Ford Mustang Dark Horse SC Road America Track Tour + On Track Review!

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: *music* [00:00:12] Speaker ?: *music* *music* [00:00:40] Tim: Hey everybody, my name's Tim. I just got back from the 2026 Dark Horse SC Track Tour at Road America in Wisconsin. In this video, we're going to talk about the event, talk about the new car, give you my thoughts on the new car and the naming of the new car, its relationship to the 2020 GT500. And oh, by the way, I had my own helmet and GoPro, so we're going to take a look at my track driving footage. I got put in a fast group. We were out there sending it way harder than I thought we were going to. I saw 152 miles an hour on the front straight. And we're also going to talk about my order. I've got a 2026 Dark Horse SC Track Pack on order and my build date. Thanks for watching. Here we go. The morning started out with a general briefing for everyone. We were then split into four smaller groups. And just like when I did the GT500 Track Tour in Vegas 2019, I was in the teal group and went straight to the track. All right, here we go. Dark Horse SC Road America Track Tour. They put our group together. We have our own helmets and experienced drivers. So theoretically, we're the fastest group. Here we go. Right on. All right, Dark Horse SC Track Tour. Road America. I'm in the first group going right on the road course. I was just here three weeks ago. Ran a 221 in my 2020 Shelby GT500 carbon fiber track pack. I'm going to feel how the Dark Horse SC feels. First time driving the car. Love it so far. We are on the Cup 2s and it's, well this says 40 degrees, but my phone said 36 degrees when we're coming out here. I think this has some of the warmth from running the engine. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. [00:03:10] Speaker ?: Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. [00:03:10] Tim: Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. [00:03:11] Speaker ?: Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror mirror. Can't see anything out of the rear view mirror mirror mirror. [00:03:36] Tim: Cool tires, cool brakes. Sounds badass. Turn five. Oh, I like it. Feels good. [00:04:36] Speaker ?: Good grip. [00:04:47] Tim: Feels like it wants to run. Brakes feel good. [00:05:17] Speaker ?: Good grip. Come back. So, let's go. So, let's go. So, let's go. So, let's go. So, let's go. [00:08:47] Tim: On this last lap, I'm going to add a little commentary while we're on track. It's an interesting dynamic. First of all, the car is badass. It's very familiar coming from a 2020 through 2022 GT500. The formula is all the same. The sights are the same. The sounds are similar. The power is similar. But, the way it does it feels completely different. It's like you've eaten this recipe before, but now it's cooked by a different chef and it tastes better. It's tastier. The power difference, you can feel the crispy, snappier shifts you can feel, the grip you can feel, the suspension differences you can feel, the aero differences you can feel. I did, they put a lot of work into cooling, but really cold day up there in Wisconsin, so it couldn't tell any difference on the cooling. I'd have to run on a hot track down in Texas to feel that difference. But, the car felt planted, felt glued, sure-footed, turn-in steering was really light. I liked the feel. There was a whole lot less, as I typed there earlier, a whole lot less wrestling of the beast. My GT500, I get some amazing lap times in that car at the track, but afterwards, I've felt like I've done a good workout. This car was just smooth, linear, predictable, and it's simply badass. Other things worth mentioning, the sound. The sound is absolutely intoxicating. I would describe it as more guttural. It's just louder, deeper, hits you on a different tone. An engineer said that they removed a resonator from the GT500. It sounds fantastic. Car outside, beautiful. Inside, beautiful. We didn't get any time to play in the menus. I just got in the car and started driving. This is fun! The car sounds more guttural, like more... The shifts feel differently. The power's amazing. Steering feels great. Brakes feel great. Despite the super cold temps, the tires feel good. Fantastic. That was fun! That was fun! Hell yes! Thank you, Ford, for making this badass car. Love it! Oh, man. Let's see. That's sick. Thanks for making a badass car. Thanks for coming out. Thanks for buying one. That was fun. Woo! Hell yeah! [00:11:56] Speaker 1: That was a good one. [00:11:57] Speaker ?: guitar solo guitar solo [00:12:57] Tim: Some notable changes on the Dark Horse SC Predator versus the GT500, it has the smog pumps or the cold start air pumps, they're electric pumps that feed in air into the headers there you can see, those two sit up top front center, the oil filter is back to a screw on canister type versus the cartridge style, and the engine has a smaller pulley as well as a smaller oil separator. The transmission has the same internals as the GT500 with a revised case and new mapping or programming, you can really feel the shift differences on the track and another noteworthy item is in certain parameters, I believe it's track mode with your foot to the floor and you pull the paddle and manual shifting somewhat close to redline, the shift will delay to absolutely hit it right at redline, that's a cool new feature. [00:14:05] Speaker 1: All right, away we go. All right. Are these tires cold or warm? Uh, probably cold, this has been sitting here after getting fueled, so... Okay. [00:14:17] Speaker ?: Okay. [00:14:39] Tim: Nice turning. [00:14:46] Speaker 1: Excellent braking. Yeah, so 120 down into three, probably 130 at the Sargento truck. 155 when I ran out of bravery. And this is a really subtle spot that impresses me. We're like 45 at the center of five, but I'm at 95 under the bridge, so just violent braking. I love the rotation. And float it through seven. Cut correction. Nice. I think this one's set up a little less electronics than I'm used to, so I'm learning as I go. Nice. So probably 120 down into eight. Floating through here, about 75, 80. All in the shade. Looking across your nose to the exits. Late apex, nice. Squeeze. Run out of bravery at 130. 99. 