Road-legal Mustang GTD a $US300K weapon

FORD has revealed its hotly anticipated Mustang GTD this week, the US-only super-muscle car a road-legal version of the Blue Oval’s Mustang GT3 racer, and one that will set prospective buyers back an eye-watering $US300,000 ($A470,000).

Inspired by the car Ford will take to Le Mans next year, the Mustang GTD is said to be “unapologetic in its heritage (and) unbelievable in its performance”.

Every component of the vehicle was purposefully designed with the purpose of making the model the fastest roadgoing Mustang ever. The body is sculpted mostly in carbon-fibre with “astounding downforce” achieved by the combination of active aerodynamics and a hydraulically controlled rear wing.

The ride height is adaptable through two settings and 40mm, while braking duties fall to Brembo carbon ceramic rotors. The eight-speed dual-clutch (rear) transaxle is spun by a carbon-fibre prop shaft, gifting the Mustang GTD with “near 50:50” front-to-rear weight distribution.

Ford has not yet released engine specifications for its dry sump-equipped 5.2-litre supercharged V8, but says it is targeting “an estimated 800 horsepower” (597kW). That number means it is the highest horsepower street-legal Mustang ever developed by the company.

“(The) Mustang GTD shatters every preconceived notion of a supercar,” said Ford CEO and president, Jim Farley.

“This is a new approach for us. We didn’t engineer a road car for the track, we created a race car for the road. Mustang GTD takes racing technology from our Mustang GT3 race car, wraps it in a carbon-fibre Mustang body and unleashes it for the street.

“This is our company, we’re throwing down the gauntlet and saying, ‘come and get it’. We’re comfortable putting everybody else on notice. I’ll take track time in a Mustang GTD against any other auto boss in their best road car.”

Designed and engineered as a collaboration between Ford and Multimatic, the GTD will join a growing stable of performance-oriented Mustangs including the recently released GT4, GT3 and Dark Horse R spec. Ford says all will carry on the tradition of the Mustang being its most race and most successful nameplate in history.

Ford says the legacy, coupled with purposefully designed aerodynamic features, will elevate corner speeds, and provide more consistent control, enabling owners to set “incredible lap times at some of the world’s most hellish tracks”. It estimates the Mustang GTD will clock the Nürburgring Nordschleife in under seven minutes.

“The hardware has been carefully selected and developed to enable blistering lap time performance,” said Ford chief program engineer, Greg Goodall.

“The target for this project was clear – go much, much faster than we’ve ever gone before with a targeted sub-seven-minute Nürburgring time. This makes it the fastest roadgoing Mustang ever from Ford.” 

Road grip and cornering stability are further enhanced by wider tyres and wheel track, lightweight forged aluminium 20-inch wheels (or optional magnesium wheels), and a multi-mode traction system that can be altered from the steering wheel.

The Mustang GTD utilises the same advanced electrical architecture as the new seventh-generation Mustang offering what Ford says is seamless connectivity, a myriad of personalised driving modes, and over-the-air software updates.

Elsewhere inside the cabin, the road going rocket ship features a Miko suede and leather upholstery, carbon-fibre garnishing, digital instrument and infotainment arrays, and Recaro sport seats (front only, the rear seats are deleted).

Optionally, the GTD is offered with 3D-printed titanium paddle shifters, rotary dial shifter and serial plate made from retired Lockheed Martin F-22 parts. A variety of interior and exterior colour schemes are available, the car’s paint even able to be matched to a customer-provided sample, if they so choose.

“We obsessed about the racing technology under its skin. What makes it go is even more compelling than what you can see when it passes you by,” said Ford Performance Motorsports global director, Mark Rushbrook.

“When you look at the engineering, the aerodynamics, how the powertrain works, the Mustang GTD is a rocket ship for the road.”

The Ford Mustang GTD will be available in late 2024, early 2025.