Driving A 1,000HP S550 Is Easier Than You Imagined

The peaceful sounds of a babbling brook are suddenly overridden with an even more glorious sound — a supercharged Mustang approaching. This is no ordinary Mustang. Ryan’s yellow 2015 Mustang GT sports more than 930 horsepower at the wheels, which is well over 1,000 at the crank. What must driving such a car be like?

It doesn’t drive like it has 1,000 horsepower. — Ben Thorn, <em>Gears and Gasoline</em>

That’s just what Gears and Gasoline set to find out in a beautifully shot video clip.

“This car I am driving right now like a completely normal car. It doesn’t drive like it has 1,000 horsepower. In fact, with the (exhaust) cutouts closed, if you stayed below 4,000 rpm I would never know that it had 1,000 horsepower or that it was anything besides a Mustang GT with an exhaust,” Ben Thorn from Gears and Gasoline said with a hint of surprise.

2015 Mustang Mods

• Built short-block

• Driveshaft Shop driveshaft

• Driveshaft shop 800HP halfshafts

• ProCharger D-1SC supercharger

• McLeod RXT clutch

• Shelby GT350 intake manifoldObviously, Ben hasn’t spent much time around power-adder Mustangs from the modern era, as their combination of driveability and performance potential are un matched. However, most projects of this caliber start out the same way.

“Everyone starts of with, ‘Well, I’m just going to do an intake, exhaust, and tune.’ That way it sounds really cool and makes a little more power than stock,” Ryan, the owner of this car, explained. “Then you go, ‘Well, a supercharger’s not that expensive…”

Boost Is Better

Ah, yes, the slippery slope of horsepower addiction. If bolt-ons are fun, wouldn’t a power adder be more fun? The answer is undoubtedly ‘yes!’ Even though Ryan’s car started out strong with baselines of 400 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque at the wheels, the siren’s song of centrifugal boost was too loud to ignore.

“I always wanted a supercharged car, so we budgeted for it,” Ryan said. “So we went with the ProCharger and rebuilt the engine with forged internals, but kept a lot of the stock parts. They are actually pretty stout.”

To maximize that built engine, he chose a ProCharger D-1SC, which is designed to support 925 horsepower, 1,400 cfm, and up to 32 pounds of boost.

Surprise Attack

People are really surprised at how fast it is considering that it does not look special. — Ryan, car owner

The result of this revamped combo is certainly stout, as the car put down over 932 horsepower and 694 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels. On the half mile, this stock-appearing S550 puts that power to good use as it ran over 172 mph in the half mile.

“People are really surprised at how fast it is considering that it does not look special,” Ryan added.

The subtle, comfortable package that carries that performance definitely puts this one in the sleeper category, which is why it probably surprised the video host even though he knew how much power the car made.

“That was very controllable. The car kinda started to get a little squirrelly. It feels like it’s moving left and right a little bit, but it’s not like the back end is trying to come out on you,” Ben said after a power run through the gears with traction control on. “I can’t believe that a car like this will do that on stock suspension and on Michelin Pilot Super Sports. It’s totally insane. That’s fantastic. The days when you had to sacrifice your interior, you’re A/C and all that kind of stuff are gone.”

And that’s just the way we like it.