, I'm happy with it.

SXGT

Ford isn't gonna market this car so you can drive it 100mph thru a slalom, They care about making money from a car that offers HIGH power and style. you drive in a straight or semi straight road MORE often then a road course styled road.

Tit for tat , its still in the same ball park as classy expensive cars

shamrock..

I would take the car with the better suspension rather than more hp, so Roush Stg 3 wins. Plus Ford didnt really do anything to the GT 500 to make it stand out. Nise gray side skirts LOL. Roush FTW