Automotive
The Ford Mustang GTD is rewriting the rulebook on what American muscle can do—especially when it’s engineered to eat corners for breakfast. Less than a year after claiming the Nürburgring lap record for an American production car, Ford has taken its track-bred GTD back to Germany’s “Green Hell” and lopped another five seconds off its already blistering time. The new number? A jaw-dropping 6 minutes, 52.072 seconds.
Let that sink in. This puts the Mustang GTD in truly elite company—beating out heavyweights like the Porsche 918 Spyder, Ferrari 296 GTB, Lamborghini Aventador SV, and the current Porsche 911 GT3. For a car that still wears the Mustang badge, this is nothing short of extraordinary.
So how did Ford squeeze out more speed from a car that was already on the edge of physics? According to the Blue Oval, it wasn’t about adding more horsepower to the GTD’s already potent 815-horsepower supercharged V8. Instead, engineers refined every aspect of the car’s dynamics. Updates include a sharper powertrain calibration, a revised chassis offering increased torsional rigidity, and improved electronic systems for both ABS and traction control. Aerodynamics were also fine-tuned, enhancing the Mustang’s ability to stick to the tarmac at extreme speeds.
One key to the GTD’s performance lies in its exotic hardware. This isn’t your typical pony car with a big engine and rear-wheel-drive layout. The Mustang GTD features a rear-mounted 8-speed dual-clutch transmission, connected via a carbon fiber torque tube to the front-mounted engine—a layout more common in top-tier endurance race cars. The semi-active suspension, developed with help from Multimatic (the same folks behind the Le Mans-winning Ford GT), uses a pushrod setup with spool-valve dampers. It’s a technical marvel that bridges the gap between road and race.
While Ford hasn’t released an onboard video of the record-setting lap just yet, the company did share several images from the run, teasing what will surely be one of the most anticipated performance videos of the year. Expect it to surface on YouTube in the coming days.
The Mustang GTD isn’t just a faster Mustang—it’s a shot across the bow to European supercar royalty. It’s also a bold reminder that American innovation isn’t confined to drag strips and muscle-bound straight-line speed. Ford’s engineers have created something genuinely world-class, and they’ve done it with a nameplate that’s been part of the automotive landscape for 60 years.
With a Nürburgring time like this, the Mustang GTD doesn’t just honor that legacy—it redefines it.
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