Seven reasons this is the real Ford Mustang supercar

Ford Mustang GT4: Town to track
Winton, Vic

The spotlight of the Ford world is on Adelaide this weekend. The opening round of the 2019 Virgin Australia Supercar Championship is also the series’ debut of the Ford Mustang. It occurs just a couple of weeks on from the debut of a similar silhouette Mustang racer in the top class of NASCAR in the USA.

But there’s a Ford Mustang that has already won races and is in so many ways the only real Mustang supercar you can buy today.

Enter the Ford Mustang GT4 – a purpose-built competition machine that you can take delivery of today and race tomorrow... Well, tomorrow plus a few weeks’ shipping...

The Ford Performance Mustang GT4 is not actually built by Ford. Rather it’s the work of multi-national performance engineering concern, Multimatic.

Multimatic has been building racetrack variants of the Mustang through the last couple of generations at least. Previously it’s been for domestic series in the USA. Now it’s built to a global rule set for GT.

Multimatic is also the company Ford turned to when developing and building its 24 Hours of Le Mans winning Ford GT. Down Under, it is the company that will bank the cheque for your Mustang GT4. And if you’re at all concerned about its bona fides, consider the fact that Multimatic Australia already supplies racetrack support for the current crop of Mercedes-AMG GT3 machines being campaigned in the Australian GT Championship and other events.

These blokes know their stuff.

The build process of the Mustang GT4 commences with bodies-in-white (destined for GT350 high-performance street models) being diverted off the main Mustang production line and sent to Multimatic.

The transformation continues with seam welding of the body and the installation of a complex roll cage built to satisfy FIA (international) GT4 racing safety regs.

The whole process snowballs from there – with suppliers like Bosch, Brembo, ZF and some closer to Australia all contributing to the finished item.

Indeed, while the GT4 looks very much like the road-going Mustang (unlike its Supercar or NASCAR counterparts), Multimatic says the finished product is about 80 per cent bespoke racer and just 20 per cent road car.

The heart of the Ford Mustang GT4 racer is a dry-sumped 5.2-litre all-alloy Ford Performance V8. Think of it as a little bit of road car and a lot of NASCAR.

The Multimatic Australia engineering crew (including well-known ex-Holden development engineer Michael Barber) reckons the Roush Yates developed engine is comfortably capable of producing up to 447kW (600hp) and rev to more than 8000rpm. As it sits its pumping out around 330kW (450hp) under current BoP provisions.

BoP is Balance of Performance – a series of measures GT racing globally uses to level the playing field to allow vehicles as diverse as the McLaren 570S, Porsche Cayman and Mercedes-AMG GT to race against the Mustang. BoP is not limited to engine output but also involves things like ride heights, weight and aerodynamic aids, etc.

There’s an Aussie connection in the bespoke racing gearbox the GT4 uses. The six-speed pneumatic paddleshift sequential gearbox is built by Holinger in Melbourne.

Big Brembo racing brakes are featured along with Bosch-sourced adjustable antilock brake and traction control systems

Just one look in the cabin of the Ford Mustang GT4 should convince you of its bona fides. A lightweight racing seat, proper chunky racing wheel and a multi-function display take centre stage. And the rest is pretty stripped out in a pukka race-car manner.

The minimalist cabin contributes to the 300kg advantage the Mustang GT4 has compared to its road car GT counterpart. But it’s overall attention to detail right across the spec sheet that makes the big differences. While some of the hanging panels are aluminium, the doors, bonnet, front splitter, rear wing and roof panel are all carbon-fibre.

Even the front radiator, grille and headlight spar are constructed from carbon fibre. Heavy glass is swapped for poly-carbonate. Get the message – this is a serious piece of kit.

Indeed, the Mustang GT4 was the car to beat in key US Series through 2017 and 2018. It took class pole in its first race (the Rolex 24 at Daytona) and won the second time out.

It is now eligible for more than a dozen series across Asia Europe and the USA. Fingers crossed, later in 2019 you can expect a couple to be racing in the GT4 division of the Australian GT Championship.

Push the starter button and perhaps the most endearing of all the Multimatic Ford Performance Mustang GT4’s traits hits your ears. By jiminy, that’s a V8 soundtrack and then some.

We sampled Australia’s sole Ford Mustang GT4 at Winton Raceway in northern Victoria and it took about five seconds for all of the day workers (admittedly a small number) to be on the pit wall soaking up the tunes.

In contrast to another GT4 racer we drove on the same day, you could hear every inch of the Mustang’s progress around the 3.0km National circuit. I’m tipping the Multimatic team may need to look at the car’s noise levels before it fronts at a proper race meeting or more noise-conscious tracks like Phillip Island. Bloody shame really...

On the track all of the modifications and upgrades Multimatic has designed and executed start to make sense. In many ways this is an easier car to drive fast on the track than the 2019 Ford Mustang GT street car.

GT4 as a category is unashamedly targeted at less experienced drivers than the razor sharp GT3 series around the world. There’s not the reliance on aero grip, and aids like antilock brakes and racing traction control allow ‘gentleman’ drivers to learn their trade without the full consequences of the fastest class.

It’s still serious racing and much faster than production cars but most capable club racers will be able to find some pace in GT4 machinery. What’s good about the Multimatic Ford Performance Mustang GT4 is that it delivers performance potential in a package that is not as physically demanding as some of its counterparts. The driving position accommodates more let’s say generously-sized drivers, and control weights (steering brakes et cetera) are kind.

It is in many ways a perfect stepping stone into GT. Tuneable for real pace, but I’d suggest not so knife-edge that it will be unmanageable for tenderfoot teams and drivers.

The adage goes speed costs money – how fast do you want to go? We’ve done the sums on building a racer out of a road-going Mustang GT and you’re up for the better part of $200,000. At that stage, you’ll have a good production racer but there’ll be a significant development program you’ll have to go through to get it up to speed.

Once landed in Australia, all taxes and charges paid, the Multimatic Ford Performance Mustang GT4 will cost you perhaps 50 per cent more than that – around $325,000. But what you have is a true factory race car, a ticket into events such as the Bathurst 12 Hour and Australian GT Championship and a racer that has an international market.

Over $300K might seem like a lot of money to spend on a Ford, but it’s hellishly good value for a race car of this competence.