Ford provided flights from Albany to Charlotte and accommodation so Ars could attend its Ford Performance 2025 event. Ars does not accept paid editorial content.
CHARLOTTE, NC—It’s amazing how much more raucous you can make a car feel simply by deleting every semblance of creature comfort. That’s the basic idea of the Mustang Dark Horse R, a track-only flavor of the Mustang for the dedicated Mustang Challenge series, which will run in support of many IMSA races this year, starting with the Twelve Hours of Sebring in March. Despite running the same 500 hp (373 kW) 5.0 L Coyote engine as the road-going Dark Horse, slotted into the same chassis and bodywork, it’s a far more engaging drive—and a wildly good time.
It all looks pretty tame from the outside, as it sports the familiar Mustang shape that has hardly changed over the last few generations. Even the wing is slender by race car standards, only subtly different from the one on the road-going Dark Horse.
But peek inside and you start to see the scope of the modifications. The sound-deadening material has been evicted, with leather and vinyl trimming replaced by a roll cage that spans the now-vacant space. A bright red fire extinguisher now sits where the rear seat once was.