{"id":34223,"date":"2025-03-06T10:47:45","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T14:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=34223"},"modified":"2025-03-06T10:47:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T14:47:45","slug":"payne-full-throttle-in-the-mustang-dark-horse-r-race-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/payne-full-throttle-in-the-mustang-dark-horse-r-race-car","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Full throttle in the Mustang Dark Horse R race car"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlotte, North Carolina<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Wild horses gotta run.<\/p>\n

RAAAAWRRR! I flattened the throttle of the Ford Mustang Dark Horse R out of Charlotte Motor Speedway\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 like NOW! \u2014 into a hard, 90-degree hairpin. Retrieving my eyeballs from the dash, I surveyed the stallion beneath me.<\/p>\n

This<\/em>\u00a0is a Mustang race car.<\/p>\n

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2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R race car<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

America\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

If you want to go racing, Dark Horse R is your gateway drug.<\/p>\n

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2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R race car is the entry-level Mustang Challenge racer behind Mustang’s GT4 and GT3 race cars.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

My V8-powered Dark Horse R tester costs $146,595 for entry into the Mustang Challenge race series \u2014 including a trip this year to France\u2019s 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 \u2014 or sponsors with fat wallets.<\/p>\n

The common thread through all production and race cars is the spot-welded chassis \u2014 aka the body-in-white \u2014 that emerges from Flat Rock Assembly. Then the \u2018Stangs 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\u2019s Mooresville, North Carolina, shop not far from Charlotte Motor Speedway<\/p>\n

Then the engineers add \u2014 and subtract \u2014 technology to make my R into an asphalt-eating cyborg.<\/p>\n

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2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R race car<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u2019s been heavily modified. Beginning with the interior.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I peered out the front window. Deep-sea submersibles have better window visibility.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t give a damn.<\/p>\n

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Sparse cockpit of the 2025 Ford Mustang Dark Horse R race car<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n