The Ford Mustang GTD makes history as the fastest American vehicle to lap the Nürburgring

In a car industry world where electric mobility takes up practically all the information, there are still brands offering engines that make your hair stand on end thanks to their technology, power and sound. A prime example is Ford and its beastly Mustang GTD, a modern muscle car that, after just over a year on the market, was recently updated to increase its power even further.

It was last September when Ford announced that the Mustang GTD would benefit from a new dry-sump lubrication system, a revised intake, an updated turbo and a new exhaust line, upgrades to its 5,200 cc engine block that raised output to an incredible 815 CV and a huge maximum torque of 900 Nm. Thanks to these figures and its carefully crafted aerodynamics, the Mustang GTD reaches a top speed of 325 km/h. Owners who want an extra dose of thrills can also opt for the optional Performance package.

With all these ingredients, Ford set itself the goal of making the Mustang GTD the fastest American vehicle to lap one of the most demanding circuits in the world, where any serious sports car must be tested: the Nürburgring. The honour of holding this title, which is honorary but serves as excellent promotion, belonged to the SRT Viper ACR since 2017, when it stopped the clock at 7’01”30 on its first lap. It could perhaps have gone faster had it not later suffered an accident that left the Viper ACR unable to make another attempt.

But Ford’s ambition with the Mustang GTD went a little further, not only because it wanted to beat the SRT Viper ACR, but also to go under seven minutes and at the same time try to beat or get close to one of Europe’s sports car benchmarks, the Porsche 911 GT3 RS. With all this in mind, Ford got to work, took the Mustang GTD to the Nürburgring, and in October gave us a hint via a teaser that timed runs had taken place, but kept the details and, more importantly, the times under wraps. Until now.

Ford has confirmed that, with a completely standard Mustang GTD, apart from the roll cage and the competition seat with five-point harness required as safety measures by the Nürburgring management, they managed to stop the clock at exactly an officially homologated time of 6’57”685. With this time set by driver Dirk Müller, the Mustang GTD is crowned as the fastest American vehicle on the Green Hell and the fifth-fastest time for a production sports car, and also has the honour of being the sixth vehicle in that category to break the seven-minute barrier.

As we can see, it comfortably beat the SRT Viper ACR, but unfortunately for Ford it fell somewhat short of the 6’44”848 set by the 911 GT3 RS, the European model it had been eyeing. Even so, the milestone achieved by the Mustang GTD is very important for Ford, and that is why the brand wants to celebrate it by showing the inside story of how they achieved it, this time with a 13-minute documentary that, as you can see below, is a delight to watch.

https://youtu.be/YuxuSLB1hg8?si=mELBRuWg9WLw7FRI

Technical specifications of this car

CoupeFord Mustang6 versions · from 62,405 €