Mustang GT4 race car debuts

Fresh from the GT350RC’s championship winning season, Ford Performance announced the new Mustang GT4 race car at SEMA 2016.

Compliant with global GT4 regulations, the new turnkey Mustang racer is eligible to compete in IMSA’s Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge GS-class, Pirelli World Challenge GTS and European GT4, among others.

The Mustang GT4 is actually based on the utterly dominant Multimaticbuilt Shelby GT350R-C, albeit with significant changes to the powertrain.

The Roush Yates built 5.2-litre V8 remains, but this time sans the jangling flat-plane crankshaft, instead using a conventional cross-plane unit. Compared to the high-revving flat-plane Shelby, the cross-plane GT4 should offer more bottom end torque, helping the car squirt out of corners better.

A ZF-developed twin-plate racing clutch and flywheel hook up to a Holinger built six-speed flippy-paddle gearbox — in place of the Shelby’s three-pedal six-speed — giving the Mustang a new-found pneumatically actuated precision, along with a considerable comedown in shift times. Multimatic’s fingerprints are once again all over the project; providing DSSV dampers, new rear lower control arms, along with new house-made front and rear stabilizer bars.

Forgeline provides the 18-x-11 lightweight forged alloys, while six-piston calipers and rotors from Brembo help turn this Mustang into a venerable apex eater.

The GT4 also features a new rear wing design — informed by lessons learned from the Ford GT race program — plus reworked diveplanes, diffuser, venting and front splitter. Inside protection comes from a full FIA-compliant roll cage, with instrumentation provided by MoTeC.