I’m in a shuttle heading from a Palm Springs hotel to Thermal, California, to drive the 800- horsepower Ford Mustang GTD around a track, and I’ll be honest: I’m not going to be setting amazing lap times. Driving fast isn’t my expertise (though I enjoy it), but nerding out with engineers is. So tell me: What do you want to know about the Ford Mustang GTD?
There have already been plenty of “hot shoes” giving insight into the Ford Mustang GTD’s handling, and while I’ll do the same, there’s not a whole lot I’ll be able to add to what all these much-better drivers have to say. That’s just as well, though, because I’m not at this Ford Mustang GTD media event to tell the same story as everyone else; we already know the thing is a brute on the track, but what I want to know is more of the behind-the-scenes engineering stuff.
And to give me some ideas on what to ask the development team, I come to you, dear nerdy readers. What do you want to know about the Ford Mustang GTD’s engineering?
This is a great opportunity to get answers directly from some of the best engineers on earth — at both Ford and Multimatic, the Canadian company that co-developed this racecar-for-the-road of a Mustang. The body is carbon fiber (with some metal bits here and there), the engine is a supercharged 5.2-liter V8, and out back is an 8-speed dual clutch transaxle.
I love that ducted cooling module up front; you can bet I’ll be digging into that and the rest of the cooling system. The aero and cooling story (two very related areas, which is why at Chrysler the department is actually called AeroThermal) looks very interesting.
Anyway, drop your questions in the comments. I’m sure there are some cool tech stories the world hasn’t been told yet about the GTD.
Hey I prefer hearing what I regular driver thinks over a Stig. Sure they are much better drivers but hard to relate. I have a more general engineering question. Is it possible and if so why don’t manufacturers use tires that have a little less grip in the corner so the car slides rather than flips? Or is there some Weird Science Stuff that decides when to slip/flip a car?
How does horsepower, as a unit of measure, vary between Mustangs and other breeds and how is this accounted for in SAE J1349.
Why is it so bad compared to the much cheaper Corvette? How much does it really share with the normal mustangs? How much modding would it take to make the “normal” GT500, which is “only” ~$100k to be competitive with this? Its a cool car, but man that price is brutal.
Honestly though, I am really into aerodynamics lately, and that means I am way into the undersides of cars and the cooling of major components. I would like to know what the undertray looks like, what the diffuser looks like/what angle is it set at, what is being done for the differential and trans cooling, what about the vents in the back of the front fenders, how functional are they? If the tray is completely flat, how are they keeping the exhaust system from melting things down as this is a front engine car, with more undertray vents? How are those vents designed? For the trans/diff coolers, are they pulling air from the front of the rear fenders or elsewhere? how are they being vented from there? Any Naca ducts on the car? What about the rear wing, is it in a stalled position or actually functional as a wing and not just a huge spoiler? What angle of attack?
What is the Coefficient of lift on the front and rear? Coefficient of Drag? Frontal area?
As hinted at by others, I want to know how much this car really has in common with a base Mustang EcoBoost–besides the badge.
I want to know if you can comfortablyish drive this on the street. I also want to know if the 5.2 has any relation to the new GT500’s
I am a mustang person and I am finding it very hard to care about this car.
From the price and exclusivity being unfathomable from a mustang badge, to the car barely being much of a production mustang at all, to it’s performance being eclipsed by a much cheaper regular production Corvette.
Other than it looking neat, my question is why should anyone care about this car?
Precisely nothing. I fail to understand why Ford would make the GTD a halo vehicle for the Mustang nameplate when it bears very little of the mass-production Mustang’s engineering. It’s about the same to me as putting a Camry fascia decal onto a NASCAR stock car.
Moreover, I think the GTD is a bit of an insult to Mustang fans–of which I am not necessarily one–to build a car like this, since they’ll never get to touch or likely even see it. I’m not sure what metric Ford is using to determine who has enough “clout” to purchase a GTD, but I’m sure it’s inversely proportional to how much someone cares about Mustangs in general. The Mustang is supposed to be a blue-collar affair, and even at $50K for a GT, it is…so to see it ascend to the realm of low-production Porsches and exotics is pretty out-of-touch.
Most of all, I don’t think Ford needs my help celebrating their goofy marketing tool, because that’s all it is.
Why does it have such terrible wheel gap? What standard is Ford developing against that consistently delivers a Mustang with the worst wheel gap ever?
Does Multimatic/Dynamic still make parts for the factory-installed struts in my 2001 neon ACR?
What does the D in GTD stand for? Don’t the people at Ford know that in Europe, a ‘GTD’ is typically a sporty Diesel Vehicle?
GTS (Supercharged), GTR, GTF (flat-plane crank) or GTM (for Multimatic) would all be better trim names
I assume the best part of spending $300,000 on a Mustang is not having to think about European sensibilities at all.
Daytona as in the IMSA class for GT3 cars, GTD
GT Daytona, the IMSA equivalent of FIA GT3.
GT Daytona is split into two classes GT Daytona Pro for full professional drivers and GT Daytona for a mixture of pro and amateur drivers on the same team
Can it jump a curb with the driver holding a hot coffee?
Is it faster than the roadkill nascarlo?
David, literally everything.
Why is it so friggin heavy?
Hey, DT!! Can you get Griffin explain in excruciating detail to the Mustang GTD engineers how the C5 Corvette is superior in every way?
It has been said before that the GTD starts from a standard Mustang Body in White, but what serious changes have to be made to that chassis to make it fit the GTD components line the inboard rear suspension/transaxle and all the rest? I mean they have to clearly cut it up somewhat to give you a visual access panel to that suspension, but I imagine the changes go way deeper.
I’m assuming this is Beau’s car based on the color….boy does he have excellent taste on that front
How hard is it to strip for parts? Can they be transplanted into a Festiva?
I need to know how much it would cost to make a Foxbody Mustang capable of matching the Ring time of the GTD.
Is it true that GTD stands for “Going To Die”?
Cause I heard that rumour from myself just now.
Why’d they go with the 5.2 SC engine and not a 5.4 NA engine to be more like the GT3 car?
That seems like a lot of extra work for the then-current emissions certification.
How much is the car limited (and in what specific ways) by needing to share assembly geometry and parts(?) with a car that can be rented at Hertz for $50 a day?
In other words, if this technology had been unleashed on a dedicated platform (like another GT) what could they have gained?
You hit the nail on the head for me with the cooling/aero questions. The speed hole count is very high, but I absolutely adore them, particularly in this pink shade.