[BigDan]

Originally Posted by rez333

Not necessarily. It could be that the C/D drivers just don't how to maximize the Shelby's potential, and given it is a stick shift unlike some of the other cars, it could be harder for a non-Shelby expert to get right the first time. On the other hand, European and Japanese cars could be just easier to get right earlier on and the drivers may be used to those cars (especially with high rev limits). The article mentions that they had trouble shifting gears because they were hitting the rev limit around corners (or something like that) which indicates they didn't know how to use it the right way, unlike the Ford test driver who we presume has a lot of practice.

So it could be that the Shelby may simply not be an easy car to master quick.

Also - it's hard to compare lap times from different years. The results are only valid between the cars tested that day - not really against cars tested previous years. So one can safely say that the Shelby can at least do 2:58.5 given an experienced Shelby driver and certain climate conditions.

Remember this motortrend test: Mustang GT 5.0 vs BMW M3?:


How can the same driver on the same day track the Mustang virtually identical to the M3 (motortrend article), and then the C/D folks track the Mustang 5.0 3s slower than the M3? That coupled with the discrepancy with the Shelby GT500 lap times indicates to me that the conditions that day were not ideal for the C/D test.

Well said.