Ride Shotgun for the Mustang GTD’s Sub-7:00 Nürburgring Lap
Ford has been sitting on the video you’re about to watch since August 7… a remarkable feat of patience, because the content is worth shouting from the rooftops. In this seven minute and five second video, you can ride shotgun as Dirk Müller wrings the Mustang GTD around the Nürburgring for an official time of six minutes and 57 seconds. Why does that matter? Until this carbon-bodied, 815-hp Mustang, no production car built by an American manufacturer had broke the seven-minute mark around the ‘Ring, a notoriously technical, long, and old track in western Germany.
The team had to keep the time a secret for months. The Mustang GTD was unveiled at the ritzy Pebble Beach Concours on August 17, 10 days after the sub-seven-minute run. At the reveal, Ford declared it was out to beat European supercars on their own territory at the ‘Ring, but the company didn’t reveal that it had already broken the seven-minute mark. In fact, Ford didn’t announce the time until earlier this week.
In case you haven’t read our previous coverage of the GTD at the ‘Ring, a bit of context: Ford brought the big guns for this record attempt, bringing along not only its folks from Ford Performance but also from Multimatic, the shop based in Canada that’s known for its spool-valve dampers, for engineering both race- and high-performance-road cars alongside major OEMs, and supporting endurance racing teams in a variety of classes. (Ford fans will recall that Multimatic not only partnered with Ford to build the modern GT but also helped to develop its GT3 and GT4 race cars, both of which are based on the Mustang).
The guy behind the wheel deserves a mention, too, because in the hands of you or I, the GTD would never have gotten close to seven minutes, let alone below it. Dirk Müller, now 49, holds a platinum license, the highest sports car racing qualification that the FIA hands out. The Nürburgring is practically in his backyard—he grew up about an hour and a half from the track. He won a Formula 3 race there when he was 21 years old and was part of the driver trio that took top honors at the 2004 24 Hours Nürburgring in a BMW M3 GTR V8. Combine that experience with his time as a Ford factory driver in IMSA endurance racing, before his current job as a driver for Multimatic, and you get the perfect guy for the job.
Watch the master at work here:
Impressive! But that is one heck of a price tag.
I am not sure I would call that a success given most the European cars in this price range are also faster
I’m not sure how people make the statement yet they don’t actually do the research and price the cars out AMG Black Series goes for $400,000 or more just as the Porsche GT3 RS does. Before MR kit lol. It’s right inline with its competition 😉
It’s always fun to see cars going all out on the ‘ring. I do wonder if they will get a better time here for the car. Time doesn’t wait for anyone here as Porsche will be breaking previous records they hold with their newest cars shortly if the have not already.
Great video and congrats to Ford for the new American car record. However, is it just me or did the autotrans seem like it was doing what EVERY automatic does, hunting for gears and never getting the most out of the engine? I drove a friends new Corvette on a twisty technical road I’m very familiar with and while the car is amazing it would be SO MUCH BETTER with a 3 pedal manual!
Agree Vinny…much as I loved the C8….the missing 3 pedal was one (of many) reason (s) while I sold it and bought back my ’72 Pantera. Add the usual updates to brakes and cooling and a performance engine build and you have a rocket ship for open road or open track racing.
Or maybe it would be better if you shifted it yourself… You don’t have to let it shift. You have options, just no clutch pedal, which most of us don’t use on a dog ring engaged manual anyway… You know, like a Porsche Cup car.
Fact is, the auto box does a better job, will never miss a shift, and usually gives faster lap times, which is the whole point.
I happen to prefer the 3 pedal arrangement, but some of the cars that I drive… You don’t need to use the clutch to upshift. I have reached the point where I have three pedal cars, and would not mine having a nice new Z06, even with two pedals. Or this Mustang.
Great video, loved every minute. I never expected to see the track let alone get to be in a car that was driving on it, Most appreciated. Thanks for posting.