It turns out that it is better to tell if it is a mule or a horse, and it is better to pull it out on the field - in this regard, Ford Motor, a "horse trainer" with a variety of products such as "wild horses", "fierce horses" and "dark horses", has a great say.
Not long ago, we experienced the uninhibited wildness of the all-new Ford Mustang Dark Horse, at the Ford Nanjing Test Center, one of Ford's seven test sites in the world.
This is a big V8, if there is light in faith, then this dark horse is the sun in the dark night. Listen! Voices of Faith.
As the most powerful road king to have in legal limits, the new car is the first high-performance special edition model in the Ford Mustang family to receive a new name in the past 21 years.
This seems to be a hint at the new car's outstanding performance – considering that the Ford Mustang itself is a shining name tag in the global performance car world, it's not hard to guess how terrifying the Dark Horse's "performance special edition" is really strong.
The new car is equipped with the most powerful ***5 in the history of the Ford brand0-litre Coyote V8 naturally aspirated engine. 
The engine has independent dual-throttle intakes, which can be linked to the specially added dual air intakes at the front grille of the car, which greatly improves the intake efficiency of this large-displacement naturally aspirated engine by planning a more rational air flow line.
At the same time, the new engine features a reinforced piston linkage kit originally used on the Mustang Shelby GT500 high-performance model.
It is mated to a Ford Selectshift 10-speed automatic manual transmission. The latter works in conjunction with the racing-style paddle shifters on the cockpit steering wheel to provide fast and precise gear shifting in a wide range of driving situations, including on the track and on the road.
Based on the powerful powertrain, the development team of the all-new Ford Mustang Dark Horse has also made a number of optimizations and upgrades to the new car according to the ultimate performance standards, and added a series of track-level high-performance features.
For example, in order to ensure excellent cooling performance at high speeds, the new car is equipped with a NACA cooling duct specifically designed for the braking system, an auxiliary engine oil cooler, a rear axle differential cooling design, and a unique radiator design that is lighter and has a higher cooling capacity.
In addition, the car is equipped with a high-power cooling fan to cope with high-intensity track adjustments. Such a design helps to significantly improve the stability of the new car's powertrain during intense driving and shorten its cooling cycles.
Of course, for a high-performance car, it is not only necessary to accelerate quickly, but also to "brake".
In order to enhance the car's braking performance, the development team equipped the 19-inch wheels of the "dark horse" with Brembo front 6-piston and rear 4-piston brake calipers and high-performance brake discs, which can provide extremely reliable braking performance.
In terms of chassis, the all-new Ford Mustang Dark Horse also has exclusive advantages. Compared to the regular model, the new car is equipped with a thicker rear anti-roll bar and front shock absorber, which can generate more support in extreme attitudes.
To further enhance the handling of the Mustang Dark Horse, the new car features a lightweight engine bay tower balance rod newly designed by Ford's performance team, as well as a K-Brace balance bar located on the bottom of the engine compartment, which improves steering responsiveness and grip, as well as improved handling and road feedback.
The Magneride active electromagnetic suspension system, which is standard on the new car, monitors wheel and tire dynamics 1,000 times per second in real time and optimizes the vehicle's performance according to road conditions or driving patterns.
On the other hand, the Torsen limited-slip differential will work in tandem with Pirelli P Zero (PZ4) tyres with a hybrid front and rear width, ensuring that the all-new Ford Mustang Dark Horse can effectively transfer the engine's torque to the wheel end without sacrificing grip.
In fact, all of this effort by the Ford Mustang Dark Horse design team was driven by a single goal – to maximize the car's performance in intense driving scenarios, raising its extreme threshold to the point where it could outperform its peers.
Judging from the actual test drive experience of Zhijiajun, the Ford Mustang Dark Horse design team has achieved this.
Gymkhana is one of the most controllable items. On the day of the test drive, there was a light rain, a slight slide at the rear end of the ejection start, and a low roar characteristic of the 8-cylinder engine, which made the car not feel very fast at the beginning.
But as the revs rise, the V8's strong strength begins to burst out, but at this time it has already reached the first corner, if you pull the drift electronic handbrake at this time (more on this below), it is easy to make a drifting action, but for the timekeeper Gymkhana, drifting in the corner is not a wise choice, in the case of not very familiar with the track, this will significantly increase the time.
So, let's race the line properly. At this time, you will find that this "dark horse" has become very light, the entry and exit corners are silky, and the limit of the vehicle is very high.
Of course, for high-performance car enthusiasts, the driving pleasure is definitely not only reflected in the fastest lap times that are constantly refreshed, but also in handsome maneuvers such as "drifting".
To this end, the all-new Ford Mustang Dark Horse has a wonderful little easter egg specially planted for users.
The new car features the industry's first drift electronic parking brake, which was designed by Ford and drift guru Vaughn Gittin JrJointly developed with advanced electronics to simulate the hydraulic drift brakes in the Formula Drift Mustang, the braking power is more than three times that of conventional mechanical braking systems.
From the outside, the "drift electronic handbrake" is no different from the conventional traditional mechanical handbrake, but when you have mastered the trick of counter-hitting direction, you only need to pull up this device at the right time, and you can achieve drift in the case of zero foundation.
In our hands-on experience at the test centre, we found that with the help of the drift electronic parking brake, the minimum drift speed can be reduced to 8 km/h – it is no exaggeration to say that even a retired grandmother can easily handle it.
Isn't it great?
Finally, we would like to introduce you to an interesting feature of the all-new Ford Mustang Dark Horse, the remote control growl.
As the name suggests, you can make the dark horse's V8 engine roar a few steps away by pressing the corresponding button on the car key.
After the actual experience, Zhijiajun deeply realized that Ford did not invite Ma Jingtao, the former "roaring leader", to endorse Mustang Dark Horse, which is somewhat unsettling.
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*: Ford China.