The GT350 is a new kind of Mustang. Track-ready from the factory
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MotorTranscript
00:00 Hey you, with the goofy smile on your face.
00:05 Feel like crying?
00:06 Well go visit your local car dealership, because they're all full of cars with teensy turbos
00:10 and boring automatics.
00:12 They're sold with some BS marketing spiel that pulling a shift paddle is an involving,
00:16 emotional experience.
00:18 Right.
00:19 Here's a big orange middle finger to that load.
00:22 This Mustang has a big, naturally aspirated V8, a 6-speed that you shift yourself and
00:27 rear-wheel drive like God intended.
00:29 Better yet, it's also a car you might actually be able to afford, something that can't be
00:33 said about most cars with more than 500 horsepower.
00:36 Oh, did I mention it has more than 500 horsepower?
00:38 Yep, the 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 has 526 of them, and it needs no marketing department.
00:55 Guess who?
00:57 While little is more fun than interrupting one of Kameesa's videos, I want to take a
01:01 second and tell you about something cool we're doing.
01:03 It's called Motor Trend on Demand, and you can think of it as Netflix for car freaks.
01:08 In fact, if you go there right now, you can watch a four-part documentary on Carroll Shelby,
01:14 after this ignition episode, of course.
01:23 And now it's time for a physics lesson.
01:26 I promise I'll make this as short and sweet as I possibly can, but for those of you who
01:29 don't care to know the difference between a GT350's engine and, say, a GT's engine,
01:35 well, you can go forward a couple of minutes and, uh, yeah.
01:41 Thanks, guys.
01:43 Now that we got rid of those losers, take a listen to this for a second.
01:46 This is the soundtrack of the muscle car.
01:48 the big burble-y V8. Do you hear that burble? That's the soundtrack of the hot rod. And
02:04 it happens because traditional V8s don't fire evenly between their two banks of cylinders.
02:09 This Coyote V8 fires on the left, then the left again, then right, then left, then right,
02:15 left, right, left, left, right. I can't do that quickly enough, so I brought in my friend
02:20 Christian who's a hyperactive drummer who just consumed, well, about a quarter kilo
02:25 of the best Colombian coffee you can get. So Christian is going to play us a cross-plane
02:34 Coyote V8 firing order in 8/8 time at, say, 675 RPM. Now what would it sound like if the
02:56 cylinders were firing at evenly spaced intervals? Left, right, left, right, left, right. Left,
03:09 right, left, right, left, right. Christian? That's what we're talking about here. The
03:24 GT350's V8 fires evenly between its two banks of cylinders. Left, right, left, right. So
03:29 it sounds more "Baaaaa" than it does "Bla, bla, bla, bla, bla." So it does this because
03:35 it has a flat-plane crank. And don't get hung up in this word "flat-plane." That describes
03:39 the way the crankshaft looks. And you're never going to see the crankshaft in this car. The
03:44 thing you need to remember is a flat-plane V8 fires evenly, and that matters? Why? Because
04:04 it makes more power. Well, you try 8,200 RPM on any other Mustang and you're getting towed
04:25 back home. But this engine is really weird in a good way. It kind of no-one-home below
04:32 3,500 RPM and then...just, I mean...pulls, pulls, pulls, pulls. In fact, it pulls so
04:44 hard there's a shift light that reflects up in the windshield when you're getting close
04:47 to 8 grand. I wonder if that's to stop idiots like me from bouncing off the rev limiter.
04:53 So, on to more things I love about it. Magnetic shocks. Now, you may think adaptive shocks
04:59 are all about giving you a really good ride mode and a really crappy ride mode, but that's
05:04 not the case with magnetic shocks. The thing about magnetic shocks is they react so quickly
05:09 that they can change the way the shock is tuned in the middle of a corner, like, seven
05:14 times a second or something. So, as I turn into a corner, the shocks can actually stiffen
05:20 momentarily to slow down the body roll. It's not going to stop the car from rolling, but
05:25 it's going to slow it down. Ditto when I got on the brakes. The shocks can stiffen up front
05:31 and relax in the back or do whatever the engineers want it to do to slow down the body controls.
