For the past 4 months we've been watching *and* listening in awe as those lovely black GTD prototypes have whined and growled their way around the Nurburgring during initial high speed testing. And while ford wasn't shy about showing off the GTD to the world, they've only been drip feeding us information about the car. But over the last couple weeks, Ford has finally announced the official specs, and we've also seen a few new GTDs popping up at the Nurburgring and other automotive events, *plus* new footage released from Ford. And there is a ton of new information to unpack about this car. So lets get to it.
The most obviously striking aspect of the Mustang GTD is the exterior, and before we get into all the technical specifics about materials and engineering and aerodynamics, let's just take a moment to admire the exterior of this car. The lines are absolutely stunning, I don't care who you are, I don't care how much you hate the mustang, This car is brilliant from every angle. It's angry and aggressive but also beautiful and fresh. Today there's a dozen supercar manufacturers who are all making cars that are all starting to look the same, I mean look at this - these are 6 completely different cars from completely different manufacturers but they all look 80% identical, the GTD stands out as something fresh and truly unique. And what I might like the most about it, is that even though it's an extreme and edgy looking vehicle, it still has simple classic styling, and isn't visually overwhelming like most new supercars today.
The biggest hurdle the GTD faces when trying to achieve supercar performance is it's shape, which in many ways is the opposite of aerodynamic. The first rule in automotive aerodynamics is to minimize the size of the car's front end, and with most supercars being mid-engined, this is less of a challenge. But the GTD, on the other hand houses an enormous V8 engine in the front, requiring the car to have a huge drag inducing front end. Ford has compensated for this by installing hydraulically controlled front flaps beneath the engine, a carbon fibre underbody, a deep front splitter with parallel dive planes, and extractor vents in the hood, which all work together to help channel air through, around and under the car and reduce frontal air pressure. The sides of the car features louvers and additional vents in the front fenders and extremely deep side skirts, again which help to reduce air pressure. The rear of the car is also packed with aerodynamics, the most obvious being the huge rear wing which is mounted to the C pillars instead of the decklid. Hydraulic actuators are installed inside of those swan neck vertical wing supports, which control the angle of attack of the rear wing to maximize downforce and minimize drag.
A huge multi-stage rear diffuser helps speed up airflow under the car which reduces air pressure beneath the carbon fibre underbody. According to Multimatic, who will be producing the GTD, and also produced the latest Ford GT, the GTD produces more downforce than the Porsche GT3 RS.
The next most prominent feature of the GTD is no doubt the engine. Powering this beast is a 5.2 liter V-8 Predator engine that is a modified version of the motor used in the Shelby GT 500, which has been tuned to produce an astonishing 815 horsepower and 664 pound feet of torque. The updated engine also utilizes a dry-sump oil system which enables an elevated maximum engine speed of 7,650 rpm, up 100 rpm from the standard engine. A smaller supercharger pulley helps achieve higher engine output and additional power comes from an updated Akrapovič titanium exhaust. And it all sounds incredible.
Lets just take a moment, and listen to the GTDs isolated engine running full acceleration on a dyno
But power is nothing without handling, and multimatic was tasked with designing the suspension for the GTD. All 4 corners are fitted with Adaptive Spool Valve dampers, which incorporate a motor to switch between 16 different bump and rebound responses.
Other than the adaptive spool valve dampers, the front and rear suspension setups are completely different. To keep the front end as simple as possible, multimatic steered clear of complicated pushrods, and swapped out the double ball-joint struts of the standard Mustang for unequal-length control arms.
The trick rear suspension setup maintains a 1:1 motion ratio between pushrod and inboard dampers, which was achieved by using inboard-mounted dampers that required cutting through the trunk and placing the dampers above the transaxle. All of this ensures a line of direct mechanical communication between wheel and suspension movements. And while they were cutting, ford created a window to view the suspension at work.
