2024 Ford Mustang GT Drags Old-School Racers, Someone Takes a Major Beating, or Two

Interestingly, the press representatives of the automotive world are still busy trying to get their reviews of the all-new Ford Mustang. Still, already some owners have taken their examples to the next level. However, do not think about tuning just yet because the ECU is infamously locked – just like General Motors did with the C8 Chevy Corvette (and it took a hell of a lot of hard work to crack it, plus a lot of time).

Instead, some folks have gone down the 'poor guy' mod lane – more precisely (in)famous YouTuber StangMode has also gotten hold of a 2024 Mustang GT with the Coyote V8 engine plus ten-speed automatic transmission and immediately took the sports/muscle car to the local quarter-mile dragstrip for some initial passes. Back then, the best he could summon on some Mickey Thompson rear drag radials was a 12.3s ET – which is not as bad as it sounds because the S650 is probably heavier than the outgoing model by quite a margin.

Now, though, he's back for a second attempt at Cecil County Dragway in Rising Sun, Maryland, and he deployed some tricks to try and make the Mustang GT a little faster – and possibly dip into the high 11s. So, Papa Smurf now doesn't have a front passenger seat anymore, among other minor hacks. With that being said, there's nothing like a pre-race burnout and a brawl against a feisty, old-school station wagon to put things into the proper quarter-mile dragstrip perspective.

Well, the vintage racer easily won the brawl, as the Mustang GT appeared standing still compared to its pass – but StangMode was more interested in the time rather than anything else. So, in the end, it was close but not close enough – 12.03s at over 118 mph (190 kph). The gains are there, but they're incremental, clearly. Anyway, the testing by trial and error continued, and with a new plan, the Ford Mustang GT was set against a traditional full-size coupe that also smoked the modern Blue Oval like there was no more tomorrow.

If you also want to see some Mustang Dark Horse action from StangMode, not long ago, he organized a meeting between the 2024 model year and an S550 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 to see who's faster. That was an impromptu brawl on an airfield's runway or something along the line, and they only did some roll races (street-style), most likely because the Dark Horse wasn't yet out of the woods with the initial mileage roll. Cool, or not?