What Does GTD Mean On The Ford Mustang?

The Ford Mustang GTD has a long list of numbers associated with its performance capabilities. According to the folks at Ford, it's top speed over 200 miles per hour. Its insane top speed is thanks to a supercharged 5.2-liter V8 under the hood that produces 815 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque, revving all the way up to its 7,650 rpm redline. That's nearly double the horsepower produced by a 5.0-liter V8 Mustang GT (480 – 486 hp) and over 2.5 times more powerful than the basic 2.3-liter EcoBoost Mustang (315 horses). If you're spec sheet racing, there aren't too many road-going cars that can beat those numbers. More than just a spec sheet, however, Ford says the GTD is a race car for the road.

The race car bona fides are pretty well established – Ford did set a screaming lap time of 6 minutes 57.685 seconds at the Nürburgring with the GTD, after all. But what kind of racing are they talking about when they refer to it as a race car? Lapping the ring is great, but what about wheel-to-wheel action? That's where the naming comes in. GTD stands for Grand Touring Daytona (or GT Daytona) referring to an IMSA racing class. Ford races their Mustang GT3 in the IMSA race series, and the GTD applies the racetrack to the street without the restrictions of a race series.

More than just a powerful engine, the GTD offers all sorts of upgrades to the interior, body work, and suspension that make it very different from a standard Mustang. Starting on the outside, the body panels are made from carbon fiber, and there are available forged magnesium wheels – all in the pursuit of weight savings. Not just the body panels are carbon fiber either – the driveshaft is too. The exhaust? It's supplied by Akrapovič and made from titanium, of course, and underneath, the GTD has adaptive suspension dampers and a Track mode that lowers the ride height by 40 mm (1.57 inches).

Speaking of weight – the GTD boasts a "near 50/50 weight distribution" for optimized balance. To handle the stopping duties, Ford has enlisted six-piston Brembo brakes and Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires – some of the stickiest street-going tires money can buy (and the same tires you get on a Porsche 911 GT3). The tire widths are no joke – 345 mm in the back and 325 mm in the front – enough for serious high-speed cornering. The paddle shifters for the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission are 3D printed with titanium, and you still get features like Ford's 12.4-inch digital gauge cluster and their 13.2-inch center touchscreen. No matter what race series' Ford gets into, here's hoping that they keep making road-legal versions of those cars for the public – because this thing is awesome. Word is that Ford will make about 1,000 pieces of the GTD, with prices starting at over $300,000.