Ford deserves a lot of credit for never taking its foot off the gas pedal despite a complete lack of competition. With the recent discontinuations of the ICE Dodge Challenger and Charger, as well as the Chevrolet Camaro, the Mustang is the last muscle car available, and Ford could have put it in neutral and coasted to market dominance. Instead, they kicked things up a notch or two with the 500-horsepower Dark Horse and the street-legal factory race car Mustang GTD.
Here’s the thing with that, however, as Shelby American has built a modified Mustang that puts the GTD to shame. The Shelby Super Snake-R is faster, more powerful, and, hang on to your wallets for this one, much cheaper than the GTD. Shelby has a 60-year history of making Mustangs more badass, but they also came with higher sticker prices. Now, however, there’s one that outperforms with a lower MSRP. Keep in mind that these super-Mustangs are six-figure rides, so “affordable” doesn’t necessarily apply here, but the Shelby is considerably less expensive.
In order to give you the most up-to-date and accurate information possible, the data used to compile this article was sourced from Ford, Shelby, and other authoritative sources.
2026 Shelby Super Snake-R
The Super Snake Mustang goes all the way back to 1967 when Carroll Shelby dropped a 427ci V-8 under the hood for a promotional car meant to showcase Goodyear’s “Thunderbolt” tires. Ford scrapped plans for a limited 50-unit run because the production cost was astronomical, so only one was built, making it a Holy Grail car that recently sold for over $2 million. The Super Snake would once again unleash its venom in 2007 as a package on the Shelby Mustang GT500, with a 725-horsepower 5.4-liter supercharged V-8. As impressive as that was, the 2026 Shelby Super Snake-R is even deadlier, with 850-horsepower.
“Whether you’re chasing lap times or making a statement on the street, the 2026 Shelby Super Snake-R is your ticket to track domination and everyday drivability.” -Shelby American.
Actually, Shelby bills this beast as being 850+ horsepower, so it’s likely even more lethal on the streets or the track. The rub here is that this is a car made for professional drag, closed circuit, and endurance racing, that is 100 percent legit on the street as a daily driver, which qualifies as supremely awesome. The ’26 Super Snake-R is based on the Mustang Dark Horse, and besides the power boost, Shelby upgraded all the performance specs, from the suspension to the brakes to the exhaust. Heck, this sucker even has a performance radiator, because with the scorching RPMs it is capable of, a factory cooling system is a one-way ticket to Blown Head Gasket City.
Super Coyote 5.0
The iconic Ford 5.0-liter V-8 raised its legendary status with the Coyote engine, which, as of 2024, is capable of 500 naturally aspirated ponies. Shelby took that air-breathing marvel and introduced some forced induction for the Super Snake-R’s propulsion system. With a 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger, this car is the most powerful Mustang ever built. Shelby isn’t entirely sure just how massive the output of this engine is, but they do know it’s at least 850 horsepower, and that’s more than enough to top the Mustang GTD. Buyers have the choice of the Tremec TR-3160 manual six-speed or the 10-speed automatic transmission to deliver that power to the wheels, which, by the way, are made of lightweight magnesium alloy, which offers quicker acceleration and more responsive braking.
Custom Styling Inside and Out
Adding to the Super Snake-R’s performance and beauty are exterior accents, including carbon fiber fenders, an aluminum hood, and custom front fascia with an aggressive splitter, plus a rear ducktail spoiler. A race-inspired graphics package is optional, but seeing how gorgeous it looks, it is a must-have. The interior was upgraded as well with leather racing seats, embroidered with Super Snake-R insignias, custom floor mats, door sill plates, and a serialized dash plaque that let you know this is a Shelby. The rear seats were deleted, replaced with a harness strut bar that joins the rear shock towers, stiffening the chassis and giving the Super Snake-R a pro racing car feel.
2025 Mustang GTD
Ford built a race-specific version of the 2024 Mustang Dark Horse intended for GT3 class endurance racing, where it fared well, including a victory at the 2025 Rolex 24 at Daytona, a class win at Nürburgring 24 Hours, and a podium finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It seemed rather selfish to hog this amazing ride for international racing, so Ford put together a street version, known as the Mustang GTD, for public consumption in 2025. Making things cooler, the GTD is actually more badass than the GT3 car, because it isn’t hampered by racing sanctioning bodies’ restrictions on power and performance. Getting its name from IMSA’s Grand Touring Daytona racing class, the GTD is the most powerful Mustang Ford has ever built.
