Last week, Import2Race.com posted video of a current Ford Shelby GT350 Mustang duking it out with a Mk III Ford Focus RS at Island Dragway in New Jersey, and the result is a closer finish than you might suspect given the two cars’ respective stats.
Yes, the Shelby GT350 wins. We’ll just get that out of the way right now. But seeing as it packs a full 176 more horses under the bonnet, with only 300 or so extra pounds to haul around, that should come as no surprise.
What is surprising is how close a call the race is. The Ford Focus RS, blessed with a clever, torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive system, gets out ahead of the Shelby GT350 with gusto, and it takes the Mustang a moment to catch up. By the end of the quarter-mile, the Shelby bests the Focus by just 0.24 seconds, at 106.8 mph versus 104.1. The Focus’ time is on-par with what Car and Driver observed in their instrumented testing, while the Shelby GT350 crosses the trap about 0.7 seconds behind schedule.
Perhaps a tad more wheel-spin would’ve helped.
To see just how close this drag race between two Ford Performance halo vehicles is, check out the video above.
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