Tuesday, 1 November 2016

Race Ready: Ford Mustang GT4 Turnkey Race Car Is an International Player

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What’s that you say? You’d love to campaign a GT4 car in a racing series, but the IPO of your emoji-based medical software company and the stress of defending your indoor surfing title leaves no time to prep a car? We’re here to tell you that Ford has got your back with its Global Mustang GT4, a turnkey race car. Based on the Shelby GT350R-C—which just happens to be fresh off a class-winning run in the 2016 IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge—the Mustang GT4 is configured to put you on the starting grid of any GT4 series in the world. It’s on display this week at the 2016 SEMA show in Las Vegas.

Relying on a 5.2-liter V-8 and a six-speed Holinger paddle-shift transmission for motivation, Ford called on some of the industry’s best-known names to fill in the blanks when preparing the car for the competition: Multimatic chipped in with a set of dampers, lower rear control arms, and a stabilizer bar tuned specifically for the GT4 setup, and Forgeline supplies the 18-by-11-inch rolling stock.

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The interior features an FIA-compliant full roll cage. Race-ready engine control and an ABS controller permit fine tuning of performance characteristics, while a Motec dash logger lets you keep track of your results. The front splitter, additional hood venting, rear diffuser, and a massive rear wing harness the power of aerodynamics in name of speed and grip. Although they’re optimized for on-track performance, we quite frankly find the purposeful fitment of the aero bits to be quite flattering to the Mustang’s profile, and we wouldn’t be surprised if some of the subtler elements find their way to the street.

Ford noted that the Mustang GT4 can run in any GT4 series, including the IMSA’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge (in the Grand Sport class), Pirelli World Challenge GTS class, and European GT4. Parties interesting in getting on the track with a minimum of skinned knuckles and stripped fasteners are advised to check out the Ford Mustang GT4 turnkey race car while it’s on display at SEMA.

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