Ford Mustang GTD first American car to lap Nürburgring under seven minutes

Dirk Müller lapped the 12.9-mile German racetrack, nicknamed The Green Hell, in an official time of 6:57:685.

Ford Mustang GTD at Nürburgring Nordschleife — *The Ford Mustang GTD is the first road-going car by an American automaker to lap Nürburgring Nordschleife in less than seven minutes. – Ford photo*

What does Canada have to do with the first American car to lap Germany’s Nürburgring Nordschleife racetrack in less than seven minutes?

A lot, actually.

But, before we get into the Canadian connection, let’s look at the achievement by Ford.

Multimatic Motorsports driver Dirk Müller took the 815-hp Mustang GTD for a blistering ride and achieved an official lap time of 6:57:685 at the fabled track nicknamed The Green Hell. It’s the first stock production car by an American automaker to achieve a sub-seven-minute lap time at the 12.9-mile track.

“The team behind Mustang GTD took what we’ve learned from decades on the track and engineered a Mustang that can compete with the world’s best supercars,” said Jim Farley, Ford president and CEO, in a news release. “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.”

Ford released a 13-minute documentary about the efforts of the team to achieve such a lap time. You can watch it on YouTube.

Canadian connection

The Mustang GTD, like every current-gen Mustang, is built at Ford’s Flat Rock, Michigan assembly plant.

After that, it is transported to Markham, Ont.-based Multimatic where it is completed and becomes the GTD. Multimatic is the company that also built Ford’s GT supercar, as well as various other low-volume vehicles.

The short documentary features members of Ford and Multimatic’s teams responsible for the development of the car, including Multimatic chief technical officer Larry Holt, Mustang GTD chief program engineer Greg Goodall and Mustang GTD design manager Anthony Colard, along with Farley and Müller.

Dirk Müller in helmet inside Mustang GTD — *Dirk Müller was behind the wheel of the Mustang GTD for the official Nürburgring lap time of 6:57:685. – Ford photo*

Ford said the GTD benefits from lessons learned by the Ford Performance Motorsports and Multimatic Motorsports Mustang GT3 program, with a particular mention of aerodynamics and the setup for tracks such as the Nürburgring.

A car needs more than horsepower to achieve a sub-seven-minute run at Nürburgring.

The Mustang GTD has carbon-ceramic brakes, active aerodynamics, a supercharger, semi-active suspension, a carbon-fibre body and other enhancements.

The car used for the Nürburgring run was stock, except for the inclusion of motorsports-derived safety gear, which is required at the track. This includes a competition seat with a five-point harness and a roll cage.

More information on the GTD is available on Ford Canada’s website.