Ford Mustang GT4 revealed

GT4 could be the badge of the decade and the Ford Mustang is the latest to join a stable of production-turned-racecars set to compete in global championships of the same name.

Being heavily based on the Shelby GT350R-C that already swaps the Mustang’s 5.0-litre V8 for a high-revving flat-plane 5.2-litre unit producing 392kW and 582Nm, a main change for the Mustang GT4 is the addition of a six-speed Holinger sequential transmission.

Chassis modifications extend to new dampers, lower rear control arms and stabiliser bars, along with forged 18-inch wheels with Continental racing slicks, a new rear wing, front splitter, extra bonnet vents and rear diffuser to aid aerodynamic and cooling performance.

 Behind its lick of grey warpaint, the Mustang GT4 unveiled at this week’s Las Vegas SEMA auto show also showed off its FIA-compliant rollcage, Motec dash logger, motorsport engine management control unit and ABS controller.

It follows a lineage of Stateside-only racecar versions past including, Ford cites, the 1960s SCCA Shelby GT350R and 1970s Trans-Am Boss 302. But the brand says the Mustang GT4 has now been engineered to be a ‘turn key’ entry in any global GT4 championship including the major European series, all to increase the Pony car’s global reach.

“The new Mustang is a global vehicle,” Ford Performance motorsports engineering manager Mark Rushbrook insists in a statement. “Now, its growing fan base has a GT4 competition model to race and support around the globe.”

Hopefully the Mustang becomes ‘global’ enough to give Australia a taste, in some form, of that delicious-sounding Shelby V8.