Only a handful of production cars have ever dipped below the 9-second mark in the quarter-mile. The Lucid Air Sapphire, Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170, Rimac Nevera, and Pininfarina Battista make up this elite group. Now, the GT500 Code Red has muscled its way into their ranks.
Ford and Shelby American unveiled the Code Red a couple of years ago, limiting production to just 30 units. The car's status as a true production model is up for debate, but its performance certainly isn't.
Under the hood, the standard GT500's 5.2-liter V8 supercharged engine got a major overhaul. Shelby swapped out the supercharger for twin turbochargers and beefed up the internals with Manley pistons and rods, ARP studs, heavy-duty timing chains, new injectors, and a MoTec engine management system.
Running on regular pump gas, the Code Red churns out 1000 horsepower and 780 lb-ft (1,058 Nm) of torque. Switch to E85 ethanol, and those numbers jump to an eye-watering 1300 horsepower and 1,000 lb-ft (1,356 Nm) of torque.
The Code Red's performance puts it in rarified air. For comparison, Dodge claims its Demon 170 can run the quarter-mile in 8.91 seconds at 151.17 mph. However, real-world tests have shown the Demon 170 struggling to dip below the 9.4-second mark.
In the video of the Code Red's record-breaking run, the car hooks up incredibly well despite being rear-wheel drive. It rips through the gears of its 10-speed transmission, likely quicker than the Demon 170's eight-speed setup.
This blistering performance cements the Shelby GT500 Code Red's place among the fastest accelerating cars on the planet, proving that with enough power and engineering, even a rear-wheel-drive muscle car can hang with the best of them.
Source: Shelby American