Remember back in April when we shared a spy photo of what could possibly by the next Shelby GT500? Well, it seems spy photog Brian Williams has captured the alleged, next-generation GT500 on camera cruising the streets of Michigan – and boy does this thing sound good.

Rumor has it that the sound you hear above is the a supercharged, Predator 5.2-liter V8 featuring a traditional cross-plane crank, rather than the exotic flat-plane crank in the Shelby GT350’s Voodoo 5.2-liter. The exhaust note in the clip above is definitely deeper, but it’s hard to say for sure what’s lurking under all that front-end camo.

As most of us already know, a refresh has been planned for the 2018 Mustang lineup, so we can expect the all-new GT500 feature many of its refinements and more. Given that a cross-plane, Ford Performance 5.2-liter crate engine is good for 580 horsepower naturally aspirated, the horsepower potential of a supercharged version is tantalizing. Add in the rumored dual-clutch transmission and lightweight components and the next GT500 might be a giant slayer.

(Photo Credit: Brian Williams)

The recent photos of this possible GT500 mule sporting a roll cage are fueling speculation that we might be looking at a possible Dodge Demon fighter. Unfortunately, that can’t be confirmed at this time. However, we think it’s safe to say that whatever Ford Performance engineers have up their sleeves will contend with the other modern performance giants.

At the time of this writing, the Mustang is up against some serious competition from several other Big Three heavy hitters, and we can only expect Ford will come out swinging in light of recent events. For those of you betting on the rumors that the next GT500 will sport a twin-turbo EcoBoost V8 or a naturally aspirated 7.0-liter V8 engine, what do you think of the likelihood of a cross-plane 5.2-liter getting the job done?