Did The Ford Shelby GT350R Really Just Destroy The Z/28's 'Ring Time?

Here's what we don't know about the Ford Shelby GT350R: Exactly how powerful it will be, what its zero to 60 mph and quarter mile times are, and how much it will cost. But according to one report, we apparently know it can lap the Nürburgring faster than the Camaro Z/28. And the 997 GT3 RS.

That's what was reported over the weekend by the website HorsepowerKings. They claim the upcoming hyper-'Stang — said to be the most track-capable street legal Mustang ever — lapped the 'Ring in just 7 minutes and 32.19 seconds back in September.

There are a lot of qualifiers to this number. First, there's no video evidence to back this up. It's also not an official number from Ford or any 'Ring officials. It's from an unnamed source to HorsepowerKings, which, let's be honest, isn't exactly as reputable a source of information as Evo or Road & Track or what have you.

This is the same site that claimed the GT350's price will start at $52,995; we haven't seen proof of that yet either, though it could turn out to be true. They also recently claimed Ford was set to kill of all V8 engines by 2018. Ford officials denied this and the article has since been pulled.

Is the 'Ring time believable, though? Leaving aside the obvious point that these lap times are ultimately kind of meaningless, I say maybe.

Expected to have at least 500 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque, as well as a magnetic suspension and some 130 pounds of weight savings over the GT350, the GT350R will almost certainly be among the best track cars in the world. But a whole five seconds better than the Z/28's time of 7:37.40? Admittedly, that was done in the wet, but still. Damn.

We'll find out in the coming months if HorsepowerKings is right. If you have any proof to offer, please drop it in the comments below.