2017 Ford GT is a legend in the making
DEARBORN, Mich. — Descend 26 steps into the dark basement of Ford’s Product and Development Center in Dearborn, Michigan, past the used oil drums, wooden crates and scattered panels of cardboard, and a car of mythical proportions takes shape.
Code-named Phoenix, the car is so top secret, only a handful of top engineers, designers and senior Ford executives know what’s going on down here. Torn tape and faded yellow lines mark the concrete floor. The walls are scratched and dented, but the strategy and the goal is clear: create the most technologically advanced and high-performance car Ford has ever built.
Knowing glances and winks are exchanged. The storage area is soon altered from a refuge for mice to bright lights, drawing boards and model stands. Foam and clay are being hand hewn into the next pace car for an entire company. Yet no one is to know. The next Ford GT is underway.
From the first design work in late 2013 until the volcano erupted at the 2015 North American International Auto Show, the Ford GT — and with it, Ford’s intended future — was always a close-to-the-chest secret, going from idea to concept in record time.
But when it debuted in Detroit, the world fought for a better look. And how could it not? Victorious against Ferrari at Le Mans four times in a row, the original Ford GT40 was an more than an inspiration to American racing, it was a testament to the iron will and sheer determination of one man.
So angered by Enzo Ferrari for abruptly cutting off a deal to sell Ferrari to Ford, Henry Ford II directed his racing division to build a Ferrari-beater on the world endurance-racing circuit. And when Ford toppled Ferrari’s domination at Le Mans with victories in 1966 through 1969, the GT roared into the record books. The Mk II GT40 also won the first 24-hour Daytona format, finishing 1st, 2nd and 3rd. Any GT40 from that era will fetch seven figures today.
Ford’s modern GT, produced in 2005 and 2006, became an equally collectible car, selling for about $150,000 US in the day, but easily commanding double and triple that amount now. “The One” was the first car by Ford to use so much aluminum and carbon fibre together, the use of aluminum setting the stage for its use in today’s F-150.
Pricing on the 2017 has not been set, although “Lamborghini money” has been mentioned. Yes, $400,000 might be significant, but only 250 GTs will be built each year, and they will be built in Canada, by Ontario’s Multimatic Motorsports, a long-standing partner in Ford’s racing programs.
The street car exists in part because of Le Mans homologation rules: Ford is expected to run the GT at Le Mans in 2016 for the 50th anniversary of Ford’s first victory there. Welcome back to the sixties.
But will the time, resources and energy for such a small production car be worth it? Ford execs Raj Nair and Jamal Hameedi certainly believe so. While the first GT was a completely mechanical machine, and the 2005 was the last of the “analog supercars,” the 2017 GT is a software giant, shuttling 300 megabytes of data per second while analyzing data from 50 sensors that control everything from the door latch to the rear-wing position.
That rear wing should make every Porsche blush: it not only rises to control lift, it employs an air-brake function, like in the Bugatti Veyron. It’s a first for Ford and the engineering on this car — so the plan goes — can be used on other higher-production cars.
One of the most important bits of data on the GT, of course, will come from the engine, a twin-turbo V6 transformed from the 3.5-litre EcoBoost found in millions of F-150s. While the GT acquires unique turbos (eight different models were tested), pistons and rods, the crankshaft and block are similar to the F-150’s. Hameedi says anti-lag software completely eliminates turbo lag, so the response is just like a naturally aspirated engine.
Horsepower will exceed 600. Weight and performance figures will be revealed later, but rest assured there will be no hybrid components to add weight. There will, however, be blood: Ford says the power-to-weight ratio will be the best of any production car — ever.
If that doesn’t sound impressive enough, consider the design of the new GT, which was honed after countless hours of virtual development, which allowed engineers and designers to “see” the car in life-size, three-dimensional colour graphics. Everything from the size of the A-pillars and the sightlines over the arched fenders to the way clouds reflect off the hood at sunset could be examined.
Aerodynamic body panels made of carbon fibre, upward swinging doors, a fuselage much like a plane and an overall height near 43 inches (109 centimetres), the GT looks forward without looking back.
A flying buttress links the roof to each rear fender. Angled air intakes, a rear window that reveals the mid-mounted V6, exhaust ports like an F-18 fighter jet and tail lights that vent hot air — the GT boasts a raw beauty that belies its birthplace in a darkened corridor in Dearborn. Put beside the $1-million LaFerrari, I’m not sure which is more beautiful.
Inside, the carbon-fibre seating is fixed, though the pedals and steering wheel adjust slightly, along with the seat back, making it easier to design a crash-worthy, carbon-fibre tub that’s helmet friendly, even for those taller than six feet.
The instrumentation displays in three ways to match the drive settings, which can be set via a finned rotary dial to Normal, Sport, Track or Wet. Buttons on the rectangular steering wheel replace the signal stalk, and long paddle shifters, also finned, control the seven-speed dual-clutch automated gearbox, activated by a rotary dial in the centre column.
Think race car cockpit imbued with Shuttle Endeavour, yet simple at the same time.
The result is a modern interpretation of one of the most iconic cars ever built, yet the GT has not been recreated in a tacky, retro way. Instead, the new GT has purpose and poise, already proud of its own personality, even before the first one is built.
The GT gives a nod to the heritage of the old car, but is already standing on its own, long before the checkered flag falls at Le Mans.