Ford Mustang GTD Returns To Green Hell And Obliterates Its Own Lap Record
Engineers of the Ford Mustang GTD have stood by their word in besting the GTD's previous lap record at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. With a time of 6:57.685 last year, the Mustang GTD became the fifth fastest production sports car ever. Following a bunch of small tweaks and changes to the chassis, ABS, powertrain, and aerodynamic bits, the Mustang GTD returned to the "Green Hell" and shaved 5.5 seconds off its previous best time. Not bad for about half a year of work.
Back in December, Ford announced that its Ford Mustang GTD had become the first American production car to break the seven-minute mark around the famed Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany. The attempts were fraught with undesirable weather, so it's totally understandable when Ford CEO Jim Farley declared that they had more to give.
Since then, the test team didn't just wait around for ideal conditions to give it another go; the GTD was updated as well, which included improved torsional rigidity, aero mods, a new powertrain, ABS and traction control calibrations, and revised suspension (particularly the Active Spool Valve System) and alignment settings.
The result? The Mustang GTD came in 5.5 seconds faster at 6:52.072. The time bumps the little mean Ford that could into fourth place in the fastest production sports car category, leapfrogging the 6:55.737 time clocked by a 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 (with Manthey Performance Kit). The record-breaking drive, once again, had Ford factory driver Dirk Müller at the helm.
Still, can the GTD go even faster? We're sure that's a question its engineers are already trying to crack. It WILL have its work cut out for it, though. Current third place holder, the Porsche's 2022 911 GT3 RS sits at 6:49.328.
The Ford Mustang GTD is slated to start rolling out to customers this spring, and we probably don't have to wait too long before it starts showing up on Mustang car crash meme videos. For the money however (some $325,000), would you buy a GTD or the 2022 911 GT3 RS? Not only is the latter cheaper ($250,000 in current used prices), it's faster (fourth place, remember), and actually has a frunk, whereas the GTD has neither a trunk nor a frunk.
