You’ve likely seen the headline figures for the new Mustang GTD, not least because Ford’s monstrous road-going GT3 car doesn’t exactly fly under the radar. It was obviously going to be powered by the same 5.0-litre V8 found in the standard Mustang - as made clear by countless demo runs at various events over the summer - but we weren’t prepared for the sheer amount of ponies Ford had managed to coax out of the Voodoo stable. That’s 826hp, to be precise, paired up with 664lb ft of torque and a top speed of 202mph, making it the fastest thing the Blue Oval’s made since the GT.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Mustang was on the receiving end of the usual stick about muscle cars, something we wouldn’t dream of doing to the GTD. Not only because it looks as though it’d give us a black eye if we did, but also for the motorsport-grade hardware below its prickly skin. And that’s why it costs $325,000 (or £250k in our money), which is a darn sight cheaper than the old GT, but a humungous amount for a car that used to be the poster child of affordable performance. Fortunately, there’s a way to get GTD-levels of grunt for only a fraction of the price. And we mean a fraction.
What we have here, folks, is the Q750 ‘Streetfighter’ by UK Ford specialist Steeda and it’s every bit as ludicrous as its name would suggest. From the outside, it looks like any other Mustang GT, only with a slightly more aggressive splitter, a small boot spoiler and a set of 20-inch Velgen wheels hinting that all is not as it seems. Lurking up front is the same 5.0-litre V8 that appears in every other Mustang GT, except Steeda has slapped a Whipple supercharger on top of it and thrown in some racier components (Ford Racing half shaft, Ford Performance exhaust, remap and so on) for good measure. The outcome is a staggering 800hp and 660lb ft of torque, getting you oh-so-close to the specs of the GTD.
It’s not like Steeda called it quits after fiddling about with the engine, either. There are adjustable dampers and anti-roll bars, upgraded sway bars and the subframes have been given a good going over to tighten up any loose ends. Gearshifts for the six-speed manual have been shortened for a snappier throw, too, though the brakes don’t appear to have been touched, which given the near-doubling in power should be entertaining but they have been painted bright green to at least look as though they’ve been bulked up. Make of that what you will.
Now, as you may well know, tuners have been extracting gargantuan amounts of power from Mustangs ever since Carroll Shelby got his power-hungry mitts on the original back in 1965. But most of the modern offerings come with outlandish bodykits and ultra-focused interiors, none more so than the GTD. Bonkers name aside, the Q750 Streetfighter is much more restrained. There are no badges or special decals, just a set of Corbeau seats, the Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel from the GT350 and a small plaque in front of the passenger reading ‘Supercharged Coyote’. That’s it, and it’s all the better for it.
Remember how we said it was a fraction of the GTD’s price? The seller’s asking for £39,990, or less than a sixth of the cost of the similarly-powered road-going racer. And it’s rarer, too. Steeda only built two of them, presumably because that’s how many people it could find who were brave enough to take it on. Obviously, we’re not suggesting the two are directly comparable - especially as the GTD might be the coolest Mustang since, well, ever - but if an affordable, monumentally-powered Mustang is all you crave, you need look no further.
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