‘Ring record smashed again by muscle car icon

Ford has returned to the 20.8km Nordschleife circuit to further lower the lap time of its GT3-inspired Mustang GTD.

While the flagship supercar-killing muscle car set a time of six minutes and 57.685 seconds last year, damp conditions meant time was left on the table, prompting Ford to return in a bid to go even faster. And with Dirk Muller returning behind the wheel, Mustang GTD did just that, this time lapping the Nüburgring in six minutes and 52.072 seconds, shaving more than five seconds off its previous time.

That’s enough to move it to fourth on the Nordschleife’s official leaderboard for production sports cars (excluding hypercars such as the Mercedes-AMG One), with only the 991-generation Porsche GT2 RS (with a Manthey Racing kit), a Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series and Porsche’s 911 GT3 RS ahead of it.

Though more favourable conditions played into the improved lap time, Ford made tweaks to the Mustang GTD not only to make it faster for its ‘Ring attempt, but also for future buyers.

According to the Blue Oval, this included revised chassis tuning, increased torsional rigidity, updated suspension components, aerodynamic tweaks, revised electronic control systems (such as ABS and traction control) as well as new Active Spool Valve shock absorber development.

VIDEO: Watch the Ford Mustang GTD lap the Nurburgring

There were no changes to the GTD’s 5.2-litre supercharged V8 engine, which continues to produce 600kW and drives the rear wheels through an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transaxle.

Underneath the aggressive bodywork is double-wishbone front suspension and pushrod rear suspension, connected to 20-inch wheels with Michelin Cup 2 tyres, and Brembo carbon ceramic brakes.

The Mustang GTD is far from what you’d call affordable, with US pricing to start from about US$325,000 (A$509,000), roughly on par with the 911 GT3 RS.

However, you won’t be able to buy one in Australia – or at least drive one on the road legally – as production is exclusive to left-hand drive markets.

It’s expected the Mustang GTD’s time as the fastest American production car won’t last long, as the new Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is tipped to go even quicker, thanks to its mid-mounted twin-turbo 5.5-litre V8 engine, capable of making 783kW and 1123Nm.