WHEN GRIP MEETS GREATNESS: CHRIS HARRIS & MAX VERSTAPPEN TAME THE MUSTANG GTD
In the world of performance motoring, few names command instant respect quite like Chris Harris and Max Verstappen. One is a precision storyteller with an unmatched feel for sideways motion; the other, a Formula 1 phenom whose racing instinct borders on supernatural. Chris Harris, motoring journalist, YouTube pioneer, and lead presenter of BBC’s Top Gear, has made a career out of pushing cars to their limits - then telling us exactly how it felt. Known for his no-nonsense delivery, insane car control, and a deep love for analogue driving, Harris brings both knowledge and irreverence to everything he slides into. Max Verstappen needs little introduction. A four-time Formula 1 World Champion, the Dutch driver is Red Bull Racing’s ultimate weapon - fearless, brutally fast, and fiercely focused. Behind the wheel, he’s a blend of aggression and finesse, with an ability to extract lap time from thin air. So what happens when these two titans team up to thrash Ford’s hardcore new Mustang GTD - a road-legal track monster with GT3 tech under the skin? You get one of the most entertaining, insightful, and unfiltered reviews of this wild machine yet - straight from Chris Harris’s fingertips, with Verstappen laying down rubber like it’s race day. The video is brilliant, it’s great to see someone like Harris being a total fan boy and it’s also great to see the human side of Verstappen as he talks candidly about himself, his career and driving. The driving talk is great, you get a feel of why Verstappen is as good as he is. For a full account of the day, it’s best to read it in Harris’s own words…
“I am, by most accounts, a fairly decent driver. It has been how I have made my living for decades now. I have even done a fair amount of racing in some proper machinery over the years including most recently at Le Mans in a Mustang. But every so often, I’m humbled. Riding shotgun with four-time Formula 1 World Driver’s Champion Max Verstappen as he laces an 815-horsepower Ford Mustang GTD around a small French racetrack goes beyond humbling.
I’m in the south of France talking to Verstappen about driving, exploring the countryside and trying to understand his philosophy on cornering, specifically, and driving more generally.
Verstappen is an unassuming figure for all he’s accomplished. If we’re talking about the spectrum of F1 superstar drivers, he’s neither the cerebral Niki Lauda nor the playboy James Hunt. But he is a pure driver, as likely to stay up all night on his home sim for an endurance race as he is to enter a GT3 race under an assumed name or dominate a Formula 1 race. And regardless of what or where or how he’s driving, he is blisteringly, relentlessly quick.
That starts with how he seemingly shakes down a racetrack. Max doesn’t tiptoe around, trying to memorise the layout and braking points and apexes as a whole, but by devouring each individual corner while exploring where the grip is and where the grip isn’t. Verstappen brutalises the track, poking and prodding until it gives up its secrets so he can go as fast as possible.
The Mustang GTD is a vehicle that’s quite happy with this sort of driving. A track-ready weapon, Verstappen immediately gets up to speed with the power delivery, the fantastic damper performance over the rough French surface, and the power of its standard carbon-ceramic brakes, just as he gets up to speed with the track. As he’s exploring the track’s limits, he’s also exploring the car’s.
Mechanical grip from the big tyres feels endless as Max bounds over the curbs, and the occasional smile that breaks through as he does so shows how much fun he’s having. It’s clear even from the passenger’s seat that he’s the rare driver that’s equal to a car of this calibre. Or perhaps that the Mustang GTD is that rarest of cars that can actually challenge and reward one of the greatest race drivers of his generation.
Either way, the abiding memory I will have will be of a delightful young man displaying his superhuman talent in a car that both of us will not forget in a hurry. Humbling indeed!”
Take a look at the YouTube video from the chaps at Ford Performance, which is now one of our favourite videos because we're fans of both the chaps in here. Many don't like Verstappen, but there's no denying his talent: Max Verstappen And Chris Harris Drive ALL NEW Ford Mustang GTD! | Ford Performance
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