Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn has taken the wraps off the limited-edition, street-legal, ultra-high-performance 2025 Mustang GDT, inspired by the Mustang GT3 slated to race at Le Mans next summer.
“Mustang GTD shatters every preconceived notion of a supercar,” says Jim Farley, president and CEO of Ford. “This is a new approach for us. We didn’t engineer a road car for the track, we created a race car for the road. Mustang GTD takes racing technology from our Mustang GT3 race car, wraps it in a carbon fiber Mustang body, and unleashes it for the street.”
The new Mustang supercar, which will have an expected $300,000 sticker when it’s available in late 2024 or early 2025, will start life at the Ford Flat Rock Assembly Plant and then be transported to Multimatic facilities in Markham, Ontario, Canada, where it will be handcrafted for racing-inspired precision by the Ford Performance and Multimatic teams.
Not unlike the story of the 2019 “Ford v. Ferrari” motion picture, a handful of Ford team members met in a metal storage garage hidden behind a wind tunnel building in Allen Park and decided to design a Mustang to take on the best of European sports cars.
“This is our company, we’re throwing down the gauntlet and saying, ‘Come and get it.’ We’re comfortable putting everybody else on notice,” Farley says. “I’ll take track time in a Mustang GTD against any other auto boss in their best road car.”
Giving Farley confidence is the Mustang GTD’s sculpted mostly carbon fiber wide body and looming rear wing, powered by a symphonic supercharged 5.2-liter V-8 targeting an estimated 800 horsepower. The vehicle is designed to go faster around a track with more technology than the race cars it’s based on.
“We obsessed about the racing technology under its skin,” says Mark Rushbrook, global director of Ford Performance Motorsports. “What makes it go is even more compelling than what you can see when it passes you by. When you look at the engineering, the aerodynamics, how the powertrain works, the Mustang GTD is a rocket ship for the road.”
The car was developed by many of the same people behind Ford’s Mustang race cars and the Le Mans-winning GT. It’s built to be the quickest roadgoing Mustang ever.
Mustang GTD generates downforce from available active aerodynamics and grip from huge tires mounted to an advanced dual-ride-height short-long arm front and multi-link rear suspension.
It stops using Brembo carbon ceramic brakes, includes a rear-mounted 8-speed dual-clutch transaxle, and lightweight carbon fiber driveshaft for near 50/50 weight distribution.
Mustang GTD makes extensive use of carbon fiber body panels to reduce weight, lower center of gravity, and improve responsiveness. The fenders, hood, cover that replaces the trunk lid, door sills, front splitter, rear diffuser, and roof are all carbon fiber with optional carbon fiber front and rear fascias.
An available aero package that includes a comprehensive underbody aerodynamic tray also is carbon fiber and includes features pioneered in motorsports racing, as well as some technology that would be illegal in racing, such as hydraulically controlled front flaps to manage airflow for aerodynamic balance in coordination with the active rear wing.
Where there once was a trunk is now the semi-active suspension, a hydraulic control system, and a transaxle cooling system that uses a race-inspired cover that replaces the trunk lid and includes two air scoops to funnel air off the back glass into the area and through the heat exchangers.
The combination of purposefully designed aerodynamic features will result in “massive” downforce balanced across both front and rear axles, which will drive corner speeds up, produce consistent control, and record-breaking lap times at some of the world’s trickiest tracks.
“Our design team worked in conjunction with the Mustang GT3 design team and the aero team, sharing solutions between race car and road car, and vice versa,” says Anthony Colard, design manager for Ford Performance. “This is an aerodynamics-driven design.”
Mustang GTD utilizes a purpose-developed supercharged 5.2-liter V-8 with dual air inlets. It’s the highest horsepower street-legal Mustang ever developed by Ford.
It also features the first dry-sump engine oil system fitted to a roadgoing Mustang to help keep the engine lubricated during sustained and demanding cornering.
The engine’s more than 7,500 rpm redline generates “exceptional” notes through the available titanium active valve exhaust system.
A short-long arm front suspension provides enhanced lateral stiffness and improved kinematics especially in high-G cornering.
The rear suspension features an integral link pushrod and rocker arm architecture where the inboard Adaptive Spool Valve shock absorbers and coil over springs are arranged in a horizontal cross pattern and integrated with a strong, stiff, and weight-efficient motorsport-style tubular subframe. The architecture creates a motion ratio from pushrod to damper of 1:1 so the car responds precisely to track conditions.
Road grip and cornering stability for the Mustang GTD come from 325 mm-wide front tires — as wide as the rear tires of Ford GT — while the rear are 345 mm. These are mounted on 20-inch forged aluminum wheels or available forged magnesium wheels. The magnesium wheels offer what Ford calls “the ideal combination of weight and durability” and with a similar design to the Mustang GT3 race car.
The cockpit features are finished in premium materials including Miko suede paired with leather and carbon fiber, while digital displays keep drivers engaged and in full command. RECARO seats optimized for track days are complemented by available 3-D-printed titanium paddle shifters, rotary dial shifter, and serial plate, all made from retired Lockheed Martin F-22 titanium parts. The rear seating area has been removed to reduce weight and provide cargo space.
Mustang GTD will be available with multiple interior color combinations and in several special option packages. The car can also be ordered in any color, even color-matched to a customer-provided sample. These customizable options allow buyers to personalize their example should they choose to make it entirely unique.
“Mustang GTD represents the very best of Ford Motor Co. and what our team needs to do every day,” Farley says. “This is what happens when we take what we’re good at and push the boundaries to see where the bubble stops. It represents the essence of the transformation we’re going through at Ford, from software to special edition cars.”
