2015 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R - Jay Leno's Garage

Oh my six, seven, eight, well another episode of Jay Leno's Garage, today we are talking about my

2015

shelby

gt350r

. This is a pretty rare car. They only built 37 of these for

2015

. This, of course, is the 50th anniversary of the Shelby gt350. I was one. one of those kids with their nose pressed against the glass at the dealership, you know when the Mustang came out on April 17, 1964 and about six months later, Ford wanted a high-performance version to go against the Corvettes and some of the other cars because It was considered kind of a secretary car at the time, that was a pretty degrading term, so Lee Iacocca, we need someone to fix the image of the Mustang, although I had a great image, they want to make it really sporty, so they were . to Carroll Shelby and took the two 89 Mustangs with 306 horsepower, well everyone knows the story, the Shelby gt350 is pretty legendary, they built I think 562 cars in the first year, just 37 of our models, which was the version of racing the GT 350. and 50 years later, Ford, true to their heritage, you know they're a big heritage company, they like to follow the lineage, as they say, and 50 years later, this is the car, this is the same color as My 65, so it's great we're 50 years apart.

Also, this is a far superior car from the 1965, this is truly the pinnacle of

mustang

development. I think it probably has the largest engine currently produced in America, normally aspirated v8, 5.2 liter, 525 horsepower, 429 lb-ft. of carbon fiber wheels with torque, it's really an amazing car and the man behind it is one of the chief development engineers Jamal Jamal has been here two or three times with some other product Jamal 3d, come on Wow, how are you happy to see you, friend? Hi Jay, welcome back, that's great, thank you so much for building this great car. You know, I was one of the first in line with my check waiting to receive this when it arrived and it didn't disappoint me as much as I like the other one.

Shelby is the 501 whose engine was too big for me, C just didn't handle like it was a classic muscle car, whereas this is a real sports car and that's what really makes it exciting, yeah from the beginning we really wanted do it. to make a very balanced car and one where the engine worked in harmony with the chassis, handling and aerodynamics and nothing overshadowed everything else too much, it was a nice balanced car. I wish Carroll Shelby could have lived to see this version, I mean, obviously. he had a great career and saw a lot of really cool versions of the Laguna Seca and a lot of them looked like oh that's the pinnacle of the Mustang and this engine is only available in this car, this engine will not be shared with any other Ford. platform, that's right, yes, it just shows how special the car is, that it is a completely new engine, it has technology, you know, with the flat crank, which has never been tried in an engine of this displacement, so It's really very innovative engine and it's very light, I mean a lot of magazines compare it to European engines like the Ferrari v8 and in many ways it's a very European style engine, it has a redline of almost eighty three hundred rpm. 8252 50 8250 and you'll see when we drive, you take it to six thousand dollars, you're ready to shift and you look at the tachometer, oh, I hardly have any fun with the 25, that's right when the sounds get good, yeah, I mean, really it does. it really works with the carbon fiber wheels.

There's a company called Carbon Revolution out of Australia and they called me and said, "Hey, we have these carbon fiber wheels, we want to try them out and we put them on a Porsche 911 and we went to Willow Springs." To see, I think if the younger track really made a difference, blah blah, and he said they said we're working with an OEM, an original equipment manufacturer, but we can't tell you who it is, but I never would have guessed, Yeah. It would be Mustang because at the time these wheels were $15,000, close to $20,000 a piece and I thought, well, I mean, unless you have MacLaren's and Lamborghinis or something, it doesn't really make much sense now that they're on a Mustang.

Mustang again, you know, we started with what they had, which in many ways was a revolutionary wheel, they are actually, in many ways, stronger, yes, aluminum, well that's what amazes me about how they pay for themselves manufacturing costs when this wheel came out with these four. the wheels were more expensive on this whole built car, yes now this car has those wheels which is quite surprising to me, the brakes are Brembo, the rotors, the calipers are Brembo, right, but we have a special rotor, it's a two. rotor piece mm-hmm and the center section is aluminum and fixed to the steel rotor so it's very light, you get superior cooling with that very innovative design and like the original car this is a two car seats, rear seat is eliminated Yes, what I did with this one came with its Cairo racing seats, but I like to drive and I'm older than most guys, so I want to be comfortable.

I bought a set of stock seats from the Ford GT that I like and put those in it I have the Recaros are on the side and if I have an alert set up which I will never have I might go through Carol's back but I like the stock seat just because You know I bring my wife and I mean. I use it as a car, that's the good thing about it. You know, there are so many exotics that go maybe 1,200 miles a year. Is it a private Mustang? You got it, have fun with it. You know, that's the best.

