Some of you may recognize the name Josh Barnett and think that it sounds a bit familiar. Well, if you are a fan of MMA fighting, you may recognize him better from his nicknames: The Warmaster or The Baby-Faced Assassin. Yes, it is that Josh Barnett. So, what is he up to these days? Driving the badass 2009 Shelby GT500 Mustang that he built for the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational, that’s what.
Josh did a great job putting together a clean, mild build that doesn't overdo it. For the most part, he kept the clean, stock Shelby GT500 look and we love it.
The goal for Josh was to build a car that was not unobtainable.
“Of course I’m way overmatched not only in wheel skills, but also in car budget and build,” he explained, “but I wanted to go out there with something that wasn’t custom from the ground up that people watching could never potentially own or build or have themselves.”
What he ended up building is the kind of project we can all identify with — a 700-horsepower ’Stang with bolt-on parts.
There is a little dirt and grime under the hood, but that's just proof that Josh drives his car, and let's be honest, we're jealous that Josh gets to put that many miles under his 700-horsepower Shelby. We'd drive it all day long.
He started by swapping the stock supercharger with a 2.9-liter Whipple and adding a larger intercooler reservoir, a larger heat exchanger, and an improved radiator from CSF. Josh also basically completely overhauled the undercarriage with mods, including BMR Suspension tubular A-arms and multipoint subframe connectors; KW Clubsport coilover shocks; and a one-piece aluminum driveshaft. He also installed a Ridetech Tiger Cage, which is a bolt-in roll cage that was not custom fabricated to the car.
Josh also swapped the factory seats for these Recaros.
Josh drives his Mustang all the time. The engine compartment isn’t spotless because this is not a show car that rides a trailer from track to track. Josh drives it, Josh gets it dirty, and Josh loves it.
“This car is made to do whatever, it’s a hit the track in any kind of way car with stuff you can just bolt on,” Josh said.
As a matter of fact, this isn’t the only Mustang that Josh has built, he also put together a 2007 Mustang GT California Special with an Eibach pro-kit, Magnaflow exhaust, the same one-piece driveline, and a Whipple supercharger that puts out around 475-horsepower. And, oh yeah, he built that one for his mom!
Of course, this wouldn’t be a Hoonigan video without a little burnt rubber to top things off. At the end of the video Josh shows us what his car can do and does a burnout on the loading dock. Only one problem—even with the traction control disabled, the tires are too sticky. After the failed first attempt, the guys water the track to set things up and from there he could perform two, awesome burnouts. And let’s just point out that he did that on a loading dock behind a warehouse. Talk about confidence and control over your car!
