The new Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is one of the most popular muscle cars on the market today. Even in stock form, the car is an absolute beast. However, some want a bit more performance out of their snake, and Shelby has a solution for those who have the money.
With that in mind, Speed Phenom's latest YouTube video asks a simple question. Is the new 1,300 horsepower Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Code Red worth its asking price of over $320,000? Our host tells us that this is the most ramped-up, pinnacle version of the car that is available for purchase from the Shelby.
What Shelby Does Best
Our presenter tells us that Shelby buys the Mustang GT500 which already has 760 hp from the factory and bumps it up to 1,300 hp using E85, making the car illegal to run on the streets in California. The Shelby will run on 91 octane but horsepower will drop to 1,000 hp. Powering the Shelby is the same engine as the stock GT500.
The 5.2-liter coss-plane crank, however, is no longer supercharged. Shelby favors the twin-turbo setup that helps pump out the massive increase in power. In addition, Code Red will receive suspension, cooling, and aesthetic upgrades. Production will be small with only 30 units total for the 2020-2022 model years.
The History Of The Code Red
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The Mustang Shelby GT500 is already a pretty bold statement. Supercharging 5.2 litres of cross-plane V8 until it makes 750bhp and bolting the result to a Mustang is never going to be a wallflower.
There’s quite a bit besides going on in the GT500 – magnetorheological suspension, gigantic Brembo brakes and a standard-fit line-locker – which really speak to its intended purpose, but the star of the show has to be that 2.65-litre supercharger and its effect on the landscape. Not to mention how fast said landscape goes past. So to supplant it entirely with a pair of turbochargers? Yup, that’s pretty bold.
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But, it must be said, probably not as bold as the resultant 1,300bhp and 1,000lb ft of torque from Shelby American’s GT500 Code Red. Honestly, in terms of boldness, that’s like crashing a wedding and hitting on the bride or groom.
And, much like that endeavour, 1,300bhp is only ever going to be the result of some pretty potent alcohol – E85 in the case of the Code Red. It makes about 1,000bhp and 780lb ft on premium fuel, with the full amount on tap as soon as it’s corn-fed.
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As you can imagine, the parts list is long enough to warrant hiring an auctioneer just to get through it in decent time, but expect to see many variations of ‘billet’, ‘carbon’, ‘forged’, ‘custom’ and ‘performance’. Even among that list, however, the fact that Shelby American fitted an anti-lag system rather stands out.
It’s also one of likely quite a few reasons why the Code Red is absolutely not street-legal, even in the land of personal freedom. Shelby American warns that it’s for the drag strip only, which feels like good advice to take at the best of times and doubly so when its chief of R&D says that “when the turbos spool up, the car is best enjoyed moving straight ahead”.
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But here’s the kicker: the Code Red costs $209,995, or about £178,000, and that’s on top of the cost of an already perfectly quick Shelby Mustang GT500. So, taking that amount of cash to make your road-legal muscle car a road-banned madman? Well, it’s bold, if nothing else.
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