Shelby GT500 Code Red Rips off Shockingly Quick 8.5-Second Quarter-Mile Pass
With a bevy of upgrades that come at a steep price, the Shelby GT500 Code Red is a world-beating monster in a straight line.
It’s been just over two years since the Shelby GT500 Code Red experimental model was revealed, a car that its namesake intended to use to push the proverbial envelope in terms of what’s possible with that range-topping, last-gen platform. The Code Red swapped the OEM supercharger on the factory GT500 for a pair of turbos, unlocking well over 1,000 horsepower in what is a truly impressive build. However, a select few will also be able to buy their own Shelby GT500 Code Red, which is apparently a drag racing monster right out of the box.
Shelby American just posted a video of this production-spec Shelby GT500 Code Red rocketing down the quarter-mile in just 8.593 seconds at 161.81 miles-per-hour, which are, well, silly numbers by any measure. The Code Red is clearly a force in a straight line, as those numbers are good enough to take down pretty much anything it lines up against, save for some extreme track-focused builds that obviously won’t be nearly as comfortable to drive on actual roads.
To get that quick, Shelby American treats the Shelby GT500 Code Red to a bevy of mods, as one would imagine, most of which take place under the hood. There, the car’s 5.2-liter Predator V8 gets a pair of Xona 7869S dual ball-bearing turbos, along with Tial WVS wastegates, new air filters, three-inch downpipes, headers mated to a three-inch exhaust, and ARP hardware throughout. Inside, one will find beefy Manley pistons and rods to help strengthen things up to handle copious amounts of boost.
Shelby beefs up the Code Red’s cooling system in a big way as well, not to mention the fuel system, which has to provide the heavily-fortified Predator powerplant with plenty of that, as one would imagine. It’s all controlled by a MoTeC M150 ECU, and owners can use the factory drive mode controls to alter output based on how they’re feeling on that particular day – or, the system will adjust itself according based on what kind of fuel is in the tank.
As a result, the Shelby GT500 Code Red pumps out an astounding 1,000+ horsepower and 780 pound-feet of torque on 93 octane pump gas, or as much as 1,300 horsepower and 1,000 pound-feet on E85, though one can dial it down all the way to 650 horsepower if they don’t need four digit output on that given day.
As one might imagine, there are some caveats that come with owning such an impressive machine. For starters, Shelby American only plans to build 10 Shelby GT500 Code Red models per model year, or 30 in total. The cost of those machines starts out at an eye-opening $224,995, too – not including the price of the car itself. That’s a ton of coin by anyone’s measure, but if you’re looking for the ultimate Mustang of any kind, it’ll certainly be hard to top.
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