HIT THE GAS, OR UP THE CHASSIS? 2017 FORD GT PROVES SLEEK IS IN
The engine powering Ford’s new GT — a seriously tweaked 3.5-litre EcoBoost V6 — is a disappointment. Or perhaps I should state that a little more judiciously: AV 6, even a turbocharged high-tech item like the GT’s, really isn’t a worthy power plant for a US$400,000 supercar, no matter how Ford’s marketing mavens try to spin it. But here’s the most important take-away from that bold statement: It doesn’t matter a damned bit.
Let me explain. The GT’s twice turbo charged V-6 pumps out 647 horsepower. On the torque side, the number is 550 pound-feet. Were this a pickup truck (from whence the engine was liberated), these would be incredible numbers. Indeed, compared with the supercars Ford benchmarked the GT against in development — Ferrari’s 458 and the McLaren 675 LT — 647 hp is either right in the ballpark (compared with the LT) or dominating (the 458).
But the supercar world has moved on. Ferrari now has the 488, which boasts 661 Italian ponies and McLaren’s latest, the 720S, has 710 hp. I suspect that’s why Ford is being coy about the GT’s abilities, saying only that it can accelerate to 96 kilometres an hour in less than three seconds. Ford steadfastly refuses to quote a zero-to-100-km/h time, mainly because the GT might not be able to keep up with the 2.9-second benchmark the 720S laid down or, it’s even possible, the 3.0 the Ferrari 488 boasts.
The EcoBoost engine is both a V6( a cylinder layout that is hardly synonymous with sonorous internal combustion) and turbocharged (which tends to dull the aural delight of any cylinder configuration). Oh, there’s a fair amount of grunt, but its exhaust note can’t hold a tune compared with a flat plane crankshaft ed Ferrari V 8 or even the Jaguar F-Type’s V6.
But, the truth is, none of that matters. Sound quality — no matter how intoxicating — never made any car faster. And power, no matter how copious, is no longer the primary determinant of performance.
The new battleground for supercar supremacy is aerodynamics, and in the chassis department the new Ford GT truly excels. So, for instance, not only are the completely flat-bottomed tray and a fully adjustable — height and tilt — McLaren P1-like rear wing state-of-the-art aerodynamically, even the front suspension’s lower A-arm is streamlined to meld with the smooth flow of air into, and out of, the GT’s many scoops, slats and ducts.
Indeed, everything about the GT’s aerodynamics is adjustable. Along with a multi-adjustable rear wing, there are flaps in the front splitter to control how much downforce is over the front wheels. Not only is there a truckload of aerodynamic downforce pushing the GT resolutely into the tarmac, the adjustability promises that said downforce will be balanced front to rear.
My favourite part of the GT’s chassis, however, is the suspension. Not only are the shock absorbers race-spec dynamic suspension spool valve dampers, but the spring rate at all four wheels is adjustable. Each suspension system — incorporating a Formula One rocker-style linkage — has two springs working on each wheel. When you toggle the steering wheel knob to track, the suspension drops 50 millimetres to an incredibly low 70 mm and the coil spring is locked out, leaving only a super stiff torsion beam handling the suspension.
Remember all that aero downforce I just mentioned? With the car lowered and the wing fully raised, there’s even more of it, enough to bottom out the suspension were the springs not seriously firmed up. And remember that bit about balancing the aerodynamic downforce front to rear? Well, Jamal Hameedi, Ford’s global performance car chief engineer, says the difference in that balance point in street mode and the lowered full-attack setting is but seven millimetres. More important, that all-important aerodynamic balance point almost perfectly coincides with the GT’s centre of gravity, the holy grail of chassis dynamics, Hameedi says.
Out on the track, it’s the very controllability the balance promises that is the over-riding sensation behind the wheel. Oh, and the incredible amount of grip all that downforce engenders. Ripping through the fast front section of the Utah Motorsports Campus, the over-riding sensation is of being sucked into the tarmac. You are actually able to sense that, contrary to the sensation in merely mortal cars, the faster you go in the GT, the more traction you have.
Head into some of Utah’s slower-speed hairpins and you can feel the rear end squirm a little from the 3.5-L’s abundant low-end torque. Decry the EcoBoost’s lack of pedigree and sonic allure all you like, but it certainly doesn’t lack for low-end grunt, the grippy 325/30R20 Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2s struggling under the load. Hammer it into the Turn 2 kink and it’s like those big Michelins just got a heaping dose of superglue added to their already soft rubber.
And that way-trick, super-stiff suspension? Well, it comes into play big time when rocketing through the equally high-speed Turn 3 and the even more threatening Turn 4. Track mode’s superior spring rate also means that body roll is eliminated (at least it is at the relatively Chicken Little speeds I’m going).
In other words, the GT is a serious race car, its chassis — right down to expressively firm steering — far more at home on a track than even McLaren’s 720S and Ferrari’s 488. No doubt most owners will either hide their cherished Ford supercar away for investment purposes or trundle down to some Rodeo Drive-like stylish eatery to make the proletariat envious. But the GT’s raison d’etre, the reason it is special as well as super, is that its chassis is but a few nuances shy of what Ford used last year to decimate the competition at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
There has been no official pricing on the GT. Ford will only say it costs more than US$400,000. And there’s a waiting list. So, yes, you quite literally have to write them a blank cheque and they’ll get back to you with how much you spent.