The Ford Mustang is as American as apple pie and baseball, but there’s a special place in its heart for France. In particular the city about three hours south-west of Paris, where for more than a century the world’s biggest car makers have congregated each June for the greatest sportscar race in the world.
I’m talking, of course, about the 24 hours of Le Mans, the twice-round-the-clock endurance test that pushes both man and machine to the limit – and often beyond it. Ford has had plenty of success here, so much so they made a movie about it, with the iconic GT40 winning outright in the 1960s and then its modern successor, the GT, claiming class honours back in 2016.
Ford was back at Le Mans in 2024 with an all-new challenger, the new-generation Ford Mustang GT3, which lined up against the likes of Porsche, Ferrari, McLaren and Lamborghini in an intensely competitive LMGT3 contest.
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And we were there to watch the Mustang make its Le Mans debut, but getting to the race was only part of the story. Sometimes it’s the journey and not the destination, sometimes it’s the other way around but this time the best part of the trip is both the journey and the destination. That’s because we were taking a road trip from Paris to Le Mans behind the wheel of the seventh-generation Mustang GT, the first time any Australian media outlet had driven the American muscle car ahead of its arrival locally later this year.
It’s a tricky start though, because the Mustang GT is not built for the streets of Paris. The French capital is filled with a combination of narrow roads, cobblestone streets and seemingly permanently gridlocked motorways, which is not ideal for a 5.0-litre V8 muscle car.
The six-speed manual gearbox means my left leg gets an unplanned workout, but after an hour of slogging through the clogged streets we find ourselves on the motorways heading south-west towards Le Mans, the first opportunity to unleash the Coyote V8 under the bonnet.
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Tuned to make 345kW of power and 550Nm of torque (compared to 350kW and 550Nm in the limited edition Dark Horse) the V8 not only pulls strongly but sounds great doing it. Electric vehicles may be quick (or even quicker) but nothing on earth sounds quite like a big V8 growling as the tacho needle heads towards the redline.
It’s something that would become clear once we make it to Le Mans and watch the Mustang GT3 in action. Powered by a relatively ‘old-school’ V8 compared to the more modern flat-plane crank V8s in the Chevrolet Corvette and McLaren 720S, the Ford sounds deeper, throater and just better on the racetrack and the road.
As we get further from Paris and closer to Le Mans we end up blasting across French backroads, only slowing for each quaint little village and to admire the occasional historic chateau. The road gets more winding and that gives us a chance to experience the handling of the GT, which is a question mark after experiencing the Dark Horse in the US last year. The new hero model is designed to be the sharpest version of the Mustang, so there was some trepidation that Ford may not have sharpened the GT as much to create a bigger gap between them.
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Fortunately that fear proves unfounded, the GT is noticeably a step ahead of the previous generation. The Mustang still isn’t the sharpest sports car on the market, but it’s definitely better than ever before, with direct and responsive steering and a communicative chassis.
The most hi-tech upgrade for this generation comes inside, with an all-new digital display, which incorporates a 12.3-inch digital instrument panel and a 13.3-inch infotainment touchscreen into a single element that is tilted towards the driver. While it won’t be to everyone’s taste as it does away with some of the retro touches in the previous model it does bring the Mustang further into the 21st century.
Ford has developed six different instrument panel options depending on the setting the driver chooses. The primary three are the Normal, Sport and Track modes, which have been inspired by the GT supercar and the Mustang Mach-E electric SUV, while there’s also a Calm setting, providing only the necessary data, such as speed, in a simplified format. The final two are a celebration of the 1980’s ‘Fox Body’ Mustang, with digital versions of its round analogue dials in both a ‘Day’ and ‘Night’ mode, with the former using white graphics and the latter getting retro green dials.
Once we make it to Le Mans Ford has one more surprise in store for us. Paul Swift is Britain’s top stunt driver and the blue oval has partnered with him to help show off the potential of Mustang’s new trick – the Drift Brake.
Developed by drifting ace Vaughn Gittin Jr, the electronic handbrake lever allows you to lock the rear wheels and snap the car into a slide or flick turn. Swift and his team of experts let us have a play with this new toy, flicking the Mustang into a parallel park and drifting around a gymkhana course.
Not only is it just plain fun to slide and smoke the tyres in a V8, rear-wheel drive car, the Drift Brake makes it easy and underlines the playful nature of the Mustang. This is the antithesis of an electric car and while die-hards may resent the Mach-E carrying the name it has allowed Ford to stay true to the ethos of the coupe and convertible.
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While there’s still nothing more concrete than a “second half” of 2024 arrival for the Mustang in Australian showrooms, we do know already that it will be priced from $77,002 for the six-speed manual and $80,902 for the 10-speed automatic coupe. The GT will be the only convertible variant, with the V8-powered, auto-equipped drop-top priced at $86,102.
Having made it from Paris to Le Mans we had the chance to settle in and watch the new Mustang GT3 compete in the 24 hours of Le Mans. A podium finish for one of the Proton Competition entries was a fitting way to finish our road trip highlighting the connection between Ford, Le Mans and now the Mustang.
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