FIA Approves Fix For Ford Mustang GT3 Parts Falling Off

The Ford Mustang GT3 debuted earlier this year as one of several Dark Horse-based race cars, and its introduction was a trial by fire at Daytona International Speedway back in January. The Mustang GT3 turned heads during its practice sessions ahead of its first green-flag laps, prompting the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) to slap a 33-pound handicap on the race cars to level the playing field. As Ford Authority previously reported, the Blue Oval learned quite a bit from the GT3 at Daytona, but as the endurance racing season wears on, a problem has reared up: parts tend to come off the Mustangs, and according to a report from Racer, the FIA has finally allowed Ford to make changes to keep the race cars in one piece.

Before the Ford Mustang GT3 racers head to Spa and Laguna Seca, the FIA granted Ford Performance an “erratum” fix to make the race cars more reliable. Specifically, the Mustangs have been having issues with the boot lids and diffusers, which have come loose, been damaged, or completely fallen off the race cars.

Apparently, the boot lid problem only happened once during the testing phase of the Mustang GT3. Since it occurs more frequently during races, Ford suspects that it’s caused by disrupted airflow, which happens when other cars follow the Mustang too closely. New latches have since been applied to keep the lid in place. The diffuser, meanwhile, was designed with the idea of “quick change” in mind, which allows teams to easily swap parts during races, but has resulted in weakened mounting points. Planned updates should remedy these issues and make the Mustang GT3 more durable.

“These are changes we wanted to make as soon as possible,” Kevin Groot, Ford’s global sportscar racing program manager, said. “And thankfully we have been able to make them prior to the Mustang’s Le Mans debut.”

He added, “It took a while, but we wanted to make the right fix. You can only touch parts once throughout the car’s cycle, so we had to make sure it was correct before we implemented it.”

We’ll have more on the Ford Mustang GT3 soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford Mustang news and around-the-clock Ford news coverage.