Taking our 2024 Mustang Dark Horse to the Dragstrip! 

Watching the your video. It shows that rowing gears on the dragstrip has no margins for errors. A slow shift or a missed gear costs you the race. I read from many viewers commenting they want a manual transmission. On a road course it's the correct choice. Not so much on a dragstrip. If your going to use the Dark Horse or GT for drag racing. The 10R80 is the best choice. I bracket race my NA automatic car with some performance bolt on parts in pure stock. I often race with street tires. When using street tires. I drop rear air pressure. I ease through the water box. I skip the John Force burnout and spin my tires enough to remove any water and debris before staging and make my two qualifying passes to establish my mid to upper 12 second ET depending on DA. My street tires hook up when not overheated and clean from water and debris. I find the Dark Horse is a refined Mustang that as you mentioned was built for the track use yet has the added comfort for a solid allaround daily driver. I'm looking forward seeing you turn the Dark Horse from a track Mustang to 1/4 mile Stang.

Motortrend got the same times as a stock 11-14 Coyote.

I love manuals but the 10R80 is a must if you want to be fast drag or roll racing gen 6 and gen 7 mustangs. My whippled 10R80 is smoking MT82 whippled FN S550 stangs with more power in 30-130 mph rolls here in Australia. I don't think the Tremec manual would do any better either.

The guy in the 10spd GT must be really happy he didn’t get the dark horse.

It just ran an unofficial 7:34 on the ring, ZL1 record is 7:16 for reference. Considering it wasn't a planned record setting event that's impressive. I wouldn't doubt it ends up beating the ZL1's time within the next year.

Honestly, when i had my C5 z06 stock (only k & n air filter) i was running low 12's , around 12.30's at around 117 mph. It was a 2002. A 2024, 500hp doing mid 12's ?? Prices STARTING at over $60k and the GT in the $50k.

9:47 exhaust tips slappin the bumper from wheel hop

Buy a manual they said. It'll be fun they said 😂

Came to watch the dork horse run a similar time as a s197 🤡

Not too impressive nowadays. Ran 12.5 at 114 with my bone stock 2015 manual scat pack.

2019 GT {base} 6 speed MANual running very low 12s w/continental extreme in rear. T/C off hooks in 2nd gear {no wheel spin/hopping}

needs an aftermarket throttle body controller like from Soler even though they don't have one for this yet. It quickens the throttle plate opening speed. I can literally hear him floor it and then wait for the throttle plates to open up as they pleeze.

Meanwhile....I was running back to back 12.801 @ 107.26 in a Dual SU Powered Stroker 2.9L 1971 240Z with shitty tires 22 years ago.....

These first time at the track vids really dispells any doubt what's better for 2024 Mustang. Personally I've always felt the auto cars have the edge with no missed gears and this alone can save any engine. I get wanting a manual for fun hoping from light to light and melting tires on the street. This brings me down though cause everyone would have taken the DH over the GT but you didn't use and slick and you didn't map out gear shifts. Anyone who drives daily with a manual will say their car feels stronger at a certain rpm or speed. Not so much with the auto, it goes through gears too quick to decipher. The auto covers that and so makes it quicker by .5sec. I'd beat all my friends time by .2sec driving their cars.... how? The slick,missed shifts(but you can powershift?? not second?)and not driving it everyday is a negative. More seat time, a slick(with skinnies up front)with a good cool down you'll pick up I'm guessing at least .7sec. When you get data log look for rpm and mph where you're gaining mph faster then chart your shift points best as possible. Is there a cold air set up yet? Remember every road course has a straight away were the racing happens. Clever driving knowing your engines peak power/grip point is key but if you're losing on straight aways you're losing. Road course drivers don't shift at a set rpm they map it out and use their buttdometer lol.....

My 2016 Ford Focus RS went 13.34 stock. Runs 12.80's with a tune.

We need an Evan Smith intervention 😁🥃

This car is freaking gorgeous!!! Race Red is the only color dark horse I have not seen in person

I Love the Darkhorse but can't justify its asking price, especially if with $10k more, you can get a (2020 to 2022) Shelby GT500

Dark Horse beats my ecoboost by 4 lengths in the 1/4. Lets see thats about 9,000 dollars a length saved....I'll take it.

I ran a 13.4 with my 02 2v 4.6 full bolt ons 410 gears . 12.9 is terrible in my opinion

This is why I bought a used (20K miles) ZL1 A10. Less money, more speed. And it's a ZL1.

That 60' is murdering your times. I cut a 1.8 on the stock tires with a 3500rpm launch. I would expect to see the Dark Horse able to consistently run low 12's. With a slick and a IDGAF launch, might be able to eek into an 11.9.

It's a bit insane that this thing costs as much as my 2014 Shelby GT500 I bought new back in 2014.

17 inch slicks, e85, mt82, 5000 rpm launch, 11.7-11.9 all day long in California heat. 2015 gt standard brakes

Should drop rear tires down to about 20-22 lbs to stop the wheel hop

Damn! 500hp and runs mid 12's..my 1le runs low 12s and only has 455hp..lol. guess low rpm stump pulling torque does make a difference!

My bone stock 2016 Perfomance Pack MT82 car went 12.7 @ 113. 2k d/a. I’m sure it’s fun on the track, but these cars are 100% duds when it comes to the 1/4 mile performance.

