[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
[SCREECHING TIRES]
ALISTAIR WEAVER: Whoo, whoo, whoo!
Hi, I'm Alistair, that's Jonathan.
This is the Dodge Challenger SRT Black Ghost,
and that is Edmunds much loved Shelby Mustang GT500.
And this is Edmunds U-Drags.
Let's get on with it.
[THEME MUSIC]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Well, isn't this exciting?
We have one of only 300 Black Ghosts.
[ENGINE REVVING]
Packing 807 horses, 707 torques, is a hefty 4,500 pounds
and is front wheel drive.
Relax, I'm kidding!
But we also have our legendary Edmunds own Shelby--
[ENGINE REVVING]
--which will be hitting back with 760 horsepower,
weighs in at under 4,200 pounds, has 625 pounds feet of torque,
and is also rear wheel drive.
Don't forget to check out the Shelby in this race, this race,
this race, and this race.
These two are going head to head on the Edmunds U-Drag
track, which starts with a quarter mile drag,
then it's hard on the brakes and into a 180 degree turnaround.
Then they power back start finish.
At the end of the first run, to keep it fair,
we'll swap drivers and lanes and go back and do it again.
Look, we can only do U-Drags if you like and subscribe,
so won't you do us a kindness and hit those buttons.
And visit edmunds.com/udrags for everything else.
All right, all right, let's go.
I am in our long-term Shelby GT500.
I love this car.
It's got the power.
I've got some super sticky Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires.
Thank you, Tire Rack, for getting us those spares.
We picked up a nail earlier.
So we got some freshies.
We burned off the mold release.
And that thing has a lot of horsepower,
has more horsepower, but I think this car just puts everything
together so much nicer.
Launch control is really easy to do.
It's essentially if you put it in track mode,
you can see an LC on the dash, which
says it's primed and ready for launch control.
And then all you do is just two pedal it,
left foot on the brake, floor the accelerator
with the right foot, and it'll hold the engine RPM
at the preset limit.
So 1,500 seems to be a sweet spot for our conditions right
now, as well as our track surface.
So let's just hope it gets off the line better
than that thing.
I know it's going to stop and corner better,
so it's just a matter of horsepower
when it comes down to it.
Let's find out.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: So, how do you launch a Challenger Black
Ghost?
Honestly, with difficulty.
But we'll come to that in a moment.
In terms of setup, we've gone into the SRT dashboard.
I'm in custom mode.
I've gone for track for everything.
That includes the 807 horsepower.
But for suspension, we're not in track,
we're in sport, because this is a pretty bumpy surface.
And thankfully, track is so brutal,
that you end up breaking traction.
Then we're going into launch control
and we're dialing up just 1,000 RPM.
This thing's got so much power.
Rear wheel drive, of course, that it can light things
up very quickly indeed.
And if you're wondering why I'm sweating like crazy,
I haven't got the air conditioning on,
because I'm using the chiller to cool the intercooler.
So 1,000 RPM, left foot on the brake, right foot
hard on the gas, release the brake, and away we go.
This should be epic.
Let's go.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
[CAR ENGINES ROARING]
An equal start, but he's gone.
[LAUGHS]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh, man, that never gets old.
[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
ALISTAIR WEAVER: Come on, brake, brake, brake, brake.
[SCREECHING TIRES]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Here we go, here we go.
Power on out!
Here we go, see ya.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: He's just got so much more grip.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Whoo, whoo, whoo!
ALISTAIR WEAVER: And he's gone over that blue oval.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Power.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
And that's how you do it.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: Oh!
Well, Jonathan, I think you just had me.
You just got more traction off the line,
more braking, more cornering.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: I mean, really the only thing
I don't have more of is horsepower.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: I actually got my braking pretty much spot on.
It's not easy to get back onto the gas on this,
because it's not like a super smooth input.
So you go from trying to pick up, trying to pick up,
and then suddenly, it comes in with a dollop,
then you get a little bit of oversteer,
and that probably cost me a little bit of forward momentum,
as well.
I mean, it's still great fun.
And it sounds awesome and all the rest of it,
but this is a muscle car and that's
a sports car that also does muscle car stuff.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: So it's kind of the best of both worlds.
It does muscle car sounds, like it's such the complete package.
It's kind of incredible that this thing exists.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: I think we need to swap cars.
I really think you're going to feel the difference between 760
and 807 horsepower.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: It's going to feel like losing.
All right, we swapped cars.
I am in the Challenger Black Ghost.
I love the way this thing looks.
I love the power that the engine makes.
I'm going to use the launch control.
So let's hope this thing can pull out a win.
I'm really rooting for it.
The Challenger's a really cool vehicle.
It's just not as modern feeling as that Shelby.
But let's go.
Let's give it our best.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: So it's like slipping back
into a favored old suit.
Honestly, I absolutely adore this car.
We've done 25,000 miles in it since we bought it,
so we're pretty familiar with everything.
I'm following exactly the same setup as Jonathan.
So using the launch control, left foot
on the brake, right foot on the gas, everything
in track, apart from the suspension,
which we soften off a little bit because of the bumpy surface.
I should win, but I'm feeling the pressure.
I'm ready.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
Oh, I got a bad start!
