When Ford announced the Mustang GTD, it shook up the car world. Ford planned to make a supercar version of the iconic Mustang that would cost over $300,000. Many thought it was a cash grab from Ford to milk the Mustang name and squeeze more money from its customers in the disguise of a limited-edition track car. But Ford has set its sights on a greater mission for this supercar slayer.
A series that has been released by Ford documents the process of making the GTD and the rigorous testing that has been done to prepare this car through its GT3 program. This pushes the limits of the Mustang, and each learning stage is applied to the GTD road car. But Ford’s latest GTD update will be the biggest challenge for this vehicle.
A Nürburgring Lap Record
Ford wants to set a production car lap record on the ring. This is huge news for a company like Ford, since the Nürburgring is the proving ground for most automotive manufacturers. Setting a lap record at the famous Green Hell would instantly attract a lot of interest in your car. This has worked for series production cars like the Porsche 992 GT3 RS, AMG GT Black-Series, Lamborghini Huracán Performante, and many more.
Ford has built the Mustang GTD from the ground up to be a record-breaking sports car, similar to what other manufacturers have been doing with track variants of their supercars and sports cars. With the extensive testing done by Ford so far, the team believes it’s feasible to claim the Nürburgring Lap record. But it won’t be an easy task.
Creating A Legacy With The Mustang GTD
Ford’s mission with the GTD is very simple, “beat the Europeans on their turf”. The first course of action is to set a sub-seven-minute lap time, which hasn’t been done by any American manufacturer.
The fastest time done by an American car is 7:01.3, this was set using a 2017 Dodge Viper ACR Extreme, but it was a privately funded attempt that ended in a crash when a tire blew out on the third attempt. Ford can easily surpass this time with the Mustang GTD, which will instantly put Ford in a league of its own, as it will be the first American manufacturer to have a sub-seven-minute car on the Nürburgring.
The current lap record holder on the ring is the Mercedes AMG-One with a time of 6:29.090, which is a ludicrous time for a production car, but this car is powered by F1 technology and the GTD may not be looking to break this time at all. But with around 800 horsepower and GT3 levels of aero, the Mustang GTD might set a lap record of around 6 minutes 50 seconds or less. Ford has declared war against the Europeans and if they achieve this, it sets an eternal legacy for Ford and the Mustang.
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