Gone but certainly not forgotten, the S550 generation Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 remains a competent performer, a couple of years after it was discontinued. Of course, much of that can be attributed to its supercharged 5.2L V8 Predator engine, which churns out an astounding 760 horsepower – still more than a lot of sports cars and exotics on sale today. Thus, this recent drag race pitting a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and a Ferrari 296 GTS is a pretty intriguing one, to say the least.
This rather unusual pairing of vehicles comes to us from Tim Burton, or Shmee150, as he’s known on YouTube. Burton is a big Blue Oval fan that owns quite a few models from that automaker, including a Ford GT that he has drag raced on more than one occasion, and also just revealed that he has secured an allocation for a Mustang GTD. In this case, Burton just so happens to own both the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and the Ferrari 296 GTS in this showdown, too.
Trouble for the Ford is, the Ferrari in this case is lighter and makes more power, though it’s also roughly three to four times more expensive. It’s around 330 pounds lighter in Spyder form, to be specific, and it’s powered by a twin turbocharged 3.0-liter V6 paired with an electric motor, churning out a combined 830 horsepower.
In the first race, that advantage shows up as the GT500 struggles to find traction off the line and subsequently gets smoked by the 296 GTS. For the second run, Burton uses line lock and heats up the tires, which results in a better launch and closer race – at least, until midway down the track, when the Ferrari pulls away. A third race produces the same results, showing us what a big advantage in power and weight can do for a car – in fact, the GT500 mustered a best quarter-mile time of 11.65 seconds, which lagged far behind the 296 GTB’s 10.29 seconds.
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