No, these aren’t mid-engine Ford Mustang GTD mules

The Ford Mustang GTD is the fastest and ultimate track-focused version of the muscle car, and despite recent posts you may have seen about it on social media, there is no mid-engine version in the works.

Although it’s been over a year since the Mustang GTD was unveiled to the world, the Blue Oval continues to test lightly disguised prototypes in the US. Vehicles wrapped in black and white camouflage always turn heads, and recently several Reddit users have gone online to say they’ve seen prototypes with particularly complicated rear cooling systems. The sightings led to speculation that these vehicles could possibly be test mules for a special mid-engine model. However, that is not the case.

Read: Do these 5 interiors put the $325K Mustang GTD’s $36K cabin to shame?

The Mustang GTD has large air intakes directly behind the rear window, but on the original show car these vents were spray-painted and were not noticeable. However, on some prototypes these vents are finished in black, which immediately catches the eye. The Porsche 911 also has vents in a similar position to help cool the rear-mounted engine. Cooling fans are also visible behind the Mustang GTD’s ventilated rear panel.

While we’d love to see Ford make a mid-engine version of the Mustang, that’s certainly not what we’re looking at here. If there’s no engine there, why does Ford need so much cooling? Well, the answer is quite simple. The GTD is equipped with a complex transaxle cooling system that uses these air intakes to direct air through the heat exchangers.

So while there isn’t a mid-engine GTD on the menu, there’s still plenty to be excited about. This includes a 5.2-liter supercharged V8 with no less than 815 hp and 900 Nm of torque. In recent months, Ford has also tested the car extensively on the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife, in an attempt to record a lap time of under 7 minutes.