You'll Always Know When It's Time To Shift In A Ford Shelby GT350
Race cars (as well as more than a few performance cars that are road-legal) are usually equipped with a shift light that tells the driver its engine has reached peak horsepower and it is time to shift to the next gear: whether it is the large light next to the rev counter in a dragster to the LEDs in a Ferrari that light up one after the other as the revs climb, there are various ways to achieve this feature, and they are all very useful.
Ford announced that the latest sport car to come out of their factories, the GT350 –as well as its bigger brother, the GT350R– will feature such a light; even better, it will have 3 modes, which can all be configured.
First of all, the LEDs will be placed far into the dashboard, which means they will reflect into the windshield; all 18 of them will be amber-coloured, and they will light up in different fashions depending on the selected mode:
- In road mode, they will light from left to right as the V8 gets up to speed. Once the specified RPM is reached, they will blink, indicating that it’s time to shift.
- With Track mode activated, the LEDs will light from both ends towards each other. When the two sides touch, peak RPM has been achieved.
- Finally, there is also a Drag mode, which works pretty much like the aforementioned yellow light in a dragster: as long as the RPMs are climbing, nothing happens. Then, as soon as the engine reaches the preselected speed, all lights start blinking rapidly to warn the driver.
This system will come standard with the GT350 and GT350R; they will certainly be a huge asset for drivers that want to exploit the full capabilities of the flatplane V8 and its 8250 RPM rev limit!