Want to take a Ford Mustang racing but none of your mates want to chip in for a GT3 car? Is a GT4 just not doing it for you? Well, Ford’s got you covered with the new Dark Horse R: a Mustang so extreme it’s only allowed within the confines of a racing circuit.
Admittedly, it doesn’t look all that different to the regular Dark Horse, and that’s largely because it isn’t. The R gets the same 5.0-litre Coyote V8 as the road car, Tremec six-speed manual gearbox, final drive ratio, Torsen limited-slip differential and Brembo brakes. It doesn’t look all that different, either, carrying the same splitter and wing configuration as the standard car save for a couple of bonnet pins. Then again, it’s not like the Mustang Dark Horse was a slouch in the first place, and with over 500hp on tap the R boasts a similar level of grunt to a full-fat GT3 machine – only without the wider track and radical aero to keep it planted.
Peel back the familiar silhouette, however, and you’ll find a whole bunch of racing mods. The oil system has been reworked, as have the respective cooling systems for the transmission and diff given the amount of stress they’ll be subjected to. There’s also a Borla racing exhaust to amplify the ‘Stang’s V8 thunder, while new Ford Performance R1 19-inch rims come wrapped in optional ‘bespoke’ Michelin slick tyres. The interior - as you can see in the vid - has been completely stripped, which should make the Dark Horse R considerably lighter than its road-going counterpart.
Here's where it gets really interesting. First up, it costs nearly double that of the road car at $145,000 (or roughly £113,000 in our money). The upshot – aside from having a fire-breathing track car at your disposal – is that Ford has put a new 10-to-12-race, one-make series together in association with IMSA. You’ll also gain access to five-to-six track weekends across North America if a full racing season isn’t enough. Obviously that makes it a US-only prospect for now, but let's hope the idea catches on over here, eh?
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