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Ford vs. Everyone: Automaker opens new chapter at Daytona with Mustang GT3/GTD supercar
Posted by Talbot Payne on February 2, 2024
Daytona Beach — Standing in front of the lean, mean Mustang GT3 racing machine in the Ford Motor Co. garage at Daytona International Raceway, Executive Chairman Bill Ford Jr. recounted his ah-ha moment when he realized Mustang could take on the world.
“I was in Dubai in November 2014 as part of our international tour announcing that we were taking the sixth-generation Mustang global,” Ford said over the cacophony of race mechanics preparing the GT3 for the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. “After our announcement, I was swarmed by passionate Mustang owners wearing Mustang jackets and shorts from Eastern Europe and the Middle East — countries that we didn’t even sell in it yet! That’s what Mustang is about. We want to re-ignite people’s love affair with cars.”
It was hard to understate the size of Ford’s ambition at this year’s 24 Hours of Daytona, the launch of the international sportscar racing season.
Bill Ford Jr. (left) with Mustang GT3 driver Dirk Müller inside the Ford garage at the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Müller and his teammates would take the Mustang to first place in class in its race debut before mechanical problems se them back.
Henry Payne, The Detroit News
If 1966 was Ford v Ferrari, then 2024 is Ford v Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Aston Martin Mercedes, Acura, Corvette McLaren. To borrow a Detroit mantra, Ford vs. Everybody.
Ford’s big guns were all here. Its executive chairman was in the pits (shades of Henry the Deuce at the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hour) and working the crowd at the Ford infield display; its ground-shaking V8-powered race car was pounding around the track, and its 800-plus horsepower, bi-wing, $300,000 Mustang GTD supercar was the most outrageous car in an infield midway that showcased everything from BMWs to ‘Vettes to the Lamborghini Revuelto.
“Of course, we’re racing in the international GT3 class. We’re the world’s best-selling sportscar,” smiled Mustang marketing guru Jim Owens when asked why Mustang was mixing it up with six-figure, luxury brand cars like Porsche 911, McLaren 720S and Aston Martin Vantage.
Ford Mutang at Rolex 24. #64: Ford Multimatic Motorsports, Ford Mustang GT3, GTD PRO: Harry Tincknell, Mike Rockenfeller, Christopher Mies. Courtesy of IMSA
But the GTD betrays Ford’s larger goal: it wants to prove it can make cars every bit as capable as European supercars even as it sells in much greater volume in 144 countries worldwide.
The GTD is based on the GT3 race car, but doesn’t have to conform to IMSA racing regulations that regulate horsepower and suspension technology in order to maintain a balance of performance between competitors, encourage close competition, and keep costs down. Whereas the GT3 race car is limited to 495 horsepower, the GTD’s supercharged V-8 pumps out a healthy 880 horses while also boasting active suspension and aerodynamic tricks outlawed in endurance racing.
“It’ll turn similar lap times as the Mustang GT3 race car,” said Larry Holt, chief technical officer for Multimatic that builds both the GTD and the race car.
The GTD is aimed squarely at the Porsche 911 GT3 RS’s 6:44.8-minute lap around the Nürburgring race track in Germany. Thirteen miles long with 154 turns, the high-speed Nürburgring is the world’s most formidable race track and the benchmark for production car performance.
Ford Mustang marketing guru Jim Owens talks about the Ford GTD with Rick Jeffrey, 63, of San Francisco at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
“We’re aiming for a sub-seven minute lap,” said Mark Rushbrook, Ford Performance chief, of the lap time few production missiles have ever achieved.
That’s impressed Dr. Brett Rosenberg, 49, of Jupiter Florida, who circled the GTD at the Ford display. Rosenberg owns a garage-full of Porsche sportscars including a 2019 GT3 RS and is well aware that that GTD is going to Nürburgring to challenge Porsche. Orders for the limited edition GTD will soon open and Rosenberg may apply.
