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Payne: Full throttle in the Mustang Dark Horse R race car
Posted by Talbot Payne on March 6, 2025
Charlotte, North Carolina — Wild horses gotta run.
RAAAAWRRR! I flattened the throttle of the Ford Mustang Dark Horse R out of Charlotte Motor Speedway’s infield track and onto the front straight. The mighty 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 exhaust echoed off the grandstand as I tore past 100 mph on the way to the moon.
Alas, like a spine-tingling Adele aria, all straightaways must come to an end, and I stomped on the giant 15.4-inch Brembo brakes, which slowed the two-ton missile — like NOW! — into a hard, 90-degree hairpin. Retrieving my eyeballs from the dash, I surveyed the stallion beneath me.
This is a Mustang race car.
America’s favorite pony car has long competed in GT4 racing, but with the introduction of its global, top-drawer Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona-winning GT3 racer, Ford is taking Mustang racing to an elite level. Welcome to the Mustang race car lineup.
The production Mustang lineup, of course, starts with the 315-horsepower, 2.3-liter, turbocharged, 4-cylinder Ecoboost at $33,515, with standard wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, 25.6-inch twin screen display and cloth seats. Then you can walk up the trim line to the 480-horse, 5.0-liter V8-powered, $47,055 GT, followed by the 500-horsepower, V8-powered Dark Horse and $300,000, 815-horsepower GTD.
If you want to go racing, Dark Horse R is your gateway drug.
My V8-powered Dark Horse R tester costs $146,595 for entry into the Mustang Challenge race series — including a trip this year to France’s iconic Le Mans race track.. Get hooked and more powerful thrills await: the $250,000 Mustang GT4 race car followed by the 495-horse GT3 racer with a price tag around $550,000. In addition to the horses, expect your racing budget to top six figures as well with GT3 race teams likely spending over $1 million for a season of racing against competition like Porsche 911, Aston Martin Vantage, Chevy Corvette Z06 and Ferrari 296. Bring a fat wallet — or sponsors with fat wallets.
The common thread through all production and race cars is the spot-welded chassis — aka the body-in-white — that emerges from Flat Rock Assembly. Then the ‘Stangs get sent off to different stables to be bred as pure race cars: the Dark Horse R to Watson Engineering in Brownstown Township; the GT4 to Multimatic in Markham, Ontario; and GT3 to Multimatic’s Mooresville, North Carolina, shop not far from Charlotte Motor Speedway
Then the engineers add — and subtract — technology to make my R into an asphalt-eating cyborg.
I hammered the impressive 3,949-pound production Mustang Dark Horse around Charlotte a year ago. Physically, R looks similar, save for a lower stance and tweaks like a more prominent front splitter, rear wing and tow hooks. But under the skin, it’s been heavily modified. Beginning with the interior.
You thought a narrow-greenhouse production Mustang had blind spots? Encased in a full-face helmet and HANS safety device, I was strapped to a high-bolster Recaro racing seat by a six-point Sparco harness and surrounded by a full roll cage and left window-netting.
I peered out the front window. Deep-sea submersibles have better window visibility.
The seventh-generation Mustang showcases the most high-tech interior ever seen in the pony car with those hoodless digital screens sprawling across the dashboard featuring wireless smartphone navigation and lush graphics by Unreal Engine. The R couldn’t give a damn.
It rips out all this hardware, saving about 350 pounds in the process. Racers only need to navigate a racecourse. A simple MoTec display sits atop the quick-release racing steering wheel. I secured the wheel and pushed the starter button. WHOOOOOM! The V-8 exploded to life.
While the six-speed manual-transmission-controlled powertrain is similar to that of the production 500-horse Dark Horse, the race car gains a Borla racing exhaust and strips the catalytic converters. The R sounds like a Jurassic Park T-Rex that just laid eyes on Jeff Goldblum.
Within two turns on Charlotte’s track, I knew this was a different animal.
That lowered stance, explained Ford Performance Motorsports Program Supervisor Dave Born, is the result of stiffened 700-pound front/1000-pound rear springs. Combine them with a lighter 3,590-pound curb weight, Formula One-inspired spool-valve shocks and sticky Michelin slicks, and the R is, well, racy.
With little roll through the corners, my confidence rose with each apex. More power. More g-loads. More brake. Chasing NASCAR driver Frankie Muniz (yes, the former “Malcom in the Middle” actor is a heckuva race jockey), we carved up Charlotte.
The 2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R race car thundered around the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval. Henry Payne, The Detroit News
Stereo stripped from the car? The V-8 is all the audio you need. Like a high school kid at the playground begging for pickup games, I hung around the pit the rest of the day looking for more laps.
I have raced cars all my adult life and prefer lightweight sports racers, especially with open cockpits for better visibility. But if your tastes run to pony cars and you have the coin … the R is a true race car.
Beware, it’s addicting.
2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R
Vehicle type: Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, single-passenger race car
Price: $146,595
Power plant: 5.0-liter V-8
Power: 500 horsepower, 418 pound-feet of torque
Transmission: Six-speed manual
Performance: 0-60 mph, NA; top speed: 165 mph
Weight: 3,590 pounds
Fuel economy: NA
Report card
Highs: Sticks like glue, V-8 soundtrack
Lows: Poor visibility; affordable only compared to its GT4/GT3 siblings
Overall: 4 stars
Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.