When your author got a backstage pass to the Shelby American Collection a couple of years ago, I quickly started noticing the embossed name of my tour guide on the plaques posted by many of the historic cars. As it turned out, the unassuming man who arrived in an Explorer ST wasn’t the drawer of the short straw who had to come in when the doors were closed, as I had assumed. He was one of the museum’s primary curators and benefactors, the founder of the tapkat sweepstakes platform (used by CorvetteBlogger partners, the Chip Miller Amyloidosis Foundation, National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum, and MS Solutions, to name a few), and a personal collector of fast Fords.
As we were wrapping up, he told me he was awaiting delivery of a yet-to-be-revealed Ford GT that ended up being the gold Holman Moody Heritage Edition. This got us two car enthusiasts from different generations, opposite tax brackets, and differing brand loyalties on the topic of the Motor City’s more recent wares. He agreed with me that the newly revealed C8 Z06 and its flat-plane LT6 were unbelievably impressive but was sure to throw in that “they’ll build 30k of the things,” – as a hopeful second-hand owner, I replied “God willing” – before we got on the topic of Mustangs. At the time, the Shelby museum had an inbound factory custom GT500 that they’d be raffling off. My host pointed to the mockup poster they had made for the giveaway and said his friends at The Blue Oval assured him that the next supercharged Pony would be the most special one ever built, one that even the caretaker of the real Ford v. Ferrari Le Mans-winning GT40s might find interesting.
To say they were proud of the car that would be called “GTD” was an understatement. This sentiment might explain why, in 2026, Ford is still out there tweaking, pushing, and trying so hard to prove something with its 815 HP $327,000 baby even though it has been so thoroughly outclassed by a pair of C8 Corvettes in the ZR1 and ZR1X that respectively bring 1,064 HP and 1,250 HP to the table in a more exotic yet daily-usable package while costing at least 100,000 fewer dollars.
The ‘regular’ ZR1 already handily vanquished the overpriced ‘Stang at Sonoma with Randy Pobst and Hagerty, and on separate tracks in the hands of Top Gear and Savage Geese. With in-house engineers at the helm, it beat both times of the professionally-driven GTD at the Nürburgring last summer, and after massively gapping it (3.8-seconds per lap over just 1.6-miles) to take first place at Road&Track’s Performance Car of the Year, the GTD suddenly became “unavailable” for Car and Driver’s Lightning Lap at VIR, where the ZR1 overtook the McLaren Senna to set the overall lap record.
At this point, everyone already knows that the ZR1, not to mention the ZR1X that’s out there beating Lucids and making Koenigseggs look slow, is faster in all directions than the GTD, and yet, Ford persists. The firm has announced that there will be a new ne plus ultra version called the GTD Competition. The full details haven’t been released yet, but this “GTDC” will make more power, feature a revised aero kit with secondary front dive planes and a modified wing, have new grippier tires, and measures aimed at dropping the “base” car’s prodigious 4,343-lb. curb weight, including magnesium wheels, carbon bucket seats, and a new suspension setup.
For the GTDC’s coming-out party, Ford was back at the Nürburgring, and wouldn’t you know it, with Mustang GT3 pro driver Dirk Müller behind the wheel, the Comp. not only set a new American production car record, but its 6:40.8 is the second-fastest ET ever recorded after the Formula 1-engined Mercedes-AMG One hypercar.
There’s a silver lining for ‘Vette fans that we’re surprised Ford actually disclosed. During their time in Germany, Ford engineer Steve Thompson also got a turn piloting the GTDC. He stopped the clock in 6:49.337, and in doing so, both proved our original gripe with Chevy’s choice to use engineers to chase lap records – the pro was almost 10 seconds quicker! – AND saved a portion of the ZR1X’s pride as Drew Cattell’s best still undercuts the GTDC’s engineer time by .062 of a second!
Source:
Ford Motor Company / YouTube
Related:
[VIDEO] Ford Needed a Non-Production Race Car to Beat the Corvette ZR1X’s Record at the Nürburgring
[VIDEO] Ford Topples the Corvette ZR1 and ZR1X Times at the Nürburgring…With a Van!
[VIDEO] The Corvette ZR1X and ZR1 are Now the Fastest American Cars on the Nürburgring
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OK….
It’s not even street legal. It’s a Multimatic racecar from Canada. Nice try anyway ford.
Aww the pride and scourge of your local cars and coffee.
As soon as the money from that African Prince I didn’t know, hits my account I’m going to buy the ZR1X.
Numbers are numbers..Chevy needs to answer here or just be silent. Come on, Chevy! Fight back!
F O R D: Fix Or Repair Daily !
I thought the big deal about the GTD vs. a regular Mustang was that it had a super duper, fancy, ultimate suspension with a viewing window so that everyone would know it… So now they have to change the suspension for the GTDC? Are mag wheels lighter than carbon fiber? I guess so. Grasping at straws to get marginally better. No matter what they do (or the exotics do), they can’t deliver ZR1X performance for ZR1X money. So ZR1X is fine with me.
The car was a race car with slicks
Limited production or not, that’s an impressive time.
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