Built and bred for the race track, the 2015 Shelby GT350R boasts 526 horsepower and 449 lb-ft of torque from its naturally-aspirated 5.2 liter V8. This is a no-holds barred race car, make no mistake, and while technically legal for street driving, we expect most GT350Rs to spend most of their road time racing. Yet we’ve barely seen any footage of it actually on the track.
That changes with this helmet cam video from Patrick Rall, who rode shotgun as his Ford-provided driver took him for a few hot laps in the 2015 Shelby GT350R. If you want to cut out the warm-up lap, jump to the 1:30 mark to hear the GT350R really let rip.
You can really hear the 5.2 liter flat-plane crank V8 making use of the 8,250 RPM redline, though fully 90% of the torque is available between 3,500 and 7,000 RPM. That’s a wide band of usable power that keeps both driver and passenger on the edge of their seat throughout the entire ride. The new and specially designed for the GT350 six-speed manual seems aptly-equipped for dealing with the world’s most-powerful naturally aspirated production V8, and the sound the motor makes is simply sumptuous.
Ford is producing just 100 2015 Shelby GT350s, and a scant 37 GT350Rs, which puts this brand new model as among the rarest Fords of all time. No doubt most will end up in private collections after a few break-in laps, but hopefully most GT350R owners recognize that these race cars were built with competition in mind. It’d be a terrible shame to hoard them away, and totally against the spirit and legacy of Carroll Shelby himself. For 2016 those production numbers will go up significantly, and dealers should have enough inventory.
FOr now let’s get more GT350R videos like this, please.