Ford Mustang GTD review – America’s GT3 RS tested on the road and the Nürburgring

It takes one glance at the Mustang GTD to realise Ford hasn’t held back one iota in building a road-going track car to take on the likes of Porsche, McLaren and AMG. Not much can rival a GT3 RS for visual drama, but if anything the GTD goes even further – clearly a Mustang in its bones but muscled up into something cartoonishly angry and aggressive, like it’s stuck part-way through a Hulk transformation. 

Hunkered down on wide tracks, with its enormous rear wing and aero channels cleaved into the bodywork, you could mistake it for a de-stickered GT3 car. We’ve tested the GTD on the road and on track around the Nordschleife to find out whether a Mustang can possibly be worth more than a well-specced McLaren 750S.

Ford Mustang GTD in detail

The exterior is just a snapshot of the engineering depth that’s gone into this project, because with the help of Multimatic (technical partner for the last Ford GT and the AMG One), every key element of the Mustang has been reworked to create an RS or Black Series-style road racer. Drivetrain, aero, chassis, you name it – it's all been pushed to the limit in a go-big-or-go-home American style, with a European mission in mind: to conquer the Nürburgring Nordschleife. 

In this realm, the GT3 RS is king, and you don’t beat it by copying it. The RS has been iteratively honed to such a high level that the chances of replicating its particular kind of magic are slim. The natural answer is to do something different and since Ford already has a Mustang GT3 race car competing in IMSA (in the GT Daytona class – hence GTD) and GT World Challenge, it had the perfect source material for a road-going track car. Something inherently more brutal than a Porsche GT product but laser focused and uncompromising in its own way. 

Multimatic developed the racer and used learnings from this to create the GTD, with the aim of setting the first sub-7-minute lap around the Nordschleife by a US production car. Some seriously invasive surgery is needed to achieve that, which comes at a price – £315k to be precise, with 300-700 units being built per year globally, a very small number of which being sold in the UK in left-hand drive.

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The GTD starts life as a standard Mustang shell, but the front subframe is stiffened and a new rear structure is installed, to which entirely bespoke suspension is mounted. Up front is a multi-link set-up with an upper control arm instead of the usual MacPherson struts, and the rear gets a radical reconfiguration with horizontally mounted inboard coilovers. 

These use Multimatic DSSV (Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve) dampers and two springs with different rates – the softer of the two can be fully compressed and locked out in Track mode, dropping the right height by 40mm at the front and 30mm at the rear. The units need to be mounted inboard for packaging reasons, which gives the added bonus of being able to watch the hardware at work through a window where the rear seats would normally be. Not if you’re the driver, obviously.

From the outside the GTD sounds biblical, even at idle. Close your eyes and you could almost be at a race meeting, the gritty V8 burble pulsing through the ground and silencing all conversation. The 5.2-litre unit has the bite to match that bark too, being derived from the previous-generation GT500 engine and supercharged up to 815bhp and 664lb ft. It’s dry-sumped to move it lower down and further back in the chassis, and gets a smaller supercharger pulley, a revised intake and titanium exhaust, and a fractionally higher rev limit than the GT500, now 7650rpm. 

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Power isn't neutered for the European market either, although the exhaust won’t be as loud on start-up or at low revs. The engine is hooked up to a carbonfibre propshaft and a Tremec transaxle at the rear; the GTD is auto-only but rather than the standard Mustang’s ten-speed torque converter, it gets an eight-speed dual-clutch with an e-LSD integrated into the same housing. 

Wrapping everything up is a carbon body that’s been stretched over tracks that measure nearly four inches wider than a normal Mustang’s, with tricks to work the air throughout – including active flaps in the floor at the front and a movable DRS plane in the rear wing to trim drag when needed. The wing is quite a statement, as wide as a surfboard and attached to reinforced C-pillars rather than the bootlid in order to transfer load more directly to the rear tyres. 

The net result is 885kg of downforce at 180mph, pretty much on par with the GT3 RS (860kg at 177mph). The GTD’s beefier hardware actually makes it heavier than a Dark Horse at a hefty 1989kg, but that didn’t stop it smashing Ford’s sub-7-minute Nürburgring target, with Multimatic works driver Dirk Müller posting a 6:52.072 in 2025. The GTD has since gone quicker still, setting a rapid 6:40.835 in Competition spec, which carries as yet unspecified power, suspension, tyre and aero upgrades. 

For comparison, the GT3 RS completes the loop in 6:49.328 (or 6:45.389 when equipped with its Manthey upgrade), while Chevrolet’s Corvette ZR1X has achieved 6:49.275. But GTD engineers are keen to stress that the Nürburgring time is only part of this car’s story. It’s been developed to be rounded and useable on all types of track, and the road. ‘If setting the lap time was all we were trying to do, it’d be even faster there,’ says Ford Racing vehicle integration supervisor Keith Weston.

Driving the Ford Mustang GTD

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Open the door and… oh. You're greeted by a normal Mustang interior: no roll-cage, no lightweight door panels, no fancy carbon buckets (the Recaros are borrowed from the previous-gen GT500). Ford doesn’t have a seat in its line-up that could be made from carbon without losing the side airbag and there isn’t an off-the-shelf roll-cage that can be installed into the GTD’s bespoke rear structure, but the ordinary cabin does break the road-racer illusion somewhat. It claws a few points back with the optional 3D-printed titanium paddleshifters, gear selector and chassis plate, which are made from melted-down F22 Raptor fighter jet parts. 