“The Mustang GT3 looks cool and it’s American. I want to support American brands,” he said. “The Porsches are good because they are fast and they don’t break. They race the same engine that they put in their production cars. You have to have that.”
Kevin Clabert, 44, of New Orleans also came to the busy Ford display to ogle the GTD. A Ford collector, he owns everything from a 1926 Model T to a 1965 Shelby Mustang to a mid-engine 2020 Ford GT. He’s impressed with the GTD.
“Henry Ford could never have imagined cars like this,” said Clabert. “But if were alive today, he would love it because he was a visionary.”
The $300,000 GTD is a far cry from the $43,305, V8-powered Mustang that sells in dealerships. But Rick Jeffrey, 63, of San Francisco still sees it as a logical extension of the brand.
“Mustang has raced since its founding in 1965,” said Jeffrey, who met up with Clabert and other car pals from around the country for the Rolex 24. “They were successful in Trans Am, and this shows they can compete with the world’s best.”
The OG. A 1965 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 on display at the 2024 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona was the first Mustang to go racing. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
That the Blue Oval can sell a Mustang to such a broad demographic pf customer — from blue bloods to blue collars — is a rare feat in autodom. It was reinforced by the hundreds of people who jammed the Ford booth, from moms and dads pushing baby strollers to successful, gray-haired businessmen. In the middle of the scrum was Bill Ford Jr..
His great grandfather, Henry Ford, first attracted investors by winning the 1901 Sweepstakes race in Gross Pointe. Sixty-five years later, Ford beat Ferrari on the world’s biggest sportscar stage, the 1966 Le Mans 24 Hour. Now, another 58 years on, Ford’s third act is elevating its Mustang icon to take on the world’s greatest GT race cars.
The result has been a re-igniting of Mustang performance. Call it Ford Racing 3.0.
“Maybe the GTD is the car that inspires you to buy your first Mustang,” said Mustang GTD product manager Greg Goodall. “Mustang is a family. This car is part of that story and expands the family.”
Out on track, the Mustang GT3 ace car thundered down the straightaways, its distinctive V-8 soundtrack bouncing off Daytona high backings. After qualifying deep in the grid, the Ford Performance factory cars charged into the top five after four hours of racing.
The Ford Mustang GT3s were mobbed by fans at the pre-race grid walk at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
When Ford Performance boss Mark Rushbrook took over in 2014, the division was a company backwater with eight employees largely devoted to marketing. But CEO Jim Farley and Executive Chairman Ford had a a plan.
“They said: ‘we want to win Le Mans,’” said Rushbrook of the famed 24-hour French race. “That’s all they needed to say.”
In the the last decade, he has expanded Ford Performance to 100 employees. Initially, the goal was winning Le Mans to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford’s historic win over Ferrari. But that was only the beginning, as Ford Performance is now integrated into the company — dedicated to producing Mustang and Bronco racing machines to sell to customers in track and off-road racing.
That has also meant a big expansion of its relationship with Toronto-based Multimatic — one of the world’s premier race shops that also builds the Porsche Penske 963 that won the Rolex 24 at Daytona this year. That partnership has churned out 60 GT4 racing Mustangs in recent years and now Multimatic’s Charlotte race shop has the capacity to make 40 GT3 racers a year for racing as diverse as the WEC in Europe, Bathurst in Australia, and IMSA in North America.
The Ford Mustang GT3 race car and Mustang GTD production car together at the Ford display at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. The GTD is a production car based on the GT3 but without any racing restrictions on horsepower, suspension and aerodynamics. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
The crowing jewel is the GTD monster.
“This proves to customers what Ford is capable of,” said Ford’s Owens, who spent the weekend shuffling between the Ford garage, display, Mustang Club corral, and grid walks ahead of the Rolex 24.
Fans mobbed Ford’s Mustangs on the grid. IMSA says that its 62nd running of the Rolex 24 attracted recod attendance. Credit that, in part, to the siren song of the Detroit V-8.
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne