There’s no doubting the Ford Mustang GTD’s supercar credentials now.
The most hardcore version of the seventh-generation ‘Stang just became the fastest American production car in Nürburgring history. It circled the complex’s notorious Nordschleife circuit in under seven minutes—a first for a U.S.-made vehicle—beating the previous record by more than four seconds.
Driven by Multimatic Motorsports driver Dirk Müller was behind the wheel of the high-performance muscle car when the record was set on August 7. During one run, the powerful two-door was able to lap the 12.94-mile “Green Hell” in 6:57:685 minutes. That time may be a ways from the overall production car record of 6:29.090, which was set by Mercedes-AMG One earlier this fall, but it is the fifth-fastest time posted by a production sports car, matching the Porsche 918 Spyder’s time, and beating the Ferrari 296 GTB (6:58.70) and Lamborghini Aventador Super Veloce (6:59.73). It beat the previous American record holder, the Dodge Viper ACR, by 4.3 seconds.
What’s even scarier is the Blue Oval seems convinced that the Mustang GTD could do even better. It’s not that surprising. The Mustang GTD, despite being street-legal, was designed specifically for track dominance. It wears a carbon-fiber body with an active aero kit and is powered by a front-mounted supercharged 5.4-liter V-8. That mill is mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch rear-transaxle gearbox and makes 815 horses and 664 ft lbs of twist. That’s 300 hp more than Mustang GT3 race car, which, thanks to motorsports rules and regulations, is limited to around 500 hp. It’s also been reported that the car was limited to just three runs on the day it set the record because of the weather.
“We’re proud to be the first American automaker with a car that can lap the Nürburgring in under seven minutes, but we aren’t satisfied,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement. “We know there’s much more time to find with Mustang GTD. We’ll be back.”
Ford Mustang GTD
Ford
Interested in adding a record-setting ‘Stang to your stable? Prepare to pony up. The Mustang GTD starts at $325,000, making it the most expensive version of the nameplate yet. It’ll also only be built in limited numbers, though Ford has yet to reveal just how limited it will be.
