Did You Know Mustang Inspired New Ford GT?

Le Mans-winning Ford GT grew out of cost concerns with a now-cancelled Mustang race car.

Here’s something you might find interesting.

Ford’s low profile, high-tech supercar, the Ford GT, almost wound up bowing to a Mustang as the carmaker’s go-to racer for Le Mans. Well, perhaps that all depends on how you assess the situation. As Road & Track points out, it also could be said that the Mustang inspired the Ford GT.

Apparently, Raj Nair, head of Ford’s product development team, said that they axed a Mustang project race car being built as a potential contender in the legendary Le Mans race. It was cancelled in 2013 due to concerns it would cost too much to modify the ‘Stang to properly perform in GT racing.

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Initial estimates? Roughly $250,000 or more per Mustang for the needed mods. And even then, the Ford Pony car would still have been at a big disadvantage, noted Nair. But rather than totally abandoning the idea of Ford paying homage to its GT Le Mans racing heritage, Nair sold the higher-ups at Ford on the idea of building an all-new GT.

Nair and his team then quickly went to work, secretly mapping out the plans for designing and engineering the new Ford GT. That car has already made huge marks in the Le Mans racing series. Of course, eventually, Ford did go on to build a Mustang race car, known as the GT4, but it competes on a much lower level.