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2015 Ford Mustang prototype spotted on the street

Our trusty spy photographers have snapped the first photos of the 2015 Ford Mustang prototype out on public streets. With nearly every square inch of the machine covered in heavy camouflage, it's difficult to discern details, but we can see smallish horizontal headlamps at work in the coupe's nose. Ford has made it clear that modern lighting technology will allow the company to get away from large, expensive headlamp arrays in the near future, and the 2015 Mustang may very well be the first of the automaker's products to bow with the new tech. The philosophy was first displayed on the very attractive Evos Concept.
The extensive cladding doesn't extend all the way to the prototype's rockers in the instance, giving us a look at the heavily-sculpted sills. Overall, this test car looks considerably smaller than the current generation Mustang, and elements like a short front overhang and beefy dual-piston calipers give us plenty of hope for the future model. Of course, reports that the 2015 Mustang will bow with an independent rear suspension and EcoBoost power certainly don't hurt our feelings, either.

Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R named Road & Track Performance Car of the Year

With a 526-horsepower, 5.2-liter V8 that roars to 8,250 rpm, it's really hard to consider the 2016 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350R an underdog in any fight. However, the Shelby held the lowest as-tested price and was only middle of the pack in terms of power in Road & Track's 2016 Performance Car of the Year challenge. The 'Stang's numbers clearly didn't tell the whole story about the potent coupe because Ford's muscle car grabbed the title in this year's test. A model needs to be new or significantly updated to be eligible for the honor, and R&T found an impressive slate of eight candidates this year. The challengers included the Bentley Continental GT3-R, Cadillac ATS-V Coupe, Chevrolet Corvette Z06, Dodge Viper ACR, Mercedes-AMG GT S, and Porsche Cayman GT4. The Ferrari 488 GTB was the most expensive of the bunch with an as-tested price of $347,942, which is five times more than the Shelby. Once the group was together, R&T hustled them over curving roads and on the National Corvette Museum Motorsports Park. There was a lot to love about the Shelby, even in this impressive crew. "With a flat-plane crank and Sport Cup 2 tires, the GT350R is a Mustang turned up to 11," editor-in-chief Larry Webster said in the announcement of the results. The GT350R joins some great company. Past winners include the Porsche 911 GT3 last year and the Corvette in 2013. For some fantastic photography and the complete appraisal of these performance machines check out R&T's website for the full story. Related Video: ROAD & TRACK NAMES THE FORD MUSTANG SHELBY GT350R THE 2016 PERFORMANCE CAR OF THE YEAR New York, NY (November 9, 2015) – Road & Track today named the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R the 2016 Performance Car of the Year, beating out seven of the world's best new sports cars. The article appears in the December/January issue, on newsstands November 17, and on RoadandTrack.com. "With a flat-plane crank and Sport Cup 2 tires, the GT350R is a Mustang turned up to 11," said Larry Webster, editor-in-chief of Road & Track. "Not only does the car have soul and harness so much firepower with such ease, but the real achievement here is that it's so approachable. It's a car you can't help but love." The Mustang Shelby GT350R was the winner by a runaway vote.

Watch this Ford F-150 SVT Raptor fly like an eagle [UPDATE]

The Ford F-150 SVT Raptor is a very capable truck right out of the box, but "capable" has never translated into "invincible." Just ask the owner of the machine in this video. In it, the driver gets frisky with an aggressive jump with plenty of speed on his hands. The result is enough air to make Vaughn Gittin Jr. blush. As always, it's not the launch that's painful, but the re-entry. Gravity eventually asserts its dominance over the $43,630 pickup in a big way, and when it comes crashing down, it does so with a vengeance.
The impact was hard enough to set off both the alarm and multiple airbags inside the cabin. It's unclear if anyone was injured in the stunt, but we certainly wouldn't be surprised to hear that was the case. You can check out the stunt in the video below, and remember, when in doubt, back out of the throttle. Be warned, there may be some explicit/NSFW language in the clip.
UPDATE: Second video added with an even better look at the jump added below.