The race-bred Ford Mustang GTD solely began reaching prospects not too long ago, however it has made headlines for some time now. The GTD has a slew of headline-grabbing attributes like its exceptionally quick lap time on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, its immense 815 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque, and its staggering $327,960 beginning worth. It is a superlative automotive with remarkably subtle elements, together with exactly applied aerodynamics that make use of expertise utilized in System 1 automobiles that is so superior it is really unlawful in some race sequence, just like the one the place the Mustang GT3 competes, the automotive that serves as the principle inspiration for the GTD.
Mentioned F1-derived superior aerodynamics is the Mustang GTD’s Drag Discount System, or DRS. Very like within the single-seat F1 automobiles, the drag discount system hydraulically adjusts the angle of the automotive’s huge rear wing and small retractable flaps mounted beneath the entrance splitter to maintain the GTD glued to twisty roads and difficult racetrack corners whereas remaining blisteringly quick on lengthy straights. This is the way it works.
Taking a web page out of the F1 rulebook
Not solely does the GTD’s wing look cool, it is also supremely useful and as clever as you’d anticipate on a $300,000-plus automotive. It is closed when essential to create most downforce and maintain the automotive planted by means of corners, however hydraulics open up the flaps on straightaways to scale back downforce and due to this fact aerodynamic drag, permitting the GTD to realize larger prime speeds. This works in tandem with the retractable entrance splitter flaps, that are the second piece of the Mustang GTD’s DRS puzzle.
They’re much less obvious than the hulking rear wing, however these components are nonetheless integral to the Mustang GTD’s efficiency. There are two small flaps mounted instantly forward of the entrance wheels that reach in high-speed straights to gradual the air that travels beneath the automotive, which reduces downforce up entrance and makes the GTD extra balanced at excessive velocity. In tight corners when most downforce is important, the flaps retract to type a flat floor, permitting air to stream beneath the physique and attain strakes that information it from beneath the car out to the edges of the automotive and thru massive fender louvers within the wheel wells.
The Mustang GTD’s drag discount system is only one purpose why it is such a spectacular efficiency automotive. Its subtle suspension, supercharged V8 Predator engine, and reworked chassis all come collectively to type essentially the most hardcore Mustang the world has ever seen. To date, at the least.
