The Ford Mustang GTD is the most bonkers factory Mustang, period. We’re talking about an 815-horsepower supercharged 5.2-liter V8, active aerodynamics, and a back half unlike any other Mustang to ever roll out of a Ford showroom. Instead of a regular transmission sitting between the driver and front passenger, the GTD features a transaxle for better weight distribution, cantilever rear suspension [Ed note: with an in-cabin window, so you can see it in action! – Pete], and a trunk full of cooling components. It’s a machine aimed at Nürburgring lap times, and earlier this year, Ford shipped one over the Atlantic to set a benchmark.
Ford’s since returned from Germany with a trophy of sorts — a track-certified lap time of 6:57.685 set by Multimatic driver and 24 Hours of Le Mans GTE Pro class-winner Dirk Müller. That makes it the sixth bone-stock production car ever to ever certifiably lap the track in less than seven minutes, and the fastest American car to lay down a time. Oh, and it’s the second-quickest front-engined production car to ever lap the Nordschleife, slower than only the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series.
So where does this sit in the context of all things? Well, if you’re looking for maximum bragging rights for $300,000, you might still want to consider the current Porsche 911 GT3 RS. Not only does it beat the Mustang GTD on price, it also posted a certified Nürburgring lap time of 6:49.328, more than eight seconds quicker than Ford’s moonshot.
However, direct comparisons of certified Nordschleife lap times alone are hard to pull. That Porsche completed its run on Oct. 10, 2022, while the Mustang ran its lap on Aug. 7, 2024. Nearly two years between lap times means some parts of the track have been been improved between the two runs, and weather conditions varied significantly.
See, while the team showed up to the Nordschleife, something else showed up — rain. Ford just had to wait for the track to be as dry as feasible before getting out there and going like hell. In the onboard footage, the track doesn’t look soaking wet, but it also doesn’t look 100 percent dry everywhere. This drying-out shape of the track is visibly obvious in corners like the karussell, where you can see different shades in the surface. There’s time to shave off here, it just needs better condition.
As a result, Ford will return to the Nürburgring in pursuit of an even quicker time. There are definitely seconds to be shaved off here, it’s just a question of how many. It’s also worth noting that competitors will keep pushing. We don’t yet have a lap time for the latest Corvette Z06 or Corvette ZR1, and with Porsche updating the regular GT3, it’s only a matter of time before the GT3 RS gets an update too. Things are getting interesting at the big table, and Ford’s going all-in. Welcome to the party, Dearborn.
(Photo credits: Ford)
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Maybe they just need to incentivise the car a bit. Perhaps promise it a few bystanders to crash into once it’s done the lap?
American car**
**Designed and built in Canada by MultiMatic.
Soon to be 51st of USA in a few months /s
This from a good old Ford Mustang. A car anyone could afford. Amazing.
I’m saving up the money from my part time job and putting in an order.
Wow the Multimatic Mustang is quick!
Just what it needs to sit in a collection with nothing more than delivery miles.
A little disappointing, or maybe I just oversold in my head it based on all the specs they were touting and the price, but I expected a sub 6:50 time.
The other American, the ACR viper it beat had 170 less horsepower, slow shifting manual transmission, No crazy multimatic active pushrod suspension, narrower front tires, no active aero, and importantly no factory backing and was 4 seconds slower over 13 miles.
I have to imagine that the Mustang isn’t trying so hard to kill the driver though. The other cars on the track though…
Yeah the no factory backing for the Viper was huge. They had limited time and no budget to redo it, and ran into some mechanical/tire related difficulties if I’m remembering right. The team was confident a 6.XX time would have been possible given another day of runs.
It also can’t be overstated that those Vipers came off the regular production line in Detroit using the stock engine and ACR suspension, not a specialty Multimatic build that shares very little with a “Mustang” you or I can buy at a regular dealership.
And they had also been dealing with bad weather over the limited time they had to test it, and were only able to do 3 timed full laps in between normal circuit use before tire failure at speed wrecked the car.
The sounds it makes are just wrong in the right way. Like it’s being lugged, then the supercharger, then I think WTF? Love it.
This has been in the works for a long time, as I’m sure is obvious.
One thing that astounded me was when we were getting briefed about it from the Performance/Product folks, there were like two of us on the internal comms team who had any idea of what ‘Ring times are, why this is just stonking fast, and why it matters. I thought it was a car company. Turns out it’s basically an accounting firm that makes mostly meetings.
Anyway, cool, cool, $300K Mustang with astounding performance that’s probably more accurately badged Multimatic.
How’s that affordable EV coming?
I would love to see a list of certified lap times that includes the tire used. It would be interesting to go back in time and give some of the older cars another drive with current tires.
You’d also have to come up with a weather correction value
I am less worried about the weather, these manufacturers typically find a weather window. And like Ford when they don’t they end up going back.
Tire tech is advancing at a crazy rate contributing to part of the time drops we see. It would be cool to see how much of the advancement is down to tires.
This 100%. I would love to see what some of the cars we grew up with do on modern tires. The grip is just phenomenal now. Largely my guess is it would just break things, stressing components that were never designed to have that much force put through them from the grip. I’d love to see a 2000 Cobra R on current gen tires, just to see the percentage improvement.
I have a K20 swapped Fiero. Eventually it is getting sticky tires, but when that happens wheel bearings will be added to my spare parts in trunk list. The amount of grip a modern 200 tread wear tire can generate is astonishing. You are spot on recognizing the impact that has on older vehicles.
I love the sheer balls this car has.
Ford’s middle finger to the world. Fuck yes.
How many gallons per mile does an 800HP V8 get?
Probably no worse the carb’ed 351 in the ’78 LTDII coupe I had in high school. That thing was a heavy drinker for sure. 8 MPG was normal!
had a 72 LTD that I dirt tracked like Burt Reynolds on and around the farms in town. Well, it was my parents. I could slide that thing almost as good as Burt.
Welcome to the party,
DearbornMarkham, Ontario*Sure we do, but at a relatively disappointing 7:10 it’s no wonder GM is not shouting about it.
https://www.motor1.com/news/740895/chevrolet-corvette-z06-nurburgring-lap/#:~:text=But%20in%20September%2C%20Germany's%20Sport,Christian%20Gebhardt%20at%20the%20wheel.
I mean, you could also buy like 2.5 Z06s for one GTD. Plus there’s still the ZR1.
I sat in traffic next to one of the test cars, and I can’t say this with enough emphasis: this. car. is. bad. ass. Just absolute presence. The aero and cooling on it is really cool to see. You can basically see the engine from a number of angles due to the ducting