For makers of serious sports cars, the Nürburgring Nordschleife is where scores are settled and legends are born. This gargantuan, fast, narrow ribbon of tarmac snaking through Germany’s Eiffel mountains stretches out for a whopping 12.9 miles, boasts 154 turns, and is officially the world’s fastest toll road. It’s a natural environment for Ford to push its no-limits Mustang GTD, which set the official record as the fastest American production car around the Nürburgring last year.
However, when Ford first took the Mustang GTD to the Nordschleife for a record run, the track was still drying throughout the day, and as such, there wasn’t much time to set a fast lap. Back in December, Ford vowed to return to the Nürburgring, and it’s done just that, cleaving significant seconds off the special Mustang’s previous lap.
On April 9, the Mustang GTD took to the ‘Ring once again and laid down a new time of 6:52.072. That’s quicker than a Porsche 918 Spyder, or a stick-shift Porsche 911 GT3, and just a few hundredths behind the time set by the Lamborghini Huracan Performante. It makes the Mustang GTD the eighth-quickest production car around the famed track, and raises the bar for American cars around what is arguably the most famous track in the world. Weirdly, Ford hasn’t released footage of the full lap, but the time has been certified by the Nürburgring, so it’s officially legit.
It’s worth noting that despite besting its previous lap time by a significant 5.613 seconds, the $325,000 Mustang GTD still trails the less expensive, less powerful Porsche 911 GT3 RS by 2.744 seconds. Sure, that particular Porsche had the Weissach package, but even with that pricey option group equipped, a GT3 RS carries a sticker price of $283,245 including freight fees and gas guzzler tax.
Still, a GT3 RS isn’t a Mustang when it comes to personality and backstory. The Mustang is a blue-collar hero, an instant classic that set new sales records upon release turned into an American icon with a 60-year history of, for the most part, giving the people V8 power. It’s a bit of a party animal, not as sharp or as lithe as a dedicated sports car but one hell of a hammer. Compare that to Germany’s most iconic sports car with a history of prestige, and you can understand why few people will be cross-shopping the two.
At the same time, I can’t help but wonder if the Mustang GTD is in a bit of trouble. We still don’t know how newly imposed auto tariffs will affect pricing thanks to Multimatic assembling it in Markham, Ontario, and chances are that even quicker cars will be coming around the corner shortly. Porsche still has the GT2 RS moniker laying in wait, Lamborghini has a new set of hybrid supercars, and the AMG GT Black Series still holds the front-engined Nürburgring throne.
As such, we have this monster Mustang that made a huge splash when it was unveiled, but has seen hype start to fade before the first production example reaches customer hands. However, maybe that’s a good thing for resale value. Just look at the Honda NSX-R GT, the Lamborghini Reventón, and even the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series mentioned earlier. All cars that are a bit if-you-know-you-know and command serious price tags thanks to their rarity and status. With the first Mustang GTD deliveries taking place this quarter, it won’t be long until we find out just how much real-world star power this untouchable Mustang has.
Top graphic credit: Ford
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This car strikes me as a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. At this level of performance you just need to go mid-engine. I’d be curious to know how much a literal Mustang race car costs. Probably the vast majority of people wanting this much performance out of a mustang are already on a racing team and does it for a living. The car is awfully ugly, too.
So now it’s slightly more than barely faster than a ten year old Viper and a handful of guys with no factory support.
My Father bought a Ford dealership when I was about 18 months old and ran it for over 30 years. I’ve been into cars since birth. I have ate, slept and breathed Mustangs since the mid 80’s right before I got my license. I’ve owned several over the years and I have 2 currently. The technology in the GTD is impressive but I just can’t give a shit about it. I don’t know why I just don’t care about it but I just don’t care about it. Maybe because it goes against everything the Mustang is supposed to be about. The Mustang is the every man’s V8 sportscar. The GT500 is pushing it, but at 300K+ the GTD is a big yawn to me. I’ll never be able to own one and even if I could afford it, I doubt this is a car thst would be in my stable. A GT500 is almost something I could have, maybe, one day. This is for the 1% of Mustang people. As someone else said the Dark Horse is far more interesting.
