Is the weight of the new GT500. I'm kind of shocked it's THAT high.
Is the weight of the new GT500. I'm kind of shocked it's THAT high.
Wow, that's a heavy car! They need to start working on the aluminum body panels for the mustang.
So we can just start taking all the Hellcat weight memes and start applying the GT500 to them? Cool.
The last GT500 was about 4000lbs too with more of it on the nose... the GT500 has never been light.
That's what the V wagon weighed. It was still a fun car.
With enough power and spring rate, weight becomes almost irrelevant.
Dusterbd13-michael said:With enough power and spring rate, weight becomes almost irrelevant.
And tire*
Dusterbd13-michael said:With enough power and spring rate, weight becomes almost irrelevant.
Until you're trying to keep tires under it and brakes on it.
Years ago I raced an ITB VW GTI. Understandably, it went through front tires and brake pads relatively quickly. A friend of mine was racing a Corvette and I thought it looked like fun until we compared notes on our budgets for tires and brakes. I sold the VW and built a SpecMiata instead. The Miata was cheaper to run than the VW and my annual budget was about what my friend spent each race weekend. Weight matters.
Duke said:Until you're trying to keep tires under it and brakes on it.
Which is part of what makes it so heavy. Lots of horsepower requires a lot of tire and brake, which in turn are heavy and require beefier suspension components, and on and on. Honestly, I think it would be pretty hard for an OEM to build a 700+ horsepower car that passes every safety test and has a warranty and keep it under 4k pounds, especially when it's based on a much cheaper chassis like the Mustang.
None of which will matter to 95% of the buyers, who will never take it to a track anyhow, and if they do, it'll be a drag strip. This isn't the Mustang for us, that one is the GT350.
In reply to Tom_Spangler :
You may be surprised... word on the street is that the new GT500 is an absolute monster around VIR.
According to the factory manual that was leaked, this car is faster than the GT350 around a track. Also based on some things listed in there, I'm guessing the carbon fiber track pack will drop about 100 pounds from the overall weight, hopefully a little more. And when you read the options list, it's obvious where a lot of that weight comes from.
morello159 said:In reply to Tom_Spangler :
You may be surprised... word on the street is that the new GT500 is an absolute monster around VIR.
I have no doubt. The old one was no slouch, though heat sink was an issue. My point isn't that it can't handle road course work, just that most of the owners won't do that with them. Though many of them will want to brag about Lightning Lap or Ring times.....
One question I'd have is if the GT350 is 3800lbs and the GT350R is 3650lbs, why is the GT500 400-600lbs more? I can account for a couple hundred pounds, but why that much? As a comparison, the Camaro ZL1 weighs 3900bs, 200lbs more than a SS 1LE, which is ~75lbs more than a regular SS.
I just enjoy knowing that it weighs more than my full size pickup truck. Probably way faster than my truck in all situations though.
In reply to Snrub :
Physically larger engine (higher deck height), iron block (?), supercharger (heavy!!), charge air cooler and radiator for it, giant automatic transmission with attendant 20 quarts of fluid to start. Then there's the leather, heated seats, touchscreen, sound system, etc.
Also my 96 Cobra weighs 3250lbs, so the full boogie SVT had gained half a ton in 24 years.
Snrub said:One question I'd have is if the GT350 is 3800lbs and the GT350R is 3650lbs, why is the GT500 400-600lbs more? I can account for a couple hundred pounds, but why that much? As a comparison, the Camaro ZL1 weighs 3900bs, 200lbs more than a SS 1LE, which is ~75lbs more than a regular SS.
The one thing that the GT500 has that none of your other examples do is the DCT. Wonder how much a 7 spd Dual Clutch trans that can reliably handle 760hp/650ft-lbs weighs?
The supercharger and it's cooler will add weight. The cross plane crank will add weight. Then everything that makes it go is probably larger (cooling systems, driveshaft, axles, brakes, wheels/tires, bodywork).
