“Our idea behind this car was to take a race car and not change anything for the street,” says Ford boss Jim Farley as the wraps are pulled off the new Ford Mustang GTD in his very own garage. “In fact, let’s add some stuff that’s outlawed in racing.”
This already sounds very promising indeed. And would you just look at the thing? Yes, that is a DRS-equipped rear wing on a muscle car.
But then again, this is no longer a muscle car as we know it. “We love our Mustang Shelbys and stuff,” says Farley. “But that’s not what this car is. It’s for the AMG GT Black Series. It’s for the 911 GT3 RS. We want to beat them not only at Le Mans, but with a street car too.”
Yikes. That is a serious statement from Ford. So, how will the GTD back it up?
Well, for starters there’s a giant dry-sumped 5.2-liter supercharged V8 up front that revs to somewhere above 7,500rpm and puts out over 800hp, making this the most powerful road-legal Mustang that Ford has ever built. Thanks to Balance of Performance regs, it’s much more powerful than the Mustang GT3 racer that inspired it, too.
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That engine is then connected to a carbon-fiber driveshaft and powers the rear wheels through a rear-mounted eight-speed dual-clutch Tremec gearbox. Weight distribution should be close to 50:50, and the whole thing is over 10cm wider than a standard Mustang. Pretty much every panel you can see except for the doors is made from carbon fiber.
Here’s where things get really exciting, though, and you’ll have to allow us to nerd out for just a moment. The GTD uses Multimatic’s adaptive spool valve damper technology with hydraulically actuated dual spring rates and height. What that essentially means is—in a similar way to the old Ford GT—the Mustang GTD’s ride height will drop by nearly 40mm when you put it in Track mode. Oh, and there’s no trunk because that’s taken up by the inboard rear suspension setup, the hydraulic control system, and the transaxle’s cooling system. Yeah, this is a properly serious Mustang.
What else do we know so far? Well, there are humungous Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes hiding under 20-inch forged magnesium wheels, and the active rear wing combines with hydraulically controlled flaps behind the front grille to manage downforce. There’s a giant rear diffuser, too, plus a titanium exhaust system supplied by Akrapovi? and sticky Michelin Cup 2 R tires.
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To save weight (and because of the lack of a trunk in the usual spot), the rear seats have been removed to make way for a wee bit of luggage space. There are Recaro seats inside, as well as 3D-printed titanium paddle shifters that are apparently made from old bits of Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fighter jets. Very cool.
It also sounds like the GTD really was a proper after-hours, skunkworks project with just a handful of people working on it in a secret garage hidden behind the windtunnel at Ford’s base in Allen Park. Given the noise that the firm is now making about its supercar-shredding performance, though, even your grandma will be aware of the GTD’s existence soon enough. Or at least she will be if she’s into Nürburgring lap times. Chief engineer Greg Goodall tells Top Gear that the aim is for a sub-7min lap at the Green Hell. For context, the new 911 GT3 RS has set a ridiculously rapid benchmark of 6:49.3.
Quite the departure from the usual muscle-car fare, then. And there’ll be a departure from usual muscle-car pricing, too. With limited numbers available and the majority of the build being taken on by Multimatic, prices will start at $300,000 (P17 million before taxes).
Ford hasn’t confirmed exactly how many will be available just yet before production begins toward the end of 2024. Could the Mustang GTD topple the GT3 RS in yet-another giant-killing for Ford?
More photos of the Ford Mustang GTD:
NOTE: This article first appeared on TopGear.com. Minor edits have been made.
