There’s never been a factory Ford Mustang more powerful than the GTD. Well, unless you count the Cobra Jet drag cars, but those are something else altogether. The Blue Oval gave its track-special ‘Stang a monstrous 5.2-liter V8 making 815 horsepower and 664 lb-ft of torque at the crank. But how much of that actually makes it to the tire?
Late Model Restoration found out in its latest YouTube upload. The Texas shop specializes in Mustangs of all kinds, so if anyone is qualified to strap a GTD to the dyno and let it eat, that would be LMR. The crew got its hands on a white-and-carbon car with a little more than 1,100 miles, and after a short shakedown, it was time for some testing.
LMR’s first pass turned up solid results: 740 wheel horsepower at 7,100 rpm and 605 lb-ft of torque at 4,600 rpm. Everything seemed tame during the run, as they kept it in fifth gear the entire time. They took the same approach for the second pass and saw improved numbers that time, with 753 whp at 7,400 rpm and 609 lb-ft at 4,500 rpm.
All in all, that equals out to roughly 8% drivetrain loss, which isn’t bad. It’s typically safe to assume somewhere around 15%. While the Mustang GTD’s output has to travel a decent way from the engine up front to the eight-speed transaxle out back, most of it reaches the ground through the Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 R tires measuring 345/30R20.
Other Mustang GTD dyno videos exist on YouTube, but it’s helpful to have more than one to account for whatever variances might exist. So far, they consistently show the car making 740 whp on the low end, and LMR’s result of 753 whp is the highest I’ve seen so far. You just never know if the manufacturer is rating it accurately, because sometimes, they like to undersell it—big time.
We Dyno'd a Mustang GTD and the Numbers Are Insane!
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