And well, you will. look at this engine, it's simply the best engine, let's walk through the car before we get into the show, let's see, let's get to the front of the car, these are functional, yes, now they are, this is really the first Mustang we've ever done. We're from the A-pillar forward, the whole body is new, yeah, so it's a unique front fender, a unique fascia on the front hood, obviously, and what we did was, because we widened the car, we had to compensate from a resistance point of view from a narrow point, so we're done. up to dropping the hood almost 60 millimeters in some points, so the hood is significantly lower than the normal Mustang GT in the old days, the Jessen between a kind of racing model, a standard model would only have decals and stripes, and you know, that kind of school brand.

Evil, old school marketing stuff, this is really different from the standard car, isn't it? So you have a lower ride height and you have different tires. These are Pilot Sport cup 2 305 tires on the front 315, they are the same. tires that you would find on your Lamborghini or your Porsche GT or any of those cars and we think they are the best track tires made in the world, you know, and that's why we choose them, we also have different aerodynamics so you have a new The splitter here on the front, quite aggressive, gives you more downforce on the front and that's combined with a new carbon fiber rear wing right now, okay, now the splitter is carbon fiber, no, that It's injection molded plastic, that's good, thanks because on my p1 McLaren. when you break it if you break the splitter it's a good ego you get a new splitter or you can buy two of these okay two of these cars yeah so lie to me thank you just make it plastic thank you very much like that that if you break it, you will be able to scrape it well, okay, very good, okay, and obviously a lot more air enters to feed this engine correctly.

So you know there's transmission coolers, oil coolers, we've got some cool stuff here too, you see the grill, but you see a plate behind it on the right, and we kind of call that the restrictor plate and that's basically to close the air opening so you get maximum airflow, but you also get minimum resistance and you have an outlet here, yeah and we have an exhaust air cooling package. I mean, the best thing about the car is that everything is functional, there is a nose, even these side air intakes here, those are used to absolutely get the air out from under the hood, yes, you will see that even the wheel wells have ducts, what we call ducts, so the air comes in through the cooler and you see the little veins here on the right that in the wheel well allow cooler air to come into the wheel well and then also you have veins in the back and those come out the side vent and something I love and I like the gauges, but you have someone to monitor the temperature, you have a temperature differential.

I love reading all the ones under control and all those, yes I get it, it just works and gives you a precursor if there is a problem with the engine a similar head is not one side is getting hotter than the other you have a problem what you know well so I think that's really cool let's go back let's go around the back of the vehicle I love the back of this and you love the taillights tell me about the exhaust tips yeah so the Exhaust tips are the shiny parts that you see, they are actually mounted on the fascia and the exhaust pipe goes in and They are not connected and have a thermal barrier, the air gap acts as a thermal barrier, so if you were to remove those tips You'd end up melting the dementia, okay, yeah, okay, what's that?

Inconel or something like that. Listen, no, that's just it. stainless steel, okay, it's interesting, you see the little holes on the bottom right and what happened. They weren't there to begin with and the tires are so sticky that they pick up small pebbles and spit them into the rear. the fascia and we drive down the road and pick up a bunch of rocks on the tips, so those are rock drainage holes, rock dreams and holes, yeah, something like this, if the Flintstones want one of these that would be great, but what I love about it is that it's very different than it was years ago because there's nothing in the car that doesn't need to be here.

You know, I grew up in the era of fake blades and extra exhaust pipes. It is a unique one that they put and manufacture. It seems like a duel and all that kind of nonsense, but I love the fact that it's not just Ford Chevy and Chrysler, but now they're being run by engineers because they realize that people are pretty smart and know the difference. that's what makes it great and this is a car, I probably remember it as a BMW fighter. I know a lot of guys who have the m series and how many horsepower I seem a little jealous so it does yes but the differential cooler is also here so far so just like with the old Shelby gt500 we put the diff cooler all the way to the front right for this car we kept it at the rear for weight distribution purposes yes and of course you can check that on your dashboard you want to see the differential temperature yes only if you like that kind of thing is a lot of fun, let's open the hood, see what it looks like underneath, let's go and of course I always called it a Monte Carlo bar because that's what they called it in 1964 when they put it on the Falcons, but obviously it goes from shock towers to add a bit of rigidity.

I have my seven liter 66 Galaxie, we put that 511 Roush in it and I never paid much attention under the hood. The heat just didn't seem to be a problem, but we had a couple of hot summers here and I was going down the road in the car and I was sweltering and then I realized it was so hot in there, so we made an outside. Using our 3D printer we made a piece to be able to extract fresh air and what I made made all the difference in the world. I mean, it was amazing, yeah, yeah, so if you notice this, we have the same problem today with the air under the hood. this this tub on the right and then you have an entry from the corner of the grill and then you also have a very elaborate seal that seals it to the hood.

