When Ford said it was taking the 2024 Mustang racing, it was serious. While we’ve already seen the NASCAR, Australian Supercars, and Formula Drift Mustangs, the most exciting variant was just shown off at Le Mans, festooned in carbon fiber and golden light. The Ford Mustang GT3 is built in collaboration with Multimatic and M-Sport, and is here to kick some GT-class butt. Imagine being a rich dentist in a Ferrari 296 GT3 and seeing this angry slab of Americana glued to your rear-view mirror.
Ford claims that the Mustang GT3 is “based on the all-new 2024 Mustang Dark Horse,” which is technically true, but this doesn’t look anything remotely like a bolt-on package. I mean, we share much of our DNA with apes, but King Kong has no concept of what a Roth IRA is. While there’s a kernel of Dark Horse hiding in here somewhere, Ford Performance has made substantial enough changes that the Mustang GT3 isn’t easily-identifiable as a Dark Horse relative.
For starters, there’s the engine, a 5.4-liter V8 derived from the five-liter Coyote and built by legendary motorsport outfit M Sport. While the dual throttle bodies and engine family of this V8 should feel familiar, the carbon fiber intake manifold, silicone-booted plumbing, and displacement are all a bit alien. That engine sits low in the front end beneath a jungle gym of tubes, some of which stiffen the vehicle and some of which support independent front suspension like you haven’t seen on a production Mustang in decades.
See, every Mustang starting with the Fox body in 1979 has featured MacPherson strut front suspension, which is great for a cost and packaging perspective. Not only are MacPherson struts cheap to produce, they don’t require upper control arms, which simplifies the front suspension. Fewer bushings to wear out, less space taken up by control arms, easy serviceability. However, MacPherson struts have some limitation in motorsport applications.
For a start, MacPherson struts don’t really gain camber throughout compression, and camber gain under compression can really help with cornering grip, especially in a front-engined car. To compensate, MacPherson strut-equipped race cars often run high static camber, which can affect straight-line grip and, to a lesser extent, tire wear. However, a short-long arm front suspension setup does gain camber under compression, and a race-optimized version of that is what we’re seeing here.
If a complete change in front suspension style seems crazy, wait until you hear about what Ford did to the gearbox. The standard Mustang Dark Horse you’ll be able to buy from Ford dealerships features either a Tremec six-speed manual gearbox or a 10-speed automatic bolted to the back of the engine and sitting roughly next to the driver’s inboard lower leg. On the Mustang GT3, the gearbox and rear differential are combined in a transaxle sitting in the rear of the car. Just like in a C7 Corvette, this setup requires a torque tube to send the engine’s output to the input shaft of the transaxle, which is very weird for a Mustang. However, the transaxle should help weight distribution, which is a noble cause.
Oh, and how could we not talk about the outrageous carbon fiber body? Viewing the Mustang GT3 from the side, it’s shock-and-awe with how each front fender gets five extractor vents on a giant fender bulge while the rear quarters are pumped out and then punched out with scoops reminiscent of the 1969 Mustang Fastback. The side-view mirrors are pure concept car, the swan neck rear wing is the size of an entire Festiva, and that’s all before you notice the side pipes.
Perhaps my favorite angle of the Mustang GT3 is from the front, where familial cues meet sheer aggression. We’re talking about an enormous swath of exposed carbon fiber surrounding the lower grille like you could get on the Ford GT, slim round LED driving lights in the upper grille, and a scowl of pure vengeance. It feels like the sort of down the road graphic a child would draw on a dream car, and what’s a Mustang if not a childhood dream come true?
Although the Ford Mustang GT3 isn’t racing this weekend, expect to see it out on track in 2024. Not only does Ford itself plan to run two Mustang GT3 cars in IMSA’s GTD Pro class, German racing team Proton Competition plans to race a pair in next year’s FIA World Endurance Championship. The best part? If you are a racing team, you’ll be able to buy one too.
(Photo credits: Ford)
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I have never wanted to be a racing team more than I do now. I wish regular Mustangs were like this, this is next-level coolness.
I like this nose WAY more than the one on the production car. The production car has way too much fake vent plastic and looks much worse than the previous generation.
If they do a GT350 with this lowered nose and a bit of the flares, I might consider getting one. Bonus if it still has the flat plane crank motor.
Wanted to see better underhood photos. Griggs used to sell a SLA front end for the SN95 Mustangs. I pondered getting one for my Cobra back in the day. GR40 I believe.
Engine power figures would be cool but I assume its not published.
The front view almost looks like a a concept to me. I didn’t immediately recognize it as the production mustang. I like what they’ve done with the fender extractor vents, they look better than other GT3s.
Also, for those curious, this is also apparently the kickoff of the rebranding of Ford Performance as FP. Ford says it’s going to now be a “lifestyle brand.” Yeah, sure, what isn’t these days? I guess that means more t-shirts or something.
(It’s Ford’s performance parts arm and seems to get renamed every few decades for some reason…it was Ford Muscle Power in the 60s/70s, then Ford Motorsport, then Ford Racing, then Ford Performance…).
It is Ford, it is new, it wont work. Dont waste time until next year. It is ford.
Is this a Haiku?
New Ford design? Pass.
At least, for a year or two.
Save yourself the grief.
Anyway, this only very loosely counts as a production model (edit: in that they’ll surely be hand-built, even if Ford employees and contractors are forming and assembling it, and there’ll technically be more than one on the track), so (I’d hope) everything should be double- and likely triple-checked.
I don’t care for the front view at all. The black slit with two dips for the driving lights and the black lip of the hood above just present as a formless maw. Needs some color in there for definition. And it may well look better in person. I’m all about function over form, but I imagine Ford wants this to pop, and I think that front view actually sinks
Also should note that I have little-to-no sense of style.
The Ferrari is just going to box after 17 laps on hards anyway.
And switch to new Hards.
That front design should be adapted to the production unit—new one is hideously oversized and droopy-looking. Still wouldn’t fix the terrible screen interior, but it would be a major step forward.
Just the front design? I think you mean the whole design should be transferred to the production car… I’ve never seen another Mustang that looks this cool. If ever a car needed to become a homologation special, this is it.
I hope we will also see them enter into the Nurburgring 24 hour next year, along with Corvette. *crosses fingers*
As a Ford fan I was worried that the Mustang S650 wouldn’t be competitive in GT3… No Worries!
And you thought Mustangs were out of control at Cars & Coffee meets already….
“Imagine being a rich dentist in a Ferrari 296 GT3 and seeing this angry slab of Americana glued to your rear-view mirror.”
Or a regular ass pedestrian seeing this angry slab of out of control Americana screeching your way…
Those dual throttle bodies are pretty sweet. But in relation to my S550 the last thing I want is more weight on the top of the engine. These cars already struggle in weight transfer.
So basically just the body of a Mustang 🙂
Correct. Little Mustang content in the car.