This 4th generation Shelby Mustang is a surprising winner versus a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.
Wheels.ca brings us yet another amazing muscle car matchup between Mustang and Challenger. This time we have the previous generation’s Mustang Shelby GT500 against the current generation of Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.
It’s a great matchup on paper. The Hellcat has a 6.2-L HEMI V8 with a big ‘ol supercharger for 707 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque. Zero to sixty is done in 3.6 seconds with a top speed of 199 mph. Quarter-mile times in the 10-second range are easily possible with a set of drag racing radials and a driver that knows what they’re doing.
On the other side of the divide is the Ford Shelby Mustang GT500. This is the previous generation, so under the hood is a 5.8-L supercharged V8 with 662 hp and 631 lb-ft of torque. The new one is said to have well over 700 hp, but that’ll have to wait until next year.
Even though its a few years older, the GT500 is still no slouch. Zero to sixty is done in 3.5 seconds with a top speed of over 200 mph.
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Here’s where things get interesting. The Hellcat has an 8-speed automatic transmission, while the Mustang has a 6-speed manual. With the power difference, the Mustang driver will need to be on point with his shifts in order to have even a hope against the Hellcat’s computer-controlled shifting.
The Mustang also has 600 lbs on the Hellcat, so it’ll all come down to whether the man can shift gears better than the machine.
In this case, it’s the man that wins. You can see the Hellcat gains the early lead thanks to a few extra gears, but once the Mustang driver gets out of first his gear shifts are absolutely perfect. The Shelby finished in 10.87 seconds at 126.26 mph, while the Hellcat managed 11.30 seconds at 121.19 mph.
It's good to see that humanity hasn't entirely lost to its machine overlords quite yet.