Photography Courtesy Ford
The fastest car from an American brand to lap the Nürburgring? Ford is claiming the title after its Mustang GTD, piloted by Multimatic Motorsports hotshoe Dirk Müller, set a lap time of 6:57.685.
Ford is also quick to point out that the GTD’s sub-7-second lap is, according to the Nürburgring’s official records, the fifth fastest lap set by a stock production car and one of only six sub-seven-minute laps completed by a stock, production sports car.
Dirk Müller, the driver responsible for setting the Mustang GTD's 6:57.685 lap time of the Nürburgring.
But just how “stock” was that Mustang? Ford says it was “entirely stock” aside from “motorsports-derived safety gear mandated by the Nürburgring.”
While Jim Farley, Ford President and CEO, celebrates the sub-7-second lap, he apparently isn’t content with the result:
We’re proud to be the first American automaker with a car that can lap the Nürburgring in under seven minutes, but we aren’t satisfied. We know there’s much more time to find with Mustang GTD. We’ll be back.
Curious how Ford turned the GT3-spec Mustang into the GTD? Lucky for you, Ford also put out “The Road To The Ring,” a 13-minute documentary covering the two years it took to develop the Mustang GTD.
The Viper ACR also felt they had left time on the table, and used a much older V720 tire, vs the Cup 2 R that the GTD uses.
Man... $325k to go only 4 seconds faster than a $118k Viper ACR. Even inflation adjusted, the Viper ACR would be $150k today. For $300k, you could have gotten a Lamborghini performante, which ran 5 seconds quicker, and is... a Lamborghini, not a Mustang, ha.
In reply to Davidlu03 :
Why all the attitude? I'm no Mustang fanboi, but think that's a cool story.
Eh, I can see how my tone comes off that way. It just felt underwhelming when I've seen so many announcements about it, and then for 800+ Hp and a nurburging focus on PSC2R, that its not much (if at all) faster than cars from 7-8 years ago.
The amount of full-throttle acceleration that thing can deliver so early on corner exit—particularly complex corner exit—is really impressive. That's never been a Mustang strong suit, at least not any Mustang out of the factory.
The cost to achieve this is so out of touch with buyers, I doubt we'll ever see one on the street.
JG Pasterjak said:The amount of full-throttle acceleration that thing can deliver so early on corner exit—particularly complex corner exit—is really impressive. That's never been a Mustang strong suit, at least not any Mustang out of the factory.
Fingers crossed Ford will give us one to lap the FIRM with. (I'm only slightly delusional.)
In reply to Davidlu03 :
I don't think there's any way they couldn't knock 1-2 seconds off this run. It wasn't a flawless lap. And not perfect conditions. Wonder how long they rented the track for, and how many laps they'd previously run. Hell, they might get under .55. If Ford could stay there a month, rent the track as much as possible, they'd be on a more even keel with the euro's (as they have the track essentially in their back yard) fastest super cars. Not slighting any other cars, as I'm not a Mustang fanatic, but I do appreciate top shelf engineering in any car.
I can't help but think of what James May would have to say. 
kb58 said:The cost to achieve this is so out of touch with buyers, I doubt we'll ever see one on the street.
I see $300,000 Lamborghinis and Ferraris running around on the street every day and just about every stripe of Shelby Mustang ever made. If they sell these, somebody here will buy one.
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