Ford built the Mustang GTD with Aero Tech race cars that can’t even be used – Jalopnik

The race-bred Ford Mustang GTD only recently started reaching customers, but it has been making headlines for a while. The GTD has a host of standout features, like its exceptionally fast lap time on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, its immense 815 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque, and its staggering starting price of $327,960. It is a superlative car with remarkably advanced components, including precisely implemented aerodynamics that use technology used in Formula 1 cars and so advanced that it is even illegal in some racing series, such as the one in which the Mustang GT3 participates, the car that serves as the main inspiration for the GTD.

The F1-derived advanced aerodynamics is the Mustang GTD’s Drag Reduction System or DRS. As with the single-seater F1 cars, the drag reduction system hydraulically adjusts the angle of the car’s enormous rear wing and small retractable flaps mounted under the front splitter to keep the GTD stuck on winding roads and challenging circuit bends, while remaining lightning fast on long straights. Here’s how it works.

Not only does the GTD’s wing look cool, it’s also extremely functional and as intelligent as you’d expect from a car costing over $300,000. It is closed when necessary to create maximum downforce and keep the car planted through the corners, but the hydraulics open the valves on straights to reduce downforce and therefore aerodynamic drag, allowing the GTD to reach higher top speeds. This works in conjunction with the retractable front splitter flaps, the second piece of the Mustang GTD’s DRS puzzle.

Less noticeable than the colossal rear wing, these elements are still integral to the Mustang GTD’s performance. There are two small flaps mounted directly in front of the front wheels that extend on straights at high speed to slow the air moving under the car, reducing front downforce and making the GTD more balanced at high speeds. In tight corners, when maximum downforce is needed, the flaps retract to form a flat surface, allowing air to flow under the bodywork and reach the moldings that direct it from under the vehicle to the sides of the car and through large fender slats in the wheel arches.

The Mustang GTD’s drag reduction system is just one reason why it is such a spectacular performance car. The advanced suspension, supercharged V8 Predator engine and reworked chassis all combine to create the most hardcore Mustang the world has ever seen. At least until now.