Drag racing in a Shelby Mustang

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Drag racing sounds like the easiest motorsport in the world. Accelerate in a straight line for quarter of a mile then stop, and if you're in the fastest car you'll have won.

But as I found out at the Las Vegas Speedway last week, there's a hell of a lot more to it than that - especially when you're behind the wheel of a 540bhp Shelby Mustang GT500.
This iconic model has been updated for 2010 with more tyre-shredding power and extra-aggressive looks, and it's perfect for quarter-mile drag racing, where it should be able to set a sub-12 second time.

Unlike most American cars, the 5.4-litre V8 GT500 is a manual not an automatic. Normally this would be a good thing for a race but, to be honest, the first time I pulled up on the start line, I was left wishing there wasn't a clutch to worry about. The perfect launch is all about balancing high revs with a sharp drop of the clutch to dart away from the line - you can win or lose the entire quarter-mile race here, and it's tricky to get right.