Ford GT Mk IV Smashes Circuit Of The Americas Lap Record

Ford's incredible GT Mk IV has made history at Circuit of The Americas, setting a new (unofficial) lap record during testing with Multimatic Motorsports.

The GT lapped the 3.426-mile in a blistering 1:58.77 seconds. According to Ford Performance, that's the fastest any GT car has ever raced around the circuit, and 13 seconds quicker than the production car record, set by the Czinger 21C. To put this into perspective, an Aston Martin Vantage AMR LM GTE racer managed a time of 2:02.522 around the track. The outright lap record, albeit still unofficial as it happened during qualifying and not a race, belongs to Valtteri Bottas, who set an incredible time of 1:32.029 in his Mercedes-AMG F1 W10 racer during 2019 qualifying.

The crazy this is that the GT Mk IV, while not road legal, is a customer-spec car and not a full race car.

On-board video footage captured the incredible feat and can be viewed below.

Diving into corner one, the Ford accelerates rapidly and sticks to the road like glue, grazing the rumble strips as it glides through corners 3 through 6. It looks like Sloss loses grip, but the talented driver quickly rectifies the situation and keeps the GT Mk IV pointing forward.

Located in Austin, Texas, Circuit of The Americas was designed to be the first track in the United States built specifically for Formula 1. Hermann Tilke, the architect behind this incredible ribbon of tarmac, reportedly gleaned inspiration from the world's best race tracks, incorporating some of the most iconic corners and sequences.

It's hard to ignore the soundtrack the Ford's 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged V6 provides. With 800 horsepower at its disposal, it scuttles off the line with gusto. But it's not only about straight-line speed. The stretched wheelbase and Multimatic Adaptive Spool Valve race suspension, racing transmission, and carbon fiber body make for a dynamic track-only machine. And what does all of this cost? A cool $1.7 million. And beyond that, only 67 will be built.

We doubt we'll see another Ford GT anytime soon, with the Blue Oval's new flagship racer being the Mustang GTD, a $300,000 road-going racer with 800 horses under the hood. But the Mk IV's pace is special