In his current role as Ford Motor Company's Director of Advanced Product Creation and SVT (Special Vehicle Team) Programs, Hau Thai-Tang oversaw the creation of the fire-breathing 2007 Shelby GT500.

At a recent day at the track, Mustang engineer Hau Thai-Tang took a 2007 GT500 to 137 miles per hour. Click image or here for video.

It's only fair that he occasionally gets to take one out and make it do what it was built to do. Thai-Tang did just that at a recent gathering of automotive journalists at Road America's road-racing track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

After a short speech on Ford's intentions and goals with its new uber-Mustang, Thai-Tang took a handful of lucky journalists one-at-a-time on hot laps of the four-mile road-racing course. As Consumer Guide'sŪ exclusive video shows, Thai-Tang is as skilled behind the wheel as he is behind a desk. And Road America, with its varied turns and long straightaways, is the perfect venue to show off the GT500's high-performance virtues.

Thai-Tang put the car through its paces, with crisp upshifts and downshifts and smoothly executed, apex-clipping turns. On our all-too-brief hot lap, he pushed the GT500 to 137 mph on the main straightaway, and 128 on the back straight.

Thai-Tang's driving skills shouldn't be surprising, given his extensive experience with high-performance Fords. He began his career at Ford in 1988, and has been a key player in many of the company's serious performance and racing cars. In 1993, his duties with Ford Racing brought him to the Newman-Haas racing team, where he was responsible for the CART race cars driven by Nigel Mansell and Mario Andretti. During his stint as Mustang vehicle engineering manager, he led the development of the 2001 Mustang GT, Cobra, and Bullitt GT models. He was also chief engineer of the history-remaking 2005 Mustang. 

The Shelby GT500's exterior features nose-to-tail Shelby LeMans racing stripes and coiled-snake cobra logos on the grille, front fenders, and "gas cap" badge.

The '07 Shelby GT500 benefits from Thai-Tang's experience; the car is a deft fusion of Ford's 1960s muscle-car heritage and present-day SVT technology. It is also the most-powerful Mustang in history. Ford representatives announced at the Road America event that the GT500's supercharged 5.4-liter V8 has been SAE-certified to produce 500 horsepower and 480 lbs-ft of torque. The engine uses an iron block, but lifts its four-valve cast-aluminum heads from Ford's mid-engined GT supercar.

The GT500's "Roots-type" Eaton supercharger puts out 9 pounds per square inch of boost, and also emits a hair-raising whine that melds with the V8's copious roar in fast acceleration. As is fitting for a muscle car of this stature, the sole transmission is a performance-geared 6-speed manual.

The GT500's suspension is beefed up to provide handling commensurate with the blown V8's serious power. The Mustang's solid basic platform was augmented with revised shocks and spring rates, and upgraded stabilizer bars. Despite the suspension upgrades, the GT500 still uses an "old-school" solid rear axle instead of a more modern independent rear suspension setup.

Eighteen-inch wheels are standard, with 255/45ZR18 tires up front, and 285/40ZR18s at the rear. Ample stopping power comes courtesy of mammoth 14-inch Brembo vented disc brakes in front, and 11.8-inch vented discs out back. Overall, the torsional rigidity of the body structure is improved by 31 percent over the standard Mustang.

These substantial performance improvements easily justified tacking on the hallowed nameplate of racing legend Carroll Shelby, but the new GT500 still needed to pay proper homage to its 1960s forebears. Ford's designers achieved a well-balanced blend of '60s Shelby Mustang design cues and up-to-date SVT flavor. The focal points of the exterior are the classic Shelby "LeMans" racing stripes that run nose-to-tail and over the rocker panels of the car. The Mustang GT's galloping horse grille emblem and "GT" badges on the front fenders and faux "gas cap" are replaced by coiled-snake logos.

Click the image to read more about Mustang engineer Hau Thai-Tang.

Functionality was worked into the styling as well. A new front fascia features wider upper and lower grille openings for maximum engine-cooling airflow, and an air splitter that combats high-speed lift. The vintage Shelby Mustang-inspired rear spoiler provides downforce. Air diffuser strakes are integrated into the GT500's rear fascia, inspired by a similar setup on the Ford GT. Air extractor vents in the hood help dispel engine heat.

Interior tweaks include leather seats with added bolstering for extra support in fast cornering. SVT engineers also swapped the positions of the main gauges--the speedometer is now on the right, the tachometer on the left--to make the tach more easily viewable by the driver. All of the upgrades add up to an appropriately sinister demeanor, and give the GT500 a character distinct from any other Mustang.

The GT500 is set to go on sale in late summer '06 in both coupe and convertible form. Official pricing has not yet been announced, but Ford representatives estimate an MSRP in the low $40K range, which would make the GT500 a tremendous high-performance value. They'll likely be moving off dealership lots as fast as they move around the trac