Now your shocks here and your suspension are adjustable, obviously, it's a Magna Ride Magnetic Shocks so you can do amazing things. Finished. You know, people think Magna Ride shocks are just for better handling, but they do things on the track that help you turn and the way it works is you have an electronic system. and in the old days they did it with liquid, you turn the damper and the little holes smaller you would know how to write, your holes would be smoother right, the little holes can get through the flu with this, it is used as a really jackal magnetic liquid, okay and you send current through it, the more current you send through it, the stiffer the liquid becomes.

Well, it's really an infinite variable damper. Yes, amazing, what do you need? Furthermore, the address is variable. Yes, it is an electric assist. you add a little bit more road feel because when I first got into it, I was like, oh, it looks a little nervous and then, Oh, and then I got where I wanted, so good, that was cool too. I mean you can tune the exhaust to make it was louder, yeah back in my day you had to pull off the side of the road, open the covers, now on Kyle come on you just do the normal stretch and you're back to being quiet again alone Trying to keep you out of trouble, yeah, yeah, that's it. idea, that's the whole idea and it's a four chamber, obviously, there's a lot to talk about here, notes we havea new grille reinforcement opening and we had to do that because we lowered the front of the car a lot.

This is a carbon fiber composite booster and it actually ended up looking so good that we basically threw away the beautiful cover that covered it and you can see the real functionality of the party: this engine is either heavier or lighter than the Ferrari v8 we actually bought a Ferrari powertrain for comparison and we tore it apart and this engine, believe it or not, was an engine from a 458 Italia and this engine ended up being 13 pounds lighter than that engine, which is amazing, I think. Pretty impressive if you're really European style, I mean I think you'd have a Mustang with a 4 cam engine, which you know, 20 or 30 years ago, unheard of, yeah, pretty amazing, it has a MIDI valve, it's a v8 32 valve and it has an active manifold so it has multiple paths inside the manifold and it has headers made on the exhaust side so we really threw the kitchen sink at the engine because I was trying to think this is probably at least for 2015 16 17 one of the few normally aspirated V8s making this type of horsepower you know there's nothing out there anymore yeah we think we're the last 500 horsepower.

Most naturally aspirated V8s on the planet. I think between the throttle response, the cooling ability on the track and the sound. What you get from a naturally aspirated engine can't be beat. Let me show you how much I love this engine. Wait, say I bought one. This is our easy run test and these things are great. You know you have a spare engine. You just put it in here and it's kind of a poor man's test bed, yeah, you know, and it's really cool. You can test any motor, run it and move it. Well, here's a website if you like it, easy.

I want to see one of these, you know, I mean, it's just amazing that Ford is making an 8,250 rpm four cam redline engine and it's like I said, it's got 525 horsepower. 526 if I'm shorter does it have one horsepower? You always want the 100k it's the 26. here we have 91 of a Canadian gas which sucks in California but it really makes for a well balanced car and the fact that I love it is tailor made for the Mustang. This motor is not available on any other board products, right? Do you know that we developed the engine to work with the car and for me personally it is the end?

It is the engine of my dreams, yes, for a Mustang since I joined Ford. I wonder how a company like the one you have here works. an amazing engine and it's only available in one product, it almost seems like the accountants we have hear that we need to put this in the f-150 or something just to maximize our cost, so the fact that doing this for the purists and to maintain the kind of exclusivity, yes, I think it's impressive, it's a difficult business equation, but yes, I think one of the things that Ford Performance really does well is that, being a small, agile group, we can Yes, we can do things like it's part of the SVT group.

Well the SBT RS and Road Racing team have now become Ford Performance because I'm surprised this engine hasn't gone into the new Ford GT. Well, that's an interesting topic we talked about. A lot about putting this engine in, it's like we're getting somewhere, but I think in the context of a Ford GT and fuel economy and efficiency, the EcoBoost v-six was a superior solution, yeah, yeah, well , very exciting, it's probably time. to get this car running ready, amazing, let's do it, but it's the best sounding engine, yes, it's interesting, it sounds a little different than a Ferrari, yes, it sounds more, you know, deep and that's because this V8 It has a different firing order, right?

So then a Ferrari does it, why do more and more companies make the flat crankshaft? Is it more expensive to do because the engine seems to breathe naturally better than this? Yeah, I think on the one hand flat crank engines have always been made with a smaller displacement v8 and the vast majority of American v---aids are larger displacement and that technology, I think before it came out this engine, those two parameters of an engine were mutually exclusive, so 5.2 liters, how many cubic inches is that, it was 305, yeah, that's it, I think it's just over 305, so it's really not much.

Bigger than the original's engine, yes, except you're making incredibly less power. 500 horsepower now puts you in the club, yes, super car, that's just to get you involved in the conversation. I'm cutting the Viper came out and when I bought my Viper back in '93, I remember a lot of people telling me, you know it's gone down auspi, you'll never see 400 us power on the street again, so you might as well buy one of these now, You know? Now they're the little you know that the Mustang I loved was the little four-cylinder SVO, you know, maybe a year ago they dropped the Mustangs, the GTE, the v8 and the four-cylinder, and I drove the eight, right?

