Vids: A Stig, a '16 Shelby 350GT-R & a hillclimb @Goodwood FOS

[fleetus macmullitz]

Excerpts from an interview with Ben Collins:

Q. You’ve driven many a car, Ben. How is this compared to what you’ve experienced before?

A. Unique. That was my first run up the hill [in the GT350R] and it was all hands on deck [showing his hands] to get it up there. It is an amazing vehicle, it’s got a fantastic grip, it’s super lightweight, 525 horsepower, but I really didn’t expect what I got. The amount of power surge you get is incredible so I had a lot of fun, had a big grin. I suddenly found myself on the grass, gathered it up and off we went so I’m learning very quickly.

Q. Ford Mustang we think of as an American cruiser and certainly the older ones were not suitable for the British roads and certainly that road (the hillclimb) is very British. Is this GT350R working well?

A. The new standard of Mustang is very much more European in style so I think the things that we were used to, during the rebirth of muscle cars in 2005, it was still quite soft. The new Mustang is completely different and I experienced that in the standard car and I thought, oh I’d be fine in this 350 Shelby, but this is another grade up, it’s weapons grade superpower.

Q. What are the stats of the car?

A. It’s got 525 horsepower, it’s as light as a squirrel. I don’t know what the weight is but it’s tiny. It’s got big wide tires on it. It’s the Michelin Pilot Cup Sports that are providing a lot of grip. It makes a fantastic sound and you can do all kinds of extreme things with it, you can turn the traction control completely off which is what I did and just have loads of fun. If you really want to be a complete hooligan, you can put a line lock on the front brake and just sit there burning out until the tires shred so it’s built for having fun. I was being chased up the hill by Ken Block in his Focus so we had a good time … Don’t forget your earplugs.

[Che70velle]

Thanks for posting Skip. Sounded as though Ben was making sure that the rev limiter was fully operational.

[NOPANTS68]

Z28s take notice. Good god that's a whole bunch of Mustang. It's gonna be interesting to see them both share a track in anger.