Despite appearances, the GTD doesn't actually feel like a race car for the road to begin with. It's docile and tractable at low speed, the transmission smoothly shuffles between ratios, and you can relax into it as you would in a normal Mustang. But in the wild, you’re very quickly reminded that this is not a normal Mustang. Other traffic goes nuts at the sight of the GTD, stalking and circling to get a better look. Squeeze the throttle for the first time and the GTD’s ferocity is equally eye-opening – at kickdown it explodes with almost surreal force and readily lights up the wheels on a wet road, overlaid by a faint supercharger whine up front and NASCAR thunder behind. This is an angry car. 

That sensation will be familiar to those who’ve driven a souped-up Mustang, say a GT500, but what won’t be is the way the GTD tracks along with so much more precision and purpose. The slack you get in a Dark Horse has been removed and the nose follows your commands more crisply, which you notice even at town speeds. The steering rack has different gearing than that of a Dark Horse, but the wide tracks and new geometry must also play a part. Tyres, too; the mammoth 325 front and 345 rear Michelin Cup 2 Rs have been developed specifically for the GTD, and there can’t be many other road cars with as much rubber on the ground. Given their width they hunt around a little on poorly surfaced roads, but the GTD is happy at a calm cruise as we head for the hills. 

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The tuning of the Multimatic dampers changes according to the drive mode (Slippery, Normal, Sport, Track, Drag Strip and Custom) and by using spool valves to control the flow of fluid through the damper, they can precisely adapt to your inputs and the loads going through the car. Even set to their softest the GTD feels tautly controlled, but there’s a jagged edge to the way it tackles harsh imperfections, and poor surfaces fizz through the car. It adds to the sense of connection but UK roads will be a tougher test. 

Overall though, the GTD is an absolute hoot. Predictable, trustworthy and a total sensory overload. On a wet surface the intimidation factor is very real, but treat it with respect and the GTD doesn’t bite. It may be more focused in every sense but it still has the benign balance and approachability of a Mustang, just with the intensity and poise ramped up to new levels. 

On twistier sections its reactions are slower than a GT3 RS’s and there isn’t the same sense of it pivoting rapidly around its centre on turn-in, but there’s plenty to like about the GTD’s more measured approach. It doesn’t feel as heavy as it is, but it’s not a car that hides its bulk with uncannily fast responses (there’s no rear-wheel steering or active anti-roll bars), and that gives it an honest feel. You can drive it with calm hands and revel in the faithful front end, the support from the suspension and the endlessly entertaining V8, and it doesn’t feel like there are sophisticated electronics dictating the state of play. 

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But the GTD’s trick is that, as well as the usual sensory rewards you get in a normal Mustang, it can be hustled with a more attacking style, at which point it enters a new realm altogether. Switch to Sport, open the exhaust valves, back off the ESC and it’s a wild thrill. It keeps giving back the harder you drive it, never running out of control and delivering flashes of excitement for corner after corner. 

Out of tight turns the V8 delivers a rich torrent of power that’s linear and precisely manageable. It allows you to hold the rear Michelins on the edge of slip – or just over if you’re feeling brave, tweaking your line with small twitches of throttle and kicking those wide hips out of line. The carbon-ceramic Brembos are a match for the power too, with progressive and reassuring pedal feel. 

It all comes together in an addictive, sustained rush. Would a manual add to the enjoyment? It’s not clear-cut. In a normal Mustang the extra interaction is welcome, but in the GTD there’s enough to keep you busy and totally absorbed, and the DCT is stellar – crisp on the way up, with a sharp crack of revs on the way down, which you can trigger over and over again, just for the hell of it. 

On track at the Nürburgring

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The ‘Ring is intimidating in any car, let alone an 800bhp+ Mustang. Yet the GTD is as stable, reassuring and capable as you could wish for through the 13-mile loop. Damn fast, too. It punches out of corners with real ferocity, eating through gears at a rapid rate, and breaks over 170mph on the Nordschleife’s long straights.

More than that, the GTD is a real confidence car. In Track Mode it hunkers down and stiffens up to get the aero working and there’s no hint of waywardness in its reactions. You sense there’s a huge amount of rubber on the ground from how the GTD digs in hard to find grip at low speeds, and how hard and early you can apply the throttle without needing big corrections. Variable traction control helps here, subtly trimming the power in its most lenient setting, but even with everything switched off the Mustang doesn’t bite back unless you’re very heavy handed. If anything it’s the front end that gives up first, brushing wide of the apex if you carry too much entry speed. 

Faster corners get the downforce working which gives the GTD a sense of huge stability. You appreciate the control from the Multimatic dampers too, which take the slack out of the Mustang’s reactions and provide a firm, stable platform. In places it feels too stiff, ripples in the tarmac hopping you out of your seat, but there’s good compliance when attacking some of the Nürburgring’s tall kerbs. It never stops feeling like a big, heavy car, but the chassis is equipped to deal with everything you throw at it and the weight is controlled very well. Particularly under braking, where the GTD always seems to have extra potential as you push deeper into the pedal, rarely triggering the ABS. 

It’s a more brutal experience than a GT3 RS, less tactile and laser guided, but the physicality of the GTD is addictive. For pure excitement I prefer the relentless thrill of the Porsche, how it pushes you to wring every drop of performance from it, and how its straight line performance is secondary to grip. But the GTD has a magnetic personality all of its own, one that’s just as distinctive and endearing.

Ford Mustang GTD specs

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