Thousand Horsepower Shelby GT500’s Race to Photo Finish
Shelby GT500 is already in the 9s and these similar 1000 horsepower builds finally have a chance to face off together.
StangMode is excited. Why? Because his GT500 is in the 9 second club. It barely squeaked in with a 9.9, but it’s in the club no less. One other member of that club is 1320Junkie. His 9.7 second GT500 has almost identical modifications to StangMode’s GT500, bringing both cars to about 1000 horsepower. And as it just so happens, both cars find themselves at Atco Dragway for a little racing action.
It’s worth saying that while both cars are similar, there are differences. The most significant difference is described by StangMode. Referring to 1320Junkie’s car, StangMode says, “He does have full weight, I have my seats out as you can see. Same pulley – a 2.5-inch pulley. Same Tuner.” So really it comes down to a partially gutted ride vs fully stock.
Before they line up side by side, it was time to make a practice pass. StangMode went first, and got another run in the 9s. His 9.933 was his quickest yet, but still a bit behind 1320Junkie’s quickest run at 9.7 seconds. As it turns out, 1320Junkie’s pass was also a new personal best. And a new record. With a time of 9.566, a clear gap has now formed for one of the Mustangs, but no two races are alike. Plus, 1320Junkie has been chasing a transmission inconsistency. More about that later.
When it came time to race, StangMode and 1320Junkie delivered on the excitement. Both had excellent launches under 1/10th of a second, and 60-foot times of 1.8 seconds. The two GT500’s stayed side by side all the way till the end, with StangMode just barely getting the win. A 9.952 was the winning time for StangMode, versus a 9.988. Interestingly, in looking at the rest of the timeslip, it seems like StangMode’s slight weight advantage didn’t get him any extra speed on the faster end of the course. The bobble from 1320Junkie during the launch was closed quickly. And the trap speed was about 1mph faster. Not a lot, but a measurable amount.
It turned out to be a great race, but where did 1320Junkie’s earlier speed go? Well, that all comes down to the transmission. He says, “the car just fell on its face, we don’t know why. I’m assuming it has something to do with the DCT tuning.” StangMode joins in and adds information about previous launches. “Just to give you some context, he just cut a 1.5 before on the same exact tune and then did a 1.8,” StangMode states. “These cars are not repeatable right now because of the DCT tuning. It’s our Achilles Heel.”
Will we see an 8 second run before the end of the year from a GT500? That’s a tough proposition to make, as there’s still a solid half second to find.
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