I keep comparing this to the SVT Cobra R, which was kind of similar to the GTD in many ways, but Ford actually built that car up from a standard Mustang and didn’t charge a completely astronomical amount for it.
I ultimately think Ford aimed too high with the GTD project and underestimated just how hard it would be to beat Porsche. The 911 is just too good right now, as evidenced by the fact that it turns faster lap times with less horsepower while costing less money.
Say what you want, and I’m not a Mustang guy, I love the exterior looks of this. Is 300k+ a ridiculous price? Well yeah, The vast majority could never afford one (me included). But is it any different that all the other outrageously priced vehicles? No, it’s not. No offence intended, I’m just glad to see American manufacturers at least trying.
one too many zero’s for a mustang, no?
I can’t wait to see what the c8 Zr1 puts down for a lap. I suspect it will be a contender here and for a solid chunk less money (along with actually being a corvette and built on the same assembly line as rego vettes)
$325,000 and Blue collar hero lol
Exactly. That label only makes sense if it were faster and cost less than the GT3. It lost on both accounts. Plus, Jesus, it’s ugly.
Wait, is the electric type of mustang or the gas type of mustang?
Whatever it is, maybe they should try the other kind.
It’s quite interesting that given the engineering clout that has gone into this thing, that it can’t match a GT3RS time or better it despite having 300 more hersperwers.
Maybe the power rating is subject to a tariff?
More like the Porsche 911 platform is inherently better at creating a corner carver / road racer instead of a front engine, heavier layout of a base Mustang platform.
I always associate GTD with the Golf GTD – a GTI with a TDI engine. They only sold them for a few years but I always thought that would be a great car – in a slow car fast kind of way.
I just can’t get behind the GTD. It should be really cool to have such a high performance Mustang but it seems like a real “Ship of Theseus”. How many parts does this share with the normal Mustangs? Is it even the same body in white?
This is how I feel. If it was them just throwing everything at a standard Mustang and they were getting sub-7 minute lap times out of it, and if it cost like $100k, then I’d be impressed. Like I respect them for trying to get so much out of a FR platform, but they’ve reached the point where they’re starting to see the limitations.
If you’re gonna do a clean-sheet track day special, and if lap times are the goal, just start with a layout that’s better suited to that. There’s a reason GM went MR with the C8.
Yeah, there’s no build up to the GTD in the line up. A maxed out Dark Horse is $80-$85k and then it jumps to $325k+? This is a Mustang like a stock car is a Mustang
The Dark Horse, to me, is a much more impressive car.
…or just make more Ford GTs.
Ford probably doesn’t do a consistent run of Ford GTs to make sure that the Mustang stays their halo car
The GT is a whole other class of vehicle, but if they’re gonna build something that costs this much, just do like a baby GT with a 500 hp Ecoboost 4 cylinder or something wild.
I respect this car, but it is a little bit funny to me that they did basically a whole ground-up, $325k, super limited-production, track day special and it’s still slower than a cheaper, easier-to-obtain GT3 RS. And that’s after it had two attempts at the lap record.
And 300(!) more HP.
Isn’t Get Those Deutschbags a little aggressive for a car name? Then again, this is Ford we’re talking about.
As far as cross-shopping the more plebeian models of the Stang and 911, I could completely see that with the current versions, where a Mustang GT is a fantastic value against even a basic 911. But that’s probably much harder sell in Europe, where even though the Mustang achieved top sales numbers when it launched, it just doesn’t have the cachet of Porsche (or the low price of the US versions, especially with the 5.0 and the extra taxes)
At the price points, people probably own both, so no need to cross-shop.
Also it would still be cooler if the GTD used a street tuned NA 5.4 from the GT3 and not the Supercharged 5.2