OK? the front engine was a little heavy but I liked it I said well let me drive the four alone I don't want to return it to miles as if I didn't use it I want to get more miles I loved it it was 306 horsepower, it was more, these are very attractive cars from Shelby, It's a four cylinder and the front end was so light and handled so well. I mean, I was really very impressed, it was a great car, how did the sales of those do well? They're not doing very well and you know there's a big market?

I think of Mustang enthusiasts who like and even prefer the EcoBoost Mustang precisely because I was worried about when it came with a nice original six. Three speed cylinder Mustang and I drove it and it was so light. I mean, you could do this without the brother power cork, but you just forget what you know and put a couple of carburetors on it, you can tune that six up a bit. horsepower with it, now the four cylinder Mustang that they sell in England, I don't think they do, yeah, I imagine it must be a pretty popular car, a symphony, I mean, that power band is fantastic, now the other thing that our firing order does even more than a Ferrari is that it gives you quite ample torque, yeah, so once you get to 35 4000 rpm, it's actually a big torch, yeah.

I mean the fact that you are comparing Ford and Ferrari in the same sentence, it just makes me smile because I grew up in a time where that wasn't even possible, yeah it's not a Ford GT, it's a Mustang, yeah we like it the Ferrari Mona, but actually the Mustang engine, I mean, it makes me laugh, it's me, you know, the Italians are pulling our hair around us, I mean, the brakes are great, you just touch it, let the sound The exhaust never gets old, it's cool now, I actually play the radio, I mean it doesn't turn on, it just goes around corners like that, yeah, that's something like that, I don't know.

I do call it a bit sad, but what do you know with sports cars and all these super cards and everything on a public road? Yeah, you can access such a small fraction of their capacity, they've become so fast, I mean. They are literally as fast as race cars now, what am I faster than race cars 20 years ago? That's why sometimes it's fun to drive the old Mustang, you just have that long stick in the second year, it stays here, you can enjoy the torque, you know, just enjoy the sun, the p1 is a lot of fun, but in 4 seconds you're in Prison, okay.

I'm serious, you know, when I sit in this car and I drive this car, it's about the suspension, the brakes, yeah. engine and manual transmission, right, you're getting constant feedback from all those things working together, it just ends up being a really fun and enjoyable interactive drive. I like it, I like the interactive part, yes, you can never get tired and listen. above it's almost like the engine sounds so good you just want something good you never want to stay at one rpm you want to go up and down rpm and just hear it all the time and you have launch control and everything I've never used launch control launch with a lever.

I guess it works the same way. Yes, you can set the rpm you want to boot at. Oh, you said it, it's not a fixed rpm. Okay, so guys know if you go to the racetrack and you're on our prep surface, you can hit the hard one upside down on the dragon. uh, this will run about 12 seconds, quarter mile. Wow, maybe it's just a gimmick, yeah, it's not really a performance car in a straight line, but I mean it's a respectable number, my respect, well, what's a great driver's card is that it really is a car for the driver, that's the fun part.

You know, I'll take some people and blindfold them and put this on them and see if they can tell what kind of car they're in, I guarantee they'll say Lamborghini or Ferrari or something, the proof is in the fact that I bought one of these, you know, I have all kinds of cool supercars, but this is really impressive and and it's a Mustang and like I say, if you break the front splitter, it doesn't cost you a house, you know, it's a few hundred dollars and it's the fact that you can make it, if you make enough of something, you can lower the price, I mean.

If this was a one-off car, it would cost six or seven hundred thousand dollars, especially with an engine like this, let's hit the highway, we'll see our cruise. Oh, I'll do that, Imran, you know, my favorite arm and before you do that long stick, try five six seven eight too okay, let's see 70 miles per hour just around 2100 rpm imagine a violent road, let's be pretty good, yeah not that bad for the naturally aspirated v8, well pretty impressive, sorry no wear and tear but this is my car okay? and I'd like to get at least a thousand miles on it before I start beating it up, but it's just a wonderful, wonderful car to drive well.

I think Jamal always came from Detroit to talk to us about this today because this is the guy behind it, this is the guy you want to thank, so trust me, you won't regret it. I know this sounds like a commercial but it really isn't because I bought one so there you have it, this really is a fitting 50th anniversary tribute. Mustang, this is seriously the best thing they've ever built and the fact that you're comparing it to Ferrari makes me laugh. Well, we have the Ferrari and it makes me laugh. They must tear out their hair.

In Italy, when they come, the Mustang is compared to a Ferrari, but it is a valid comparison, Jamal, thank you very much, thank you for inviting me, it is a great job and we are going to have to check that for TT he is also involved in that, but He's keeping his mouth shut about it. Anyway, there are many secrets here. See you next week. Thank you.