2021 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 First Drive Review: Here To Win, Not To Play

Carroll Shelby was many things, including a driver, a team manager and a car manufacturer. In fact, he was the only person to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans as all of those things. But, outside of the many titles he held, Shelby was first and foremost a businessman. Many Americans first met him when he introduced himself in a 1965 promotional film for Ford: “My name is Carroll Shelby and performance is my business.”

This mantra and his diehard, competitive nature is what made Shelby, who passed away in 2012 at age 89, a household name in American sports cars. He was the father of the classic Cobra roadster and later the Mustangs that bore his name, among many other hot car projects.

That legacy continues to this day. Carroll’s ethos comes through in the latest car to wear the Shelby badge, the 2021 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, a ‘Stang that’s all business and here to win.

When it comes to the latest GT500, driver enjoyment is secondary. It’s both the fastest production Mustang ever built and the most powerful street legal Ford product ever. By all accounts, this Shelby pushes the current generation Mustang and Ford’s modular V8 to their absolute limits. It’s a showcase of brute strength wrapped in a sophisticated package designed to be the best, despite whomever is behind the wheel. Unsurprisingly, it’s a blast to drive.

My testing ground du jour for the latest Shelby was New Jersey Motorsports Park’s 2-mile “Lightning course.” On an initial sighting lap, it becomes clear how “big” the GT500 can go; this 10-turn course is a light snack for this supercharged powerhouse.

At the heart of this snake-bitten Mustang is a 5.2-liter V8 affixed with a 2.65-liter Eaton supercharger capable of churning out 760 horsepower and sending 625 pound-feet of torque. Ford calls this special variation of its modular V8 the “Predator” just as the earlier 2020 Shelby GT350R used an engine called the “Voodoo.” The GT500 channels all that power through a Tremec-developed 7-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

It’s at this quasi-controversial junction where Shelby loudly declares the GT500’s intentions far louder than any supercharger whine or bark of exhaust. Mustang enthusiasts are doggedly traditional, which is why, barring the disco-era Mustang II and the recent all-electric Mach-E, Ford’s famous pony car hasn’t often deviated far from its core composition in more than 55 years of continuous production.

Throughout that time, a manual gearbox was always an option on the Mustang and in terms of its Shelby variants, the default transmission. Committing to a dual-clutch with an 80-millisecond upshift speaks to Ford’s dedication to putting out the most competitive car possible, even if that means excluding the slowest component—human drivers—to shave precious half-seconds off a lap time.

The Shelby rides on the same independent suspension underpinning the regular Mustangs, though the optional Magneride adaptive dampers are standard. These, along with the electronic-assisted steering, transmission and stability controls are tied into the different dive modes that influence the car’s behavior. Normal mode loosens and softens things up as much as possible while the track modes stiffen everything for performance and opens up throttle response while the gearbox trades smoother shifts for faster ones, while also allowing the driver to dial in as much torque as they need.

Climbing into the GT500’s cabin is a familiar affair, as not much differs from the other Mustangs of this current, post-2015 generation. With a few flicks of a switch, the Shelby is in track mode, primed and ready to brawl.

Naturally, the Mustang’s “track apps” also make an appearance in the GT500. They’re performance-oriented programs in an in-dash menu that designed to give Mustang drivers a little computational assistance for track-or-drag strip endeavors. Notably, the GT500’s launch control lets drivers dial in the RPMs ahead of a straight-line run so they can pinpoint the ideal amount of power to lay down for perfect—and consistent—launches off the line.

There’s also line lock, with which the Mustang holds itself in place while allowing the rear wheels to spin, ostensibly to prime the rears for a grippy drag strip launch but practically speaking is a dial-a-burnout program for easy rubber-burning smoke displays.

If fitted with the carbon fiber performance package, the GT500 will be sporting the latest iteration of Ford’s no-compromise carbon fiber wheels. Like the 19-inch wheels on the GT350R, these 20-inch barrels weigh around 17 pounds, about half as much as an aluminum set, while still meeting all the same strength and safety requirements.

When on the move, there’s plenty of power underfoot but the dual-clutch in track mode is surprisingly reserved until the gas pedal is finally flattened enough to grab its attention, subtly teasing the driver to not hold back. Indeed, getting up to double digits is an effortless affair and almost leisurely. It would be easy to accidentally get to flashing-blue-and-red-lights speed on an open highway.

The Shelby finally comes into its own at full attack, planting driver and passenger into their seats with the G-forces the supercharged snake is expected to deliver. As much as the V8 gives, the massive brakes are ready to claw back. Ford is very eager to share that the GT500 can go from 0 to 100 to 0 in under 10.6 seconds, a metric inspired by Carroll Shelby’s own similar measures of the fearsome 427 Cobra in the 1960s.

It takes a substantial brake system to bring that under control. Compared to the Mustang GT and Mach 1, the brakes are larger and more powerful by just about every metric. It’s appreciated when standing on the pedal for a lunch-slamming halt before a sharp turn, but it makes the lesser corners a breeze to negotiate since there’s less time spent on deceleration.

Hot-footing though turns also rarely puts the Shelby out of sorts. The power is there to have things go literally sideways, but the control is tight enough that most maneuvers are well within the means of the car’s capabilities and it telegraphs its limits well to the driver. On one run, it took a sharp-ish rise in elevation followed by an off-camber right-handing crest for the rears to momentarily un-stick just enough for a quick overcorrect.

In a handful of laps, the Shelby GT500 performed with enough gusto to convince this writer that it’s got enough juice to back all the chest-thumping noise it makes as well as the impressive numbers it touts on a stat sheet.

Here sits an off-the-shelf performance all-rounder that’s ready for track or drag strip action, and all in with a sub-$100k price tag if carefully optioned. Performance is the Shelby GT500’s business, and nobody’s ever said such business was boring.