By Steven Symes 
GM fans are loving that the Corvette ZR1X blew away the Ford Mustang GTD’s Nurburgring lap time, as did the ZR1. That’s right, the new C8 Corvette ZR1X holds the record as the fastest American production car on the Nordschleife circuit at a scorching 6:49.275, smoking the GTD’s record time of 6:52.685. Ford’s CEO had to make a pithy comment on Corvette’s Instagram post about the record time, like some jealous ex-wife who can’t let go.
GM has yet another ace up its sleeve, Ford.
It’s worth noting the C8 Corvette ZR1 got around the ‘Ring in just 6:50.763. Both Corvettes were driven by engineers, not professional racers, so that’s even more embarrassing for the competition.
Poor Ford, it keeps setting a record lap time on the Nurburgring with the Mustang GTD, then another automaker comes along and surpasses it, so the Blue Oval has to return and in a huff try to best that time.
It’s no wonder Ford CEO Jim Farley is bent out of shape, masking it with some “playful” banter of “Game on” or some such nonsense. After all, the Mustang GTD originally ran a 6:57.685 around the Nurburgring, as revealed last December.
The Blue Oval bragged and bragged about that time, until April came along and Porsche revealed it did a whoopsie, using the new 911 GT3 with a manual transmission (which is slower) to get around the ‘Ring in 6:56.294 when it wasn’t trying to set a record lap time. Considering the German car is cheaper and has about 300 fewer horses, that was a huge embarrassment.
In a huff, Ford went back to the Nordschleife and at the beginning of May announced it flogged the Mustang GTD around the circuit in 6:52.072. Then Ford made excuses about why it wasn’t even faster, saying it was wet and warm and probably someone stubbed their toe and such.
But the fact remains that two Corvette models bested the fancy shmancy and more expensive Ford halo car by a lot. One could even call it a shellacking and Ford can’t have that, not at all.
So it sounds like from the little comment Jim Farley made on Instagram that Ford’s had a good cry and now is going back to the ‘Ring to prove the Mustang GTD is faster. Then, maybe GM can take some professional racecar drivers and smoke that time with the C8 Corvette ZR1 and ZR1X.
Image via GM