With a 5.2-liter supercharged V-8, the GTD erupts with 815-horsepower, that’s just a little shy of the Shelby Super Snake-R. Power is distributed via a rear-mounted eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle and a carbon fiber driveshaft. In fact, pretty much everything on this ride is carbon-fiber except the doors to lighten the load, because all of the performance tech adds considerable weight to the vehicle. Unlike the somewhat luxe interior of the Shelby Super Snake-R, the Mustang GTD has a fairly sparse interior, making it more of a race car than a daily driver, but Ford assures that this is indeed a street-legal machine, suitable for public roadways.
Head-to-Head: Super Snake Vs. Mustang GTD
Here at TopSpeed, we love putting cars on the line against each other to prove, once and for all, a winner, but unfortunately, neither Ford nor Shelby has performance data on these amazing extreme muscle cars. That’s okay because we can make some educated guesses as to how quickly these cars accelerate. The closest muscle car to either of these rides is the 808-horsepower 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, which can run 0-60 in 2.3 seconds and a quarter-mile in 9.63 seconds. The Demon has a curb weight of 4,280 pounds, while the Super Snake-R weighs 4,004 pounds, and the Mustang GTD tips the scales at 4,343 pounds.
Ford vs. Shelby Drag Race
|
Mustang GTD |
Super Snake-R |
|
|---|---|---|
|
Engine |
5.2-liter supercharged V-8 |
5.0-liter supercharged V-8 |
|
Horsepower |
815 HP |
850+ HP |
|
Torque |
664 LB-FT |
N/A |
|
Transmission |
Eight-speed dual-clutch |
Six-speed manual |
|
0-60 Time |
2.3 seconds (est.) |
2.1 seconds (est.) |
|
Quarter-mile |
9.7 seconds (est.) |
9.5 seconds (est.) |
|
Top Speed |
202 MPH |
200 MPH (est.) |
|
MSRP |
$327,960 |
$224,995 |
The Mustang GTD has slightly more power than the Demon, but probably similar acceleration due to its added weight. Meanwhile, the lighter, more powerful Super Snake-R is likely to shave a few tenths of a second on the Demon’s performance numbers, and thus, kick the Mustang GTD’s butt in a drag race. This is all speculation, though based on educated guesses, but one area that is not theoretical or in dispute whatsoever is the price. The Shelby Super Snake-R is $102,965 cheaper than the Mustang GTD, and that’s a significant price gap. Actually, the GTD top trim runs $375,000, while the Super Snake-R is the ultimate version, so comparing best-to-best yields an over $150,000 price difference.
Mind-Blowing Modified Mustang
Obviously, a multi-six-figure ride is not intended for Joe or Jane Schmo, and anyone who can afford a Super Snake-R could probably pony up for a Mustang GTD as well, but $150k is still a lot of money, even to the filthy rich. The fact that the Shelby is more powerful, quicker, and just as track-focused as the Mustang should be an enormous factor in choosing between the two. Either car falls into the “gotta have it” category for certain speed junkies of means, and considering their limited production numbers, the choice may come down to whichever one can be acquired. Ford is only making a few hundred GTDs a year, and Shelby’s website informs that the Super Snake-R reservation list is closed, indicating it is sold out.
Another thing that may swing someone, that is, if they can actually get a hold of either car, is that Super Snake-R is more suited for street use than the Mustang GTD. Both are street-legal, but the Ford is designed, engineered, and tuned for the track, which isn’t ideal for burning down the avenue. The Shelby, however, prides itself on being “as comfortable on the street as it is dominant on the track,” which is important for a multipurpose ride. Lastly, and this is pure opinion, this editor thinks the Shelby with the racing graphics package and custom front fascia is the sharper-looking of the two cars, which is another key element for a street machine. The GTD could pass for a regular Mustang that someone put a wing on, while the Super Sanke-R lets everyone know it’s something special.