Snrub said:One question I'd have is if the GT350 is 3800lbs and the GT350R is 3650lbs, why is the GT500 400-600lbs more? I can account for a couple hundred pounds, but why that much? As a comparison, the Camaro ZL1 weighs 3900bs, 200lbs more than a SS 1LE, which is ~75lbs more than a regular SS.
One big part is that the GT500 will have a dual clutch transmission. There's a 50-100+ lbs weight differential from a manual to a DCT right there.
Tom_Spangler said:Duke said:Until you're trying to keep tires under it and brakes on it.
Which is part of what makes it so heavy. Lots of horsepower requires a lot of tire and brake, which in turn are heavy and require beefier suspension components, and on and on. Honestly, I think it would be pretty hard for an OEM to build a 700+ horsepower car that passes every safety test and has a warranty and keep it under 4k pounds, especially when it's based on a much cheaper chassis like the Mustang.
None of which will matter to 95% of the buyers, who will never take it to a track anyhow, and if they do, it'll be a drag strip. This isn't the Mustang for us, that one is the GT350.
Exactly. The GT350 is a drivers car - its an F16.
infinitenexus said:According to the factory manual that was leaked, this car is faster than the GT350 around a track. Also based on some things listed in there, I'm guessing the carbon fiber track pack will drop about 100 pounds from the overall weight, hopefully a little more. And when you read the options list, it's obvious where a lot of that weight comes from.
Big whoop It has 200 more HP and its shifted by a computer. Id still rather drive the GT350, even though its slower.
STM317 said:Snrub said:One question I'd have is if the GT350 is 3800lbs and the GT350R is 3650lbs, why is the GT500 400-600lbs more? I can account for a couple hundred pounds, but why that much? As a comparison, the Camaro ZL1 weighs 3900bs, 200lbs more than a SS 1LE, which is ~75lbs more than a regular SS.
The one thing that the GT500 has that none of your other examples do is the DCT. Wonder how much a 7 spd Dual Clutch trans that can reliably handle 760hp/650ft-lbs weighs?
The supercharger and it's cooler will add weight. The cross plane crank will add weight. Then everything that makes it go is probably larger (cooling systems, driveshaft, axles, brakes, wheels/tires, bodywork).
No cross-plane crank in the GT500 engine from what I understand.
The DCT is a BIG part of the weight gain. I think even the DCT in my 135i, designed to handle 300/300 was something like 175lb.
Weight also matters when negotiating slaloms. Not that a road course deals with much of that, but an autocross certainly does. All the fat cars at our last autox hit the same cone on the same slalom. They couldn’t maintain speed AND not hit the cone.
“Cone” to think of it, this might have been more of a horsepower problem...
goingnowherefast said:One big part is that the GT500 will have a dual clutch transmission. There's a 50-100+ lbs weight differential from a manual to a DCT right there.
Woof, that sounds like a lot. Last time I was slinging a T56 around I want to say it was at 150lbs, are the DCT coming in over 200 lbs? I'm going to have to hit the gym if I'm going to keep working on my own cars.
Tom_Spangler said:morello159 said:In reply to Tom_Spangler :
You may be surprised... word on the street is that the new GT500 is an absolute monster around VIR.
I have no doubt. The old one was no slouch, though heat sink was an issue. My point isn't that it can't handle road course work, just that most of the owners won't do that with them. Though many of them will want to brag about Lightning Lap or Ring times.....
I have trouble caring much about Lightning Lap times. The particular VIR configuration they use has big long straights and is so fast that the lap times depend very heavily on top speed, which is all about power/drag. I love track days, but it's just not representative of any of the tracks I'm likely to drive on.
In reply to codrus :
Like 'Ring times, Lightning Lap is just one more metric to demonstrate performance potential. Most tracks around the country won't be that long or as fast, but at least it's more data we get to digest. You're right, that other than bench racing, it's pretty meaningless to most folks.
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