Categories: Cars

The Ford Mustang GTD Is Already Back at the Nürburgring. Is It Gunning for the Record?

Ford broke its own Nürburgring record for the fastest American car around the iconic track earlier this year, but the company didn’t keep that title for long. The Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and ZR1X stole the record just a few months later. Now, the Blue Oval has been spotted back in Germany for what we can only imagine is another record-breaking attempt.

The ZR1 and ZR1X surpassed the Mustang’s lap time by just a few seconds, achieving times of 6 minutes, 50.763 seconds and 6 minutes, 49.275 seconds, respectively. The GTD needed 6 minutes, 52.072 seconds. Spy photos captured by The Drive and Wilcobok on Instagram show the high-powered Mustang back at the Nürburgring, this time with a few modifications.

The photos show the GTD with an additional set of dive planes on the front bumper and tweaked hood vents. It’s unclear if Ford is trying to achieve a new record at the moment, or if the company is simply working on upgrades aimed at eventually reclaiming its record from the Corvette.

Either way, the GTD is Ford’s most potent high-performance Mustang ever. It has a supercharged 5.2-liter V-8 engine that makes 815 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque, which it uses to achieve a 202-mile-per-hour top speed, and Ford could be making some powertrain tweaks to help the GTD compete, but we can’t see those.

The Mustang is Ford’s road-legal version of the GT3 race car, featuring a carbon-fiber driveshaft, an eight-speed, dual-clutch transaxle gearbox, and a semi-active rear inboard pushrod suspension, which you can view through the rear bulkhead.

It’s an impressive machine from Ford, but the Corvette ZR1 and Corvette ZR1X are eager to eat the Mustang’s lunch. The ZR1X has 1,250 horsepower and 878 pound-feet of torque on tap from its turbocharged 5.5-liter hybrid V-8 engine, and it starts at $207,395.

That’s far cheaper than the $330,000 Mustang GTD. The regular ZR1 makes 1,064 horsepower and starts at $181,395. The pair might not be comparable in price, but the numbers don’t lie about which is faster.

We’ll have to wait and see if Ford is really attempting to set another record. Shaving three seconds off a lap time around the Nürburgring shouldn’t be impossible. Ford might not have to make more than a few minor tweaks to dethrone the Corvette.