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GT500 on Top Gear

svt4stv

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Aug 4, 2004
Messages
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Los Angeles, CA
"honestly, I'd have one of those if i was the sort of person that looked at my sister and thought, Mmm"
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BbXZN0Gkv4

**warning** prepare for misinformation!
 
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Yeah, there was a whole lot more "rubbish" in their technical info in that whole episode than there normally.
 
Wow. I've lost all respect for those guys.:blackeye:

I'm not sure of the misinformation you all are talking about other than the power but they really don't know the car. As for their suspension gripes, IRS is nice for handling, but when you have an all out balls-to-the-wall car with that much power, it can be your enemy. Anyone ever see a Terminator Cobra at the track with slicks? I've personally seen more than a few snap a halfshaft. I dunno about the $5000 setup of it either. Both of my Birds have IRS from the factory. I've even seen stock 5-speed SC's snap half shafts...and that's only with a stock 310 lb/ft. The brakes they mentioned...do they think the car has stock GT brakes? No, wrong. And another thing. It's not a Ford GT engine in the car. It's similar, but it's not the same...it's basically a detuned GT engine. I have the specs of the differences, just gotta find it.

Man I hate when people trash fine Ford products. Thumbs down for the Top Gear guys.

[/rant]
 
hampster is a idiot

the rest of that espisode was so funny :D

"id have one of those if i were the sorta person who looked at my sister and went, hmmmmm" haha
 
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Do you think they'd actually come out and say an American car is..........nice?

No, I don't, but there is plenty to criticize the GT500 for without making things up and distorting the truth. Further they went on to imply that the Roush Mustang had an IRS, or at least different geometry in the rear than the GT500, which is a lie as well.
 
I'm not sure of the misinformation you all are talking about other than the power

well you just named some of them. the brakes for one! the shelby has some damn good brakes on it! brembos iirc in the front. they also said the shelby doesnt have an LSD!! wtf?!?! are they retarded or something?? that car would be nuts without one. and yes, it did sound as though they were implying that the roush had an irs system in it. same damn thing.

i remember reading in one of the major auto mags that interviewed CS who said that they pulled the plug on using the IRS due to costs. im sure they would have put a beefier one in this time to handle the power. i still think they should have. people are paying the price anyways. and yes, we all know there are plenty of terminators that have snapped half shafts at the drag strip. but thats at a drag strip which every day cars are not designed for, even terminators. if you go to the strip with an unprepped car (especially one with way more power than stock) you shouldnt be suprised when you leave parts on the ground behind you. i cross my fingers and pray to God when i take mine and try not to ride on it too hard. i do plan to upgrade my IRS but there's no way in hell id swap it for a straight axle.
 
His "Bullitt" Mustang doesn't have the side reflectors characteristic of the '68 Mustangs, making me think it's a '67, unless it's a Euro-spec that's different somehow.
The GT uses a completely different supercharger than the Mustang.
0-60 for the Mustang is a 4.6, not a 4.9.
500 flywheel horsepower minus a 17% drivetrain loss of 85 horsepower leaves 415, which is much less than the recorded 447.
447 wheel horsepower plus a 17% drivetrain loss is 538 flywheel horsepower.
325 flywheel = 269
250 wheel = 301
Yeah. Not the brightest guys.
 
"whine whine whine....they didn't like my favorite car."
Oh well, who cares. You like it, they didn't. don't get your panties in a wad. I like the car, and would get one if I could, but they did bring up good points reguarding the handling of the car.
 
It wasn't designed to be a specific handling car. It's an all around performance car. Ford did an awesome job with it too.

MM&FF did a test on one, straight off the assembly line, even with street tires, and they were able to rip off a 12.2 with it...not bad for a $42k car. Sure, a Z06 runs mid-high 11's...but at what price tag? Less we even get into exotics...

The LSD was the other thing I noticed that they said that was wrong. Ford puts TL rear's in any moderately fast car. As for the GT engine, it's more than just the blower (GT=M112, Shelby=M122)...I gotta look it up, lol.
 
i agree wholeheartedly at the pointlessness of measuring HP at the crank. Frankly, i find it misleading.

i mostly agree about the suspension. can't argue with the roush getting around the track faster with less HP. yeah it would cost more...but you're already spending 45k (more if you want one now) so what's another 5?
 
His "Bullitt" Mustang doesn't have the side reflectors characteristic of the '68 Mustangs, making me think it's a '67, unless it's a Euro-spec that's different somehow.
The GT uses a completely different supercharger than the Mustang.
0-60 for the Mustang is a 4.6, not a 4.9.
500 flywheel horsepower minus a 17% drivetrain loss of 85 horsepower leaves 415, which is much less than the recorded 447.
447 wheel horsepower plus a 17% drivetrain loss is 538 flywheel horsepower.
325 flywheel = 269
250 wheel = 301
Yeah. Not the brightest guys.

i could be wrong but ive heard time and again that its more like 10% drivetrain loss for a RWD car. which would be accurate in their measurement (give or take a few).

the GT500 is a an everyone pleaser. supposed to please the old folks as well as the young bucks. the Roush is a specific car that was tuned with a specific purpose--straight performance. while the GT500 was built with that mindset, they still want it to please "everyone". the Roush is such a low production vehicle, comparatively, that theyre not concerned with that issue. hence the springs and shocks. im sure there's not too much more to them. and the Roush also sports the 3V motor which is considerably lighter, although it will never be able to handle the same amount of power you can put into the GT500s motor.

i recently drove the Saleen Parnelli Jones edition car at the Saleen store. now THAT car has some serious suspension to it. AND 400 N/A hp! but $65K!!! thanks, ill pass. ill take a C6 and dump another $20k into it.
 
yup, for a T56 w/ an 8.8 rear, we found 15% to be a pretty good assumption back when I was working on the Terminator.

Another glaring omission in the difference between the GT500 and the roush is the tires. The GT500 just doesn't have enough tire because of the Ford internal requirements for tire clearance to components. Roush doesn't follow the same restrictions and puts more tire under the car, in addition they use MUCH stickier tires which alone could account for that big of a difference in lap times. Plus, the GT500 can only do so much w/ the laws of physics; the car is really freaking heavy, and most of that weight is over the nose.
 

ahh, i see. thanks. :eek:


its too early to read through all that but i didnt see anywhere that mentioned if there is a difference between fwd and rwd. i just saw between stick and auto.

good point on the tires. never would have thought of that but that is defintely true. ive noticed unbelieveable differences when using different tires on my cobra, even at same widths. and mine weighs as much as that Shelby :blackeye:
 
They liked the C6 and the Z06:shrug:

In Clarksons "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" he liked the C6 and Z06 the most out of all of the cars he had in the movie. He ragged on it numerous times on the segment from it though. The only other car he actually admitted to liking was the Ford GTX1.
 
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