99. So not quite 150 down to Canada. [00:16:27] Tim: Nice. [00:16:30] Speaker 1: 13's a lot of fun in these as well. Just scrub some speed off, throw it in, squeeze on the power. [00:16:38] Speaker ?: Beautiful. [00:16:41] Speaker 1: Nice. Yeah, that one was a little sloppy. I realized, like, oh, I'm sitting too far away. I've done that. It's like, oh, there's a wheel out there somewhere. That was lovely. Yeah. Thank you. Nicely done. Good driving, good car. Love it. That's the nice thing is, like, you take someone that's never been on track, makes them look good. Yeah, right. I've got 40 years of various experience. Like, it even kind of makes me look good, being rusty. Right. Thank you, JD. You bet. Appreciate your time. That was a pleasure. [00:17:20] Tim: Fantastic. What a great experience. This is a problem. This is a fucking problem. Do you need one of these now? Yeah. Oh, shit. Love it. Yeah. [00:17:52] Speaker ?: Yeah. [00:18:11] Speaker 1: What'd you think? [00:18:14] Tim: That was awesome. Dude, you were killing it out there. That was awesome. Boom. Our group wasn't going too fast. We were going too fast. Fantastic. Yeah, it was awesome. Time to take a close look at a Dark Horse SE Special Edition. Only comes in white and black, one year only, 2026. Now, the Dark Horse has a horse on the front, a Dark Horse badge on the back. These lights on the grill are a legal requirement due to spacing from the headlights. This is the air intake on the driver's side. The right side is plugged. Transmission cooler has a bigger intake that you can see there for more cooling. Car comes with brake ducts straight from the factory. The rear wing is the same as the GT500 with the risers being different, specific to the Dark Horse SE. There's the rear badge, the Dark Horse. And this car has a carbon fiber appearance package, which is part of the Special Edition. It can be ordered separately. You can see that rear fascia there, as well as the front fascia and the mirror caps. Same wheels front and back as far as width, but different offsets. 11.5 front and back, carbon ceramic rotors. These are carbon revolution wheels. Again, just like the GT500. The difference being the front and rear wheels now have the heat coating due to the carbon and ceramic brakes that shed more heat. The track pack and a special edition both come with Sport Cup 2Rs, 305 up front, 315 in the rear. Looking in the engine bay, you'll see the same strut tower brace that we found in the GT500. We also have the cold start electric air pumps that you see there, lower left, that supply air to the headers during cold start. Because of these air pumps, the degas bottles have been moved over to the right. These Predator engines are hand built just like the GT500 was, but we no longer have the builder's name on the plaque. The supercharger pulley is smaller, making more boost. And the rain tray is similar setup as the GT500, it's just covering a larger hole. On to the interior. Ford Racing now adorns the door sills. This special edition has the fabulous red Recaro seats. It also has the red line or red striped seatbelts. A fantastic combination. We have the rather large S650 digital dash. And this shift knob here and the paddle shifters on the special edition are printed titanium, apparently from recycled fighter jet metal. That's straight from the GTD program. The steering wheel is also from the GTD program, and this car has the lovely carbon fiber throughout the interior. Alright, it's time for some turkey talk. I was chatting with Ryan Shaughnessy, the brand manager for Mustang at Ford. He was saying that they basically have two rumors that are circulating around the internet. The first off is that the Dark Horse SC is simply a Dark Horse, regular Dark Horse, with a supercharger. Couldn't be further from the truth. The 5.0 Dark Horse and the 5.2 liter Dark Horse SC with the dual clutch transmission, apples and oranges, cars are very different. The 5.0 Dark Horse with traditional transmissions is nothing like the 5.2 liter Predator married to the wonderful 7-speed dual clutch. On top of that, a lot of R&D tech went into the SC that you don't find in the regular Dark Horse. Which takes me to rumor number two. The Dark Horse SC is just a renamed Shelby GT500. Now, there's a little meat on this, though. It's the same formula. 5.2 liter Predator, 7-speed dual clutch transmission, same cooling stack, same rear wing, same strut tire brace, same base and track versions are offered. Track version has carbon fiber wheels, rear seat delete, blah, blah, blah, lots of similarities. The differences, though, are noticeable. The SC makes more power, shifts are snappier, it's more planted, stays more level through the corners, it has better aero, better cooling, better brakes that are amazing. The SC feels lighter, more nimble, sounds better and just overall performs and behaves better. Ford chose not to call a new car the Shelby GT500 and I totally get it. Ford has a lot of equity in the Dark Horse brand, so why look backwards at a legacy brand? I love the Shelby GT500, I've got two of them. I love the new Dark Horse SC. SC standing for supercharger, I'm going to coin a term right here, right now. We're going to call it the Shelby Continuation. I get it, it's much like the 20-22 GT500. Something I do on the side is I run the GT500 form, which started with the 2007-2014 GT500s. We brought on the 2020-22 GT500 onto the form and now we're incorporating the new Dark Horse SC as the replacement to this car. They're all awesome. And finally, on to my 2026 Dark Horse SC track pack order and build. Back when the order banks opened in April for the 2026, I ordered an argon blue track pack with black painted roof, an exterior carbon fiber appearance package. I wanted the red Brembo brakes with red stitching on the seat belt. This is the total here, 156,470. And I now have a VIN and a build date. Special thanks goes out to the people that made this possible. Chuck Pauley from Middleton Ford. Ryan Shaughnessy, the Mustang brand manager from Ford. As well as Ari Grunneveld, the chief program engineer for the Mustang Dark Horse SC. Thank you, guys. So, to wrap things up. If you like hitting the twisties, attacking corners, or going to the track like I do, go get yourself a track pack. If you're more of the car show crowd, cruiser, or car collector, a base model is fantastic. Also, don't forget Ford is offering a drop top for 2027, which is really crazy with this powertrain. But, thank you, Ford, for being crazy enough to offer this event. My son and I both had an absolute blast. And thank you, Ford, for being crazy enough to keep driving fun. Thanks for watching. See you next time.