It's bogged down a little bit.
But now I'm coming.
Now I'm coming.
Oh, man.
Come on!
[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
JONATHAN ELFALAN: The Shelby!
[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
ALISTAIR WEAVER: Roll her in.
Take her in on the brake, she's a sports car.
Power out.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Come on!
ALISTAIR WEAVER: Goodbye!
Goodbye, Mr. Challenger!
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Despite the dodgy start,
I'm looking at the Shelby leaving me for dead.
Oh!
Good effort, but not enough.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: Oh.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Well, there we go.
How did that feel?
ALISTAIR WEAVER: It's-- you can drive it like a sports car.
It's like what we keep saying.
You've got so much confidence on the brakes,
and then it's just back on the power
it seems to just grip and go.
And I looked across as I came out of the corner
and you were still squabbling around the bend.
It's just such a cool car.
I wish-- I wish I could buy it.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Actually, that launch control,
I'm sorry I didn't mention it, there is a bit of a beat.
So you have to just sort of prepare yourself for that.
But it didn't really matter.
Like, I leapt out ahead, but it wasn't--
it was hardly any time before I saw you coming up
and just, I mean, you were gone.
Like, it looks like you have more horsepower than I do.
I don't know.
It's not grip at that point.
I'm hooked up.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: Yeah, I also forgot about the beat.
We've launched this enough, and then
I didn't want to be accused of jumping the start,
and I felt pretty confident to start with.
But yeah, it's strange.
I think some of it's the gearbox.
You've just got such a nice double clutch gearbox
in this Shelby.
And it just keeps pulling.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah, you're right about that.
The gearshifts here are like seamless,
whereas with this gearbox, it feels like you just
got your torque converter.
Like, I mean, I'm sure it's more advanced than that.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: No, it's a one dimensional car,
but it's a pretty fine dimension.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Well said, sir.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: It's so good.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: It's so good.
How about we check out the peak performance numbers
by these two beautiful puppies?
The quickest 0 to 60 goes to the Shelby's 3.8,
a full second ahead of the Black Ghost's best time.
And the quarter mile that was the Shelby again,
with an 11.7 at 128.9, smacking the Challenger's 12.6 at 123.1.
At the turn, the Black Ghost Pirelli P0
stuck around to the tune of 1.14 Gs.
Pretty good.
But the Shelby's Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s gripped even
harder at 1.35 G's!
And at the finish line, huh, if you've been paying attention,
you already know this one by now.
The Ford's best was 33.2 at 143.3 miles an hour,
while the Dodge did it in 35.2 at 135,
making the Dodge go, boo.
And now it's time to see what these four-wheeled wonders end
up on the Edmunds U-Drags leaderboard.
Remember, each car's quickest run goes on the leaderboard,
regardless of race pairing.
The Challenger Black Ghost muscles
in between our Corvette Stingray and the Subaru BRZ
with its best time of 35.2 at 135 miles an hour.
The Shelby couldn't improve on its previous best run,
so it stays put.
Now let's check on our little video data thingy.
[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
Come on!
Let's go, let's go!
[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
Oh, it's good effort.
Good effort, but not enough.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: Oh, I got a bad start.
Bogged down a little bit.
But now I'm coming.
Now I'm coming!
Come on.
[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
Roll her in.
Take her in on the brakes, she's a sports car.
Power out.
Goodbye!
Goodbye, Mr. Challenger!
Despite the dodgy start.
[CAR ENGINE ROARING]
Whoo!
So, we do actually read the comments that you leave,
and we know that you were desperate
for us to run our GT500 in U-Drags, so we finally
found some appropriate opposition,
and it turned out pretty much exactly as we expected,
Jonathan.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah, I mean we knew that the Black
Ghost had a slight power advantage,
but we didn't know how that would actually
play out in the real world.
Turns out, not very well.
The GT500 is such a well-rounded package.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: We said it in the in-car commentary
that that is pure and simple, a muscle car,
and a really charming one at that.
This is basically a muscle car that
doubles as a pretty impressive sports car.
The way that it brakes, the way that it grips,
the way that it steers, the way that it changes
gear, actually, as well.
It's just such an accomplished car.
And jumping from to that, it's like stepping into an entirely
different world.
There's so much more confidence in the Ford.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: If you're looking for a traditional, more
traditional muscle car, then I think
you're going to fall more in love
with that, because that is just like another beast.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: It just-- and it still looks very, very cool.
JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah.
ALISTAIR WEAVER: We cannot devise the U-drags formula,
because it was losing drag races and we thought that it
massively undersold its true potential.
So this was almost part of the germ
of an idea, the genesis of the U-drags format,
and we're delighted to finally run it.
But now, after 25,000 miles, we are about to sell it.
So if anybody wants it, we're open to--
we're open to offers.
We're all going to go away and cry when it leaves,
but it's been an amazing car, and we've loved it.
So on that rather somber and sad note, we will bid you farewell.
Check out edmunds.com/udrags, udrags with an S,
for all the latest U-Drag information.
And while you're there, check out everything else
that Edmunds has to offer.
And of course, please subscribe to this channel.
That's it for now.
See you next time, minus the Shelby.