New Delhi: Mustang GTD became the quickest American production car at the Nurburgring in 2024, lapping the challenging German track in 6 minutes and 57.685 seconds. It went past the Dodge Viper ACR by about 4.3 seconds, becoming the first car from the States to run a sub-seven-minute lap.
Though Ford wasn’t satisfied with that, Ford returned last year to take five seconds off, completing the course in 6 minutes and 52.072 seconds.
However, soon Chevrolet thrashed Ford’s record with the ZR1 and ZR1X, both faster than the ultimate ‘Stang. While the Corvette ZR1 completed the lap in 6 minutes 50.763 seconds, the quicker ZR1X set a time of 6 minutes 49.275 seconds. Reacting to this, Ford had indicated a response when CEO Jim Farley said that it was ‘game on’ now.
Come 2026, Ford is now reclaiming the title again, with a blistering 6 minutes and 40.835 seconds lap. Not only is it impressive, 11 seconds quicker than the Mustang’s GTD’s previous best run, but it also beat the Corvette ZR1X by more than eight seconds. Of course, this was through a heavily upgraded car in which the record was broken.
Ford Mustang GTD Competition powertrain
Dubbed the Mustang GTD Competition, this more hardcore version comes with an upgraded version of the supercharged 5.2-litre V8, making even more power than the standard car’s already impressive 815hp. Ford has also focused on reducing weight, adding magnesium wheels, carbon bucket seats, and lighter dampers, though exactly how much weight has been reduced isn’t yet known. For context, the regular Mustang GTD weighs 1,998kg.
Aerodynamics have also been enhanced quite significantly. The GTD Competition comes with a revised rear wing, along with additional front dive planes and rear carbon-fibre aero discs to increase the amount of downforce. These changes, along with newly made high-grip tyres, improve stability and cornering performance. Like the previous record attempts, Ford’s Performance and Multimatic factory driver Dirk Müller was at the wheel.
There will be a street-legal production version with the upgrades that were mentioned above in very limited “serialised quantities”.