We thought the Ford crew in Germany sounded confident last week. And now it has come to pass; the Ford Mustang GTD has lapped the Nordschleife in less than seven minutes. That makes it only the sixth production car to have done so, and the first American road car. It almost made it into the top 10 fastest cars around the Nurburgring ever.
The GTD set a lap time of 6min 57.685sec around the Nordschleife. To put it in perspective, that’s a couple of seconds faster than the outgoing 911 GT3. But not as quick as a 911 GT3 RS (6min 49.328sec) or Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series (6min 48.047sec). During the attempt, the Ford’s average speed was 179km/h (111.75mph).
The current road car record holder at the ‘Ring is the Mercedes-AMG One, which managed a time of 6min 29.090sec.
The weather didn’t exactly play ball either so Ford plans to return next year in an attempt to better the GTD’s time. The recently revealed update for the 911 GT3 will no doubt have a crack at bettering the Ford’s time imminently.
The GTD is Ford’s ultimate Mustang, its 5.0L V8 bored to 5.2 litres, and with a supercharger it makes 815bhp (608kW). That means it has more power than the Ford GT.
Special features include dry-sump lubrication, an active-valve exhaust system and a carbonfibre driveshaft.
Up front is an unequal-length double-wishbone suspension design, and adaptive dampers by Multimatic. The GTD rides 40mm lower than a standard Mustang GT while its track is nearly 100mm wider.
Stoppers are by Brembo comprising carbon-ceramic disc brakes for extra fade resistance on track. A body kit includes huge wheel arch extensions and rear spoiler, along with air ducts for the engine and brakes. Aero evidently played a major role in the GTD’s sub-seven second lap time.
The Mustang GTD is sold out, and was by application only. Prices started at $US315,000. Applicants were from around the globe so in some countries it may be limited to track use only.