05:36 I can't tell from within the driver's seat if this Mustang has any body roll at all.
05:42 I can't feel it. And the reason why, it's probably there, but it's just happening slow
05:47 and it's controlled. And that's the benefit of magnetic shocks. Like, all that screaming
05:55 and then you sort of relax, sit back, hit the gas and there's no one home down low. I'd
06:01 really love to see the dyno chart on this thing. Ask and ye shall receive, thanks to
06:07 our friends at K&N Engineering.
06:08 Well, that was loud. Peak numbers, 467 horsepower to the wheels, 374 pound feet of torque. That's
06:36 exactly what we expected, but peak numbers tell you nothing. It's the shape of the curve
06:40 that matters and specifically the torque curve. Notice how at low engine speeds, there's nobody
06:46 home. Then suddenly around 3,200 RPM, things change. This huge jump in torque is exactly
06:51 what you feel in the driver's seat. The torque doesn't fall off at high revs either. And
06:56 that of course means tons of horsepower. Look at the top of that curve now. The 8,200 RPM
07:01 red line wasn't a marketing trick. This engine effectively makes peak power all the way until
07:06 the computer shuts it down. Study up kids, because this is what the dyno plot looks like
07:11 for an engine you'll love to beat the snot out of day in and day out.
07:16 The V8 in the GT350 is codenamed Voodoo and it doesn't really sound like a flat plane
07:24 V8 and doesn't blip the way a flat plane V8 does. It sounds certainly different than the
07:29 Coyote V8, the one in the regular Mustang, but this is not a Ferrari V8. And there are
07:35 a bunch of reasons for it, all of which come down to packaging. They couldn't fit two different
07:39 intake plenums, which is what you usually do on a flat plane V8. So they had to change
07:43 the firing order a bit, which then caused them to have to add more weight to the crankshaft.
07:48 And a lightweight crankshaft is the biggest benefit of a flat plane V8.
07:58 They shaved five pounds out of the crankshaft. It went from 55 down to 50, but the last Ferrari
08:03 crankshaft I weighed was 34. So there's still a long way to go. And then there was other
08:08 packaging problems with putting the exhaust in, so they couldn't get equal length runners.
08:12 And that means it's got a little bit of the cross plane V8 burble and it sounds like a
08:17 Mustang, but it doesn't sound like a flat plane V8.
08:22 You might have some Audi loving friends who will point out that nine years ago, the RS4
08:26 came out with an 8,200 RPM V8 that made 101 horsepower per liter. All these years later,
08:33 we're at 8,200 RPM, 102 horsepower per liter and this expensive flat plane crank thing.
08:41 It's a good point, but the RS4 was four wheel drive and didn't do burnouts and burnouts
08:46 fix everything. Let's do one. Alrighty then. And then I'm going to go off again on gearing.
09:05 Ready? Here's first gear. Once you're at red line, the gears are really stacked closely
09:14 on top of each other. But first gear is good for 55 miles an hour. And second gear is good
09:19 for some speed that will get you in big trouble. Why? Why? You have a flat plane crank V8 that
09:26 revs to 8,200 RPM and I get to use it once. Once! And I'm going to jail.
09:31 So the GT, the GT350, the Shelby, I'm not going to call this thing a Shelby. Shelby's dead. It's
09:39 a GT350 and it was done by Ford special vehicle team. So sorry, rest in peace, Shelby, whatever.
09:44 This thing is a GT350. Anyway, we tested the GT350. It did zero to 60 in 4.1 seconds,
09:51 stopped from 60 in 102 feet, pulled a G on the skid pad, did a figure eight in 24.2.
09:58 This is some serious performance. Credit for a lot of that goes to the Michelin Pilot Super Sports,
10:03 295s in the front, 305s in the rear. They're huge. Of course, there are the magnetic dampers and then
10:10 this motor. As good as this GT350 is on the street, I think it's going to be that much better on track.
10:31 All right, so pulling onto the track at Chukwala Valley Raceway.
10:42 Shelby Mustang GT350. With a madman at the wheel. A flat plane crank that you've all dreamed about.
10:50 And we're in track mode. That's why you can't hear me over this exhaust.
