GULF PRO
JASON FERRARO’S GT40 IS A HOME-BUILT SUPERCAR OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY
Coyote-powered and exquisitely handcrafted in one bloke’s home shed
I DIDN’T WANT THE 5.4 FORD MODULAR ENGINE BECAUSE IT WAS A BIT HEAVY AND SLOW. BUT THEN THE COYOTE WAS LAUNCHED!
ALOT of you are probably thinking: “Wait, what? Why is there a GT40 in Street
Machine? This mag is for people who pour their blood, sweat and tears into building the best street machines in the land!” Well, that’s precisely what Jason Ferraro did with his car. Sure, the starting point wasn’t the usual Aussie or US production car, but the amount of engineering, fabrication and passion poured into this ride was no different, and like many cars featured in SM, it was built in the shed at home.
“I chose an RCR [Race Car Replicas] GT40 kit because I wanted an aluminium monocoque chassis, so that narrowed down the choice,” Jason says. “They also don’t use production A-arms; it’s all custom billet suspension.”
While the car looks like a ridgey-didge copy of the Le Mans GT40S, underneath the skin there are quite a few updates to add modern performance to the classic looks.
Blue Oval lovers will be pleased to hear that it’s Ford-powered as well, but that wasn’t always going to be the case: “Initially I was going to put in a 6.0-litre LS – I actually bought the engine and everything,” Jason says. “I didn’t want the 5.4 Ford modular engine because it was a bit heavy and a bit slow. But then the Coyote was launched! I wanted a Ford transaxle as well, so that’s why I chose the Ricardo transaxle, which is out of a 2006 Ford GT supercar. It also bolted right up to the Coyote with no adapter plates and uses a Ford twin-plate clutch and flywheel. It was really important to me to have a good driveline. The only problem was the cost of the transaxle; apart from the chassis it’s the most expensive part of the car.”
Calling this a kit car seems a little bit demeaning; it implies that it came in a box and Jason just bolted it together, and that perhaps the finished product is a mish-mash of parts and ideas. But that is not the case at all. Not only has this car copped a fair bit of customisation, the quality of the parts and the attention to detail that Jason has lavished on this GT40 is truly amazing.
It wasn’t just about how the finished product