Ford Mustang GTD Beats Its Own Nurburgring Lap Record by 5.5 Seconds

The Ford Mustang GTD entered rarified air at the Nürburgring Nordschleife last August when pro driver Dirk Müller laid down a sub-seven-minute lap (06:57:685, to be exact) with one of these cars. Apparently unsatisfied with that, Ford and engineering partner Multimatic have continued tinkering with the car and have set a new record: a blistering 6:52.072, with Müller again at the wheel.

Ford bulleted the adjustments made to the car since the 6:57 run in a blog post:

• Revised chassis tuning with increased torsional rigidity
• Updated suspension hardware and alignment for even more precise, predictable handling
• Aerodynamic tweaks for improved downforce
• Powertrain calibration updates
• Revised ABS and traction control behavior
• New Active Spool Valve development

I guess there’s also the factor of the test pilot now having more experience with the vehicle, too—tough to quantify, but surely worth something. When Ford initially brought the GTD to the Green Hell last October, reports suggested that the weather at the track was less than ideal for a blistering run. Conditions may have been more favorable this time around, which certainly helps.

For context, this new 6:52.072 time makes the Mustang GTD slightly faster around the ‘Ring than a Mercedes-AMG GT Black Series and a smidge slower than a Lamborghini Huracán Performante. The king of the ‘Ring among production cars is still the Mercedes-AMG One, since Marco Engel laid down a 6:29:090 time last September, but is that really a production car? Technically, but I’ve certainly never seen one.

The Ford Mustang GTD is supposed to enter production (in relative terms—there are only supposed to be 1,000 of these) in the spring. The vehicle’s pitched as “street legal—barely,” running a suspension system of Byzantine complexity, race-car aero, nearly 50/50 front/rear balanced chassis, and of course a 5.2-liter supercharged V8 claiming a max output of 815 horsepower.

List price is about $325,000. Surely every example from the first batch is spoken for, so if you’re keen to claim one, start thinking up ways to bribe a friend at Ford.

The Blue Oval sent out a little sizzle reel about the new record (below), but you can get a better sense of the whole GTD ‘Ring experience with the ride-along clip from the 6:57 run (above).

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