All About 'Tude
By Jason Kavanagh
Get ready for some big numbers. The 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR boasts some of the stoutest figures we've ever seen in a factory-blessed Mustang derivative:
* $82,395 as tested
* 3,895 pounds
* 540 horsepower
* 510 pound-feet of torque
* 27 occurrences of the word "Shelby" on its sundry badges and labels
Paradoxically, the significance of these big numbers all take a backseat to the relatively small number of GT500KRs that will be made. Only 1,000 examples will be produced in 2008, just like the original version made 40 years ago.
Of course, even if it didn't stretch the concept of retro to its limit, the GT500KR would remain a car for a very select audience.
More Than Just Car Bowling
Few cars you can buy today harken back to the past like the 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR. Yet this modern interpretation will dance.
This isn't some finger-tippy Miata, after all. The GT500KR requires biceps and pectorals. You don't ever, ever snick the Shelby's shift lever. In fact, it just might punch you in the mouth for even uttering the word. You slam the lever forward through the gates with a strike from the heel of your palm and then make a fist around the cue-ball shift knob and yank it back. This is a big, muscular car that demands the force of a mixed martial arts fighter.
There's also plenty of force in the dampers of the Shelby's suspension that lends the car a welcome sharpness when turning in toward an apex. This firm damping is one of the more noticeable changes to the standard Ford Mustang GT500, and it helps deliver the KR's 65.5-mph slalom speed. (This speed could have been faster yet were it not for the sensitivity of the KR's live rear axle to midcorner bumps, as a small irregularity near the penultimate gate of our course made the KR bobble for a moment.)
The KR's steady-state grip on the skid pad of 0.92g is healthy, but even more impressive is the Shelby's balance. This car is not a beast that will bite you with snap oversteer; instead the KR seems almost tame as you approach the limit of tire adhesion and you can manipulate its cornering attitude with throttle adjustments.
Balancing Bog and Boil
Live axles work best on smooth surfaces like racetracks, especially drag strips. And sure enough, the GT500KR feels like it hooks up robustly when it's doing hole-shots, as if it could shrug off back-to-back launches all day. The clutch engagement is positive and has just the right amount of heft to the action.
Nailing the perfect launch proved elusive, however, when we tested Shelby CSM No. 08KR0007P. With such monstrous torque delivered to the 285/40ZR18 Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires via a shorter-ratio rear end (the KR gets a 3.73:1 diff in place of the 3.31:1 unit in the garden-variety GT500), the GT500KR wanted to blow its tires off, which doesn't do much for low ET (elapsed time). Several runs were aborted when we got wheelspin as we shifted into 2nd gear. It was boil or bog on the starting line, so the best run we achieved through the quarter-mile was 12.8 seconds at 114.6 mph. Ford reckons it'll do 12.1 seconds at 115 mph.
That our measured trap speed agrees with Ford's indicates that the KR's stable with its carbon fiber-hood is stocked with all 540 horses, so traction must be the explanation for the discrepancy in ET. Our usual testing venue doesn't include a sticky drag strip staging area, so there's no doubt that a surface prepped for drag racing would knock off several tenths from the time we measured. We've tested countless cars at our test venue, however, and the GT500KR proved among the furthest from its manufacturer's acceleration claim.
It might be that this car's rear tires were already hurting by the time the car was delivered to us, as doing a burnout causes tires to lose some of their bite. We love burnouts as much as the next guy, and a car like this apparently brings out the hooligan in everyone.
Don't Buy It for the Cabin
Visually, the KR's distinguishing marks from the lesser GT500 are less obvious than the one observed from behind the wheel. Spotters will be able to tell the KR from its brethren by its prominently vented hood, front aero splitter and low-profile rear spoiler, but most of these changes will be lost on the public at large. Remember what we said about a selective audience?
Nevertheless, the KR is as intimidating as hell from the front. Flick on the optional HID headlights and left-lane squatters scurry away as if the Shelby will ingest them whole.
As far as the interior goes, it would be a fine place in a $20,000 Mustang.
Duct This
Modern cars — even those with retro style — have raised our expectations in every area, including not only performance, reliability and durability but also feature content, safety, even sound quality. You can imagine our surprise, then, when our GT500KR test car kept attempting to take its own life. Barely minutes into a few moderately hard drives, the Shelby abruptly cut power and we looked down to find the KR's coolant temperature gauge pegged and glowing a furious shade of red.
If the KR's engine cooling is marginal, its brake cooling is comprehensive. All GT500KRs come with a "trunk kit," a package that adapts two openings in the grille to brake-cooling ducts intended to reduce brake fade after repeated hard stops. Our test car came with the trunk kit already installed.
The middle pedal grew soft during spirited runs on a mountain road full of 2nd- and 3rd-gear corners, but never to the point of full sphincter-clenching brake fade. Hard braking results in little nose dive and a lot of rear-end lift as the KR reaches a standstill from 60 mph in a respectable 115 feet.
In the Balance
There are three reasons to buy a 2008 Shelby GT500KR: 1) its pony-car superhero looks; 2) the rippling exhaust note; and 3) the potential for a return on your investment. No one except a rabid Shelby collector would seriously consider this an $80,000 car, and there's no telling how long it will take for a bubble-wrapped KR to appreciate in value.
