The Ford Mustang GTD aims to elevate the iconic muscle car’s image to a level it has never approached without a helmet and Nomex overalls. Ford revealed that the GTD’s 5.2-liter supercharged V8 engine will produce 815 horsepower, making this $300,000 pony car the most powerful production Mustang ever. The Blue Oval hopes an official sub-seven-minute lap around the Nürburgring is in the Mustang GTD’s future with this level of performance.
Ford also claims the supercharged V8 engine will output 665 pound-feet of torque and propel the Mustang GTD to a top speed of 202 miles per hour, another nameplate record. The engine is equipped with the Mustang’s first-ever dry-sump oil system. The system will push the engine’s maximum rev speed up to 7,650 rpm, a 100 rpm increase. More importantly, the engine will stay lubricated during sustained high-speed cornering efforts. Greg Goodall, the Mustang GTD Chief Program Engineer, said:
“We’ve been laser focused since day 1 to make Mustang GTD the first-ever supercar with world-class performance and the soul of a Mustang. GTD’s heart is its supercharged 5.2-liter V8, packing more horsepower per liter than the Porsche 911 GT3 RS.”
Obviously, no car can fly around the Green Hell under seven minutes on raw power alone. Engineers have thrown the kitchen sink at the Mustang GTD to eke out every hundredth of a second possible. The pony car is clad in carbon-fiber panels, a semi-active suspension system and an F1-inspired active rear wing. Ford gutted the trunk to fit an inboard rear suspension, a hydraulic control system and a transaxle cooling system. The Mustang GTD is a supercar in a pony costume.