While the Ford Mustang has seen countless motorsport-badge iterations in its long and illustrious history, by far the most highly engineered, out-there and off-its-head version is the current Mustang GTD.

Built by Ford’s top boffins in Detroit to take on the world in the GT3 racing scene, the road-going GTD version is essentially a S650 Mustang meets Time Attack machine, and now there’s one heading to Australia.

Melbourne-based outfit Mustang Motorsport is no stranger to bringing in limited-edition Muzzys, having previously done so with limited-run Shelbys, the RTR range and more. Now, Mustang Motorsport co-founder Craig Dean is set to welcome a GTD in what’ll likely be the only road-going version of the car to make it to Australian shores.

We’ve technically already seen a Mustang GT3 in Australia; a race GT3-spec version of the GTD was campaigned in the Bathurst 12 Hour by Haupt Racing Team in conjunction with Ford Australia earlier this year. Sadly, it didn’t make it past the early stages of racing after a very nasty collision with a kangaroo.

Just 1700 examples of the road-going GTD are being built at this stage, and prospective buyers had to make their case to Ford to score an allocation. Of those 1700, fewer than 300 have been built to date, and owners enter a two-year contract to agree not to sell the car to avoid scalping.

Allegedly, 7500 applicants put their hand up for one of the limited GTD, so an Aussie business managing to score one is all the more impressive. Craig was in the United States at South Bay Ford in California to take delivery of the rare Mustang.

“What a sharp, stunning machine — I absolutely love it,” Craig said. “Where’s the race track? I can’t wait to drive it.”

And it appears the race track is indeed where the car will be bound once it arrives in Australia. With Ford Australia having no intention of selling the car locally, at this stage the GTD complies with zero ADR standards needed for road use in Australia.

However, Car Expert reported just last week that the Mustang GTD model had scored SEVS approval from the Federal Government, and it’s now believed Craig was the driving force behind the application. The SEVS – Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicle Scheme – allows rare vehicles of just this nature to gain legal import access to Australia, without the compliance headaches normal road cars have to endure, including crash testing.

You’ll also note the car is still left-hand drive, with Ford opting not to build right-hand-drive variants of the GTD, focusing instead on engineering as much racing capability into the chassis as possible.

We should also note that Craig is the former owner of Crossover Car Conversions, which, as the name suggests, converts left-hand-drive cars to the proper side of the cabin. It remains unclear if the GTD will see such treatment, or remain left-hook.

So, why go to all this trouble? And more importantly, with a US$325,000 (A$508,000) list price, why pay so much for a Mustang? Well, as we outlined at the top of the story, the GTD is more than just a Mustang.

Where you’d normally find a 5.0-litre aspo Coyote on Australian-market GTs and Dark Horse variants, there’s a dry-sumped, 5.2-litre, supercharged ’Yote churning out a whopping 815hp. The transmission that normally sits underneath and beside you in a Mustang has been moved to the back for near-on 50/50 weight distribution, and it’s an eight-speed, dual-clutch cog-swapper.

The aggressive widebody and aero package speaks for itself, while the brakes are quite capable of making you sick and the 345mm-wide Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2R rear rubber will cling to the road like nobody’s business. Extra handling prowess comes from pushrod rear suspension, coil-over springs and Adaptive Spool Valve shock absorbers at all four corners.

While no official schedule has been outlined yet, Mustang Motorsport has already hinted that the GTD can and will be seen publicly on track once it makes its way to Australia.