Besides, to fritter away a GT500KR would be to forgo 66.7 percent of its appeal. And that's a big number.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/MediaNav/articleId=130626/firstNav=Gallery/photoId=61052
By Jason Kavanagh
Get ready for some big numbers. The 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR boasts some of the stoutest figures we've ever seen in a factory-blessed Mustang derivative:
* $82,395 as tested
* 3,895 pounds
* 540 horsepower
* 510 pound-feet of torque
* 27 occurrences of the word "Shelby" on its sundry badges and labels
Paradoxically, the significance of these big numbers all take a backseat to the relatively small number of GT500KRs that will be made. Only 1,000 examples will be produced in 2008, just like the original version made 40 years ago.
Of course, even if it didn't stretch the concept of retro to its limit, the GT500KR would remain a car for a very select audience.
More Than Just Car Bowling
Few cars you can buy today harken back to the past like the 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR. Yet this modern interpretation will dance.
This isn't some finger-tippy Miata, after all. The GT500KR requires biceps and pectorals. You don't ever, ever snick the Shelby's shift lever. In fact, it just might punch you in the mouth for even uttering the word. You slam the lever forward through the gates with a strike from the heel of your palm and then make a fist around the cue-ball shift knob and yank it back. This is a big, muscular car that demands the force of a mixed martial arts fighter.
There's also plenty of force in the dampers of the Shelby's suspension that lends the car a welcome sharpness when turning in toward an apex. This firm damping is one of the more noticeable changes to the standard Ford Mustang GT500, and it helps deliver the KR's 65.5-mph slalom speed. (This speed could have been faster yet were it not for the sensitivity of the KR's live rear axle to midcorner bumps, as a small irregularity near the penultimate gate of our course made the KR bobble for a moment.)
The KR's steady-state grip on the skid pad of 0.92g is healthy, but even more impressive is the Shelby's balance. This car is not a beast that will bite you with snap oversteer; instead the KR seems almost tame as you approach the limit of tire adhesion and you can manipulate its cornering attitude with throttle adjustments.
Balancing Bog and Boil
Live axles work best on smooth surfaces like racetracks, especially drag strips. And sure enough, the GT500KR feels like it hooks up robustly when it's doing hole-shots, as if it could shrug off back-to-back launches all day. The clutch engagement is positive and has just the right amount of heft to the action.
Nailing the perfect launch proved elusive, however, when we tested Shelby CSM No. 08KR0007P. With such monstrous torque delivered to the 285/40ZR18 Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar tires via a shorter-ratio rear end (the KR gets a 3.73:1 diff in place of the 3.31:1 unit in the garden-variety GT500), the GT500KR wanted to blow its tires off, which doesn't do much for low ET (elapsed time). Several runs were aborted when we got wheelspin as we shifted into 2nd gear. It was boil or bog on the starting line, so the best run we achieved through the quarter-mile was 12.8 seconds at 114.6 mph. Ford reckons it'll do 12.1 seconds at 115 mph.
That our measured trap speed agrees with Ford's indicates that the KR's stable with its carbon fiber-hood is stocked with all 540 horses, so traction must be the explanation for the discrepancy in ET. Our usual testing venue doesn't include a sticky drag strip staging area, so there's no doubt that a surface prepped for drag racing would knock off several tenths from the time we measured. We've tested countless cars at our test venue, however, and the GT500KR proved among the furthest from its manufacturer's acceleration claim.
It might be that this car's rear tires were already hurting by the time the car was delivered to us, as doing a burnout causes tires to lose some of their bite. We love burnouts as much as the next guy, and a car like this apparently brings out the hooligan in everyone.
Don't Buy It for the Cabin
Visually, the KR's distinguishing marks from the lesser GT500 are less obvious than the one observed from behind the wheel. Spotters will be able to tell the KR from its brethren by its prominently vented hood, front aero splitter and low-profile rear spoiler, but most of these changes will be lost on the public at large. Remember what we said about a selective audience?
Nevertheless, the KR is as intimidating as hell from the front. Flick on the optional HID headlights and left-lane squatters scurry away as if the Shelby will ingest them whole.
As far as the interior goes, it would be a fine place in a $20,000 Mustang.
Duct This
Modern cars — even those with retro style — have raised our expectations in every area, including not only performance, reliability and durability but also feature content, safety, even sound quality. You can imagine our surprise, then, when our GT500KR test car kept attempting to take its own life. Barely minutes into a few moderately hard drives, the Shelby abruptly cut power and we looked down to find the KR's coolant temperature gauge pegged and glowing a furious shade of red.
If the KR's engine cooling is marginal, its brake cooling is comprehensive. All GT500KRs come with a "trunk kit," a package that adapts two openings in the grille to brake-cooling ducts intended to reduce brake fade after repeated hard stops. Our test car came with the trunk kit already installed.
The middle pedal grew soft during spirited runs on a mountain road full of 2nd- and 3rd-gear corners, but never to the point of full sphincter-clenching brake fade. Hard braking results in little nose dive and a lot of rear-end lift as the KR reaches a standstill from 60 mph in a respectable 115 feet.
In the Balance
There are three reasons to buy a 2008 Shelby GT500KR: 1) its pony-car superhero looks; 2) the rippling exhaust note; and 3) the potential for a return on your investment. No one except a rabid Shelby collector would seriously consider this an $80,000 car, and there's no telling how long it will take for a bubble-wrapped KR to appreciate in value.
Besides, to fritter away a GT500KR would be to forgo 66.7 percent of its appeal. And that's a big number.
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/MediaNav/articleId=130626/firstNav=Gallery/photoId=61052
