Shelby’s New Super Snake-R Is an 850 Muscle Car With a Manual Transmission

Desmond Milligan · August 20

Shelby American continues to do everything it can to push the Ford Mustang to new heights.

The legendary tuner has just unveiled the Super Snake-R, its take on the seventh-generation muscle car’s track-focused Dark Horse variant. The new build presents a valid high-performance alternative to ‘Stang lovers who find the range-topping GTD to be a little over the top.

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First things first, Shelby is working with a pretty good base model. The Blue Oval’s Dark Horse has a naturally aspirated 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 that makes 500 hp and 418 ft lbs of torque. Shelby, as is its wont, has taken that mill and strapped a 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger. That change boost output to an incredible 850 horses, which is 35 hp more than the GTD, a vehicle that was briefly the fastest American car in Nürburgring history. The Super Snake-R, just like the car it is based on, is available with a six-speed Tremec manual suspension, though a 10-speed automatic gearbox is available for those who don’t car about shifting through the gears themselves.

The new supercharger is far from the only mechanical upgrade, though. There’s also a new Shelby-brand cooling system, a noisy Borla cat-back exhaust, and a fully adjustable coilover suspension. The car has also been equipped with two-piece slotted brake rotors to bring the vehicle to a stop quickly and safely. The Super Snake-R is geared towards track play, but, like the Dark Horse, it is also street legal.

The muscle car also wears one of Shelby’s go-to wide-body kits. The package of primarily carbon-fiber elements includes a new splitter, side skirts, and a giant rear wing. The vehicle also rides on a new set of staggered 20-inch magnesium alloy wheels, that meet both Ford and racing specifications. Inside the vehicle, the driver and passenger seats look more plush than those you’d expect to find in a race car, though the back bench has been ripped out and replaced with a roll bar. The exterior features plenty of Shelby badging and optional racing stripes.

Intrigued? Shelby is taking orders for the 2026 Super Snake-R now. The limited-edition build starts at $224,995, which is $160,000 more than the standard Dark Horse but $100,000 less than the GTD.

Click here for more photos of the 2026 Shelby Super Snake-R.

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