10:57 That's only 4,500 RPM. We got 3,700 more to go.
11:00 501 horsepower. 526 I think was the final count.
11:08 Rev, rev, rev, rev. Brake, brake, brake.
11:26 Yeah, we got low gear.
11:27 Mustang fun right here, kids.
11:34 I think my face is feeling off. Stops well, doesn't it?
11:40 Stops really well. These Mustangs have a tremendous amount of
11:44 bite, especially initial bite in the brake zone. It stops right on, like real hard.
11:56 I love the way the steering feels. You know what else I love is when we come off this corner,
12:00 boy, it puts the power down. Yeah, a couple times there you were going for the gas and I thought,
12:05 "Uh-oh, we're going around here." Like right there?
12:08 Nailed it. Gas, gas, gas, gas, gas. Give me sideways. Flick it in. Gas, there we go. Gas.
12:15 Do the horrible, like, yeah. All right. Learning to drive like me, like an idiot. It's great.
12:22 I love it. Okay, enough about the track. What do you think about the car?
12:26 I think the car's pretty damn cool. Here, watch this.
12:29 That answered that. Jason, I don't think anybody who buys a Shelby GT350 will be disappointed.
12:43 Oh, God, no. God, no. It delivers. It delivers. It is so nice and so refreshing
12:49 when a car company says, "We're going to do something for the track,"
12:52 and nail it. When they nail it, it's so good. There's nothing to complain about here.
12:58 The only thing that I recommend that you buyers out there in the world not do,
13:03 don't drive the R first. On track, anyway.
13:09 [music]
13:23 Chuck Wallace pit straight gets us up to fourth gear.
13:27 Flat plane crank, good for over 8,000 RPM.
13:34 [engine revving]
13:41 Oh, man, these Michelins are special. Tuned by Ford, and they did a great job.
13:47 [engine revving]
13:55 Holy cow, they stick.
13:57 Coming right off the corner, hooked up.
14:02 [engine revving]
14:15 Body motions are well-controlled.
14:17 [engine revving]
14:20 It's a full-on sports car.
14:21 [engine revving]
14:33 Roaring exhaust note.
14:34 [engine revving]
14:36 Good balance to the middle of the corner.
14:38 [engine revving]
14:41 I'm staying in third, using the bottom end. Power band still strong at 4,000.
14:46 [engine revving]
14:54 Gotta be a little bit careful without braking in the middle of a corner.
14:57 [engine revving]
14:59 Enters the corner very nicely, all hooked up.
15:02 [engine revving]
15:10 That's my favorite part of any car's handling characteristic.
15:13 How well does it put down power?
15:15 [engine revving]
15:33 This Mustang is a breath of fresh air to those of us who drive our cars for the sake of driving our cars.
15:40 Other car companies have lost the plot.
15:42 The Germans, for example, have fallen completely out of love with driving.
15:46 The proof? BMW just made a front-wheel drive SUV.
15:48 Suddenly, it's America building the best driver's cars.
15:52 Here's a muscle car that can easily show the world's sports cars how it's done.
15:56 We've never really tested any cars before at Chukwala Valley Raceway,
16:00 so we don't have a basis of comparison for Randy's lap times.
16:03 Judging by my friends who drive Mustangs,
16:05 the only car that the GT350 needed to outrun was a cop car.
16:08 So we brought one along, a Dodge Charger Pursuit.
16:11 Randy ran a couple of laps and it was 15.17 seconds slower.
16:16 And I think the lesson here is that if you have a car that's fast enough,
16:20 it's a really good strategy to try to outrun the cops.
16:22 [car honks]
16:24 [music]
16:31 Don't ever try to outrun me.
16:32 Book 'em dead, ho.
16:34 [music]
16:43 Dude!
16:43 [car honks]
16:52 God, this thing's musical. It's all music.
16:55 [car honks]
16:58 Bet I could make it play music.
16:59 Um...
17:01 [car honks]
17:07 How was I gonna know? I was gonna start at fifth before. That's why.
17:09 [car honks]
17:11 So it's third to fifth.
17:12 [car honks]
17:23 [laughs]
17:26 That's ridiculous.