Production of the Ford GT wrapped in 2022, leaving room in the massive Detroit automaker’s stable for another bona fide supercar. Presented in its pre-production form at the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Ford Mustang GTD is here to fill the void.
This is undeniably the most extreme factory Mustang yet, even when compared to the Shelby GT500 variants. This “race car for the road” pits the muscle-turned-supercar against track-minded competitors like the Porsche 911 GT3 RS, as Road and Track points out.
The 5.2-liter supercharged V8 will send in excess of 800-horsepower through an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission—while it rips, that type of output is in the Mustang’s wheelhouse. What’s unusual for the American pony is its Performance package’s active aero kit, which features an F1-inspired Drag Reduction system, as well as the aggro front fascia featuring dive planes and a hefty front splitter. The Performance pack also removes sound-deadening material and adds 20-inch magnesium wheels.
While no 60-mph or quarter-mile times have been announced, all of these performance mods amount to much more than posturing. Ford is dedicated to making the Mustang GTD a sub-seven-minute car around the Nurburgring, which would put it in the company of the aforementioned Porsche 911 GT3 RS, the Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series, and the Ferrari 296 GTB.
“Many sports cars excel at one thing. But for a car to set a quick lap at the Nürburgring, it needs to be great at everything. Cornering, grip, braking, acceleration, there’s not a single area where it can’t shine,” said Mustang GTD Chief Engineer Greg Goodall. “From the lightweight carbon fiber body on every GTD to the active aerodynamics of the Performance package, we’ve learned from motorsport how to make the Mustang GTD excel everywhere, all in the quest for a sub-seven-minute lap of the Nurburgring.”
At Le Mans, Ford flaunted the Mustang GTD’s high-end motorsports-inspired interior, featuring a flat-bottom steering wheel with aluminum paddle shifters, inserts crafted from Dinamica microsuede and carbon fiber, and buttons to change suspension firmness and exhaust modes. There are also a pair of extra buttons on hero panel ahead of the titanium rotary gear selector to access the Track Apps page and activate a front-axle lift function, which elevates the front end to keep it from scraping driveways and other sloped obstacles.
The flashiest interior component, though, is the combo 13.2-inch touchscreen /12.4-inch digital gauge cluster, which fuse together into one giant screen and feature graphics derived from the Unreal Gaming video game engine. Naturally, the Mustang GTD gets its own special welcome and farewell graphics.
The car shown here wears the GTD-exclusive Chroma Flame burgundy coat and boasts the Carbon Series upgrade trim, which renders the hood, roof, and rear deck in unpainted carbon fiber. However, Polymimetic Gray, Race Red, Shadow Black, Frozen White, and Lightning Blue are also available with or without the Carbon Series upgrade.
Applications for the Mustang GTD are sadly closed for for U.S. buyers, but they’ve just opened up for residents of Mexico, Europe and the Middle East at themustanggtd.com.