It’s pretty much a GT performance pack 2. Track carver more than anything

2024 mustang is like when the 96 mustang came out. Just wait till GPF comes out, these cars will run 13.5 lol

I remember a couple years ago Mustang Gt's with the auto trans running 11.9'S right out of the show room. Now with 20 or 30 more HP they barley get into the 12's? WTF

Tell ding dong in the gt to roll his windows up!!!!

The automatic does high 11s and 0-60 in 3.6 seconds for everyone reading the comments lol So the auto is much much faster.

It was the track not the tires that got grease

#1 I appreciate this honest video with real-life runs. #2 This is why the 2024 dark horse along with the 2022-2023 mach 1 are, IMO, disappointments. They still can't outrun a gt350. You would think, 6 years after the gt350, they would come out with something lighter & more power.

Du du du dud!!!

So for street use and drag racing, the GT is very nearly as quick as a Dark Horse regarding straight line acceleration in a quarter mile drag race.

Buy a used base ZL1 with A10. Dark Horse waaaay overpriced for what you get. I got a 2020 PP1 with A10 and a Dark Horse or GT350 can NOT pull away from me in a 40-140 rolling race.

I could've made a turkey sandwich in between your shifts

21 lbs rear stock, 50lb front

WTF is a gurney flap?? Is that anything like a rear spoiler?

Excuses, excuses down the track the TEN R 80 it is much faster. I I have 2019 Mustang GTboy she is fast great show anyway thank you so much from Sydney Australia.😂

So my slightly modded 31 yaer old dinosaur technology 93 Cobra will beat a dark horse, gotcha.

Looks like these cars like air moving through them. Track day 👍 , auto cross and drag strip 👎, luv the stick shift

Then people complain that about muscle cars without the manual option...

Makes no sense I had a few 05-06 and a 07 most recently. Last one I had was a black automatic 373 gears sct tune smaller pulleys no cats no mufflers just a set of mid pipe cherry bombs just to quiet it down a notch lol and ran a 13.20s -13.40. On nitto summer tires stock 17s rims And only paid $4500 and had the parts laying around. 😂😂😂. I told my wife there no reason to buy a new mustang for 40k and now prices are on the 50s lmaoo

Thats where the mustang belongs … That obviously have trouble with corners as seen on hundreds of U/TUBE videos going off road…! 😂😵‍💫

$8000 worth of Steeda suspension parts will fix this car. Well that and Jamie's knowledge and help.

OMG, IT IS NOT A GURNEY FLAP!! It’s a wing! Since you do not know the difference, I will tell you. A Gurney flap is a small lip placed at the trailing edge of a blade to improve the aerodynamic performance of the blade. It is added to the rear WING AND/OR DECKLID to improve downforce and turn in/out grip on a road course. If you don’t know the difference stop calling it that. If you need proof google it! BTW, it was developed by Dan Gurney to help aid the cornering performance of the Ford GT at LeMans.

it's not that the car ain't got the power to run a good time, it's the damn weight they're getting too heavy.

Don’t think this guy can come up with anymore excuses

My car bone stock did 12.4 @ 112 with a 1.9 60ft with crap Goodyear RF’s. 2019 Camaro SS with the 6spd NLS Tremec. I was able to hot lap the car because it has so many coolers. Bought it CPO with 18k miles for $33k. 🤙

Man thats slow for a 70k dollar car, especially compared to a to my 42k dollar Camaro SS. I own a 24 GT 10R80 as well. Less than 50k. I guess if you really wanna road race.....

I’m running 12.0-11.9 on a stock 24 gt base 🤷🏻🤣

Horrible times. Way too long of a burnout for street tires and too much psi. Very short burnout to just clean off the tires and 25psi. Your slightly higher mph on the last pass was not from running less tire psi. You ran the car at night in cooler weather and the sun wasn't beating down on the track surface.

$60-70k for a high 12 to low 13 sec car. 💩

So you guys going to put in 331 gears to go faster because you only have to shift 3 times that is what you guys want to put in my stock tuned gt350 I call bullshit

Sweet car but the times blow,camaro lt1 auto would be stought against this,34k msrp,very expensive slow car.

Moral of the story buy a base GT automatic and save 40 grand and win

A waste of money. The Dark Horse needs a 4.10 gear, that’s all it need

Man just sell it as soon as possible to get your money back

Why did Ford make these new Stangs so overweight???

Manual. Yeah take it to a road course on a great tire and lets not do this again.

Why are these so slow ? Car and driver , mustangs and fast ford and even MOTORTREND of all people got 11.9 @ 118mph in a 2018 gt auto with all season tires !

Forget the dark horse it doesn’t worth anything mate. I stick with my old mustang much better and faster.😂

After you dump a bunch of money in your 75k car you can run mid-12’s. LOL Wow!

the audacity of Ford to call these cars a new generation. i feel bad for people who paid and continue to pay msrp.

Manuals suck!! Automatic is the way to goooooo! Best all around transmission by far!

After all these years of having an IRS and still can't fix wheel hop. GJ Ford.

Its a dud just admit it 😂

Instead of going thru all that bullshit. Buy a camaro

ford liter v8's have zero torque. trash can v8.

Dark horse isn't a straight line car 😑... just ANOTHER good reason to never buy Steeda...

Drop 500 lbs off these cars then maybe I'll be interested.. Ridiculous what Ford did to the weight of these whales.

Wow what a terrible video 😂

What a piece of junk car 🤮

THE 10 SPEED AUTO'S WILL SMOKE THE 6 SPEED MANUALS ALL DAY LONG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.