Ford is building an eight-second Mustang Cobra Jet

Celebrating your 50th anniversary usually involves something a bit genteel. Maybe a small party. An afternoon with friends. Tea. Not so for Ford, who plans on releasing the fastest Mustang drag racer ever.

It is the Ford Mustang Cobra Jet. And Ford reckons on a quarter-mile time of somewhere in the ‘mid-8-second range’, and a 150mph top speed. Maybe you might need that tea after all.

It’s not a road car, mind, so you can’t say ‘oh it’ll smash the Dodge Demon in a straight line’. The Demon is a road car that can be adapted for the drag strip. (And just FYI, the Demon will do the quarter mile in 9.65secs. Still insanely quick.)

This one’s a purpose-built Mustang drag racer, built on the new 2018 Mustang base. It features a 5.2-litre supercharged V8 with an as-yet-unspecified number of horsies, four-link rear suspension with a solid rear axle, an NHRA-spec roll cage, special racified seats, and bespoke coilovers hiding behind special Weld Racing wheels.

And many badges. Though the teaser above is all we can currently see, it’ll come in either red or white, available with a commemorative 50th anniversary graphics pack.

“Fifty years ago, the Ford Mustang Cobra Jet took to the staging lines at drag strips everywhere,” says Ford. “And along with the resulting wins, a legend was born.

"Now comes the return of the Mustang Cobra Jet drag strip race car by Ford Performance, targeted to be the most powerful and quickest version from the factory yet.”

Just 68 non-VIN production cars will be built. We’ll see it later this year.