Ford GT
The Ford GT is a mid-engine two-seater sports car manufactured and marketed by American automobile manufacturer Ford for the 2005 model year in conjunction with the company's 2003 centenary. The second generation Ford GT became available for the 2017 model year.
The GT recalls Ford's historically significant GT40, a consecutive four-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, including a 1-2-3 finish in 1966.
First generation (2005–2006)
Development
The Ford GT began life as a concept car designed in anticipation of the automaker's centennial year and as part of its drive to showcase and revive its "heritage" names such as Mustang and Thunderbird. At the 2002 North American International Auto Show, Ford unveiled a new GT40 Concept car. Camilo Pardo, the then head of Ford's "Living Legends" studio, is credited as the chief designer of the GT and worked under the guidance of J Mays. Carroll Shelby, the original designer of the Shelby GT 500, was brought in by Ford to help develop the GT; which included performance testing of the prototype car. While under development, the project was called Petunia.The GT is similar in outward appearance to the original GT40, but is bigger, wider, and most importantly taller than the original's overall height; as a result, a potential name for the car was the GT44. Although the cars are visually related, structurally, there is no similarity between the modern GT and the 1960s GT40 that inspired it. After six weeks from the unveiling of the GT40 concept, Ford announced a limited production run of the car. Three pre-production cars were shown to the public in 2003 as part of Ford's centenary celebrations, and delivery of the production version called simply the Ford GT began in the fall of 2004.
As the Ford GT was built as part of the company's 100th anniversary celebration, the left headlight cluster was designed to read "100".
Naming difficulties
A British company, Safir Engineering, who built continuation GT40 cars in the 1980s, owned the "GT40" trademark at that time. When production of the continuation cars ended, they sold the excess parts, tooling, design, and trademark to a small Ohio based company called Safir GT40 Spares. This company licensed the use of the "GT40" trademark to Ford for the initial 2002 show car. When Ford decided to put the GT40 concept to production stage, negotiations between the two firms failed as Ford did not pay the US$40 million the owners of the name demanded. Thus, the production cars are simply called the GT.Production
The GT was produced for the 2005 and 2006 model years. The car began assembly at Mayflower Vehicle Systems in Norwalk, Ohio and was painted and continued assembly at Saleen Special Vehicles facility in Troy, Michigan, through contract by Ford. The GT is powered by an engine built at Ford's Romeo Engine Plant in Romeo, Michigan. Installation of the engine and transmission along with seats and interior finishing was handled in the SVT building at Ford's Wixom, Michigan plant.Of the 4,500 cars originally planned, approximately 100 were to be exported to Europe, starting in late 2005. An additional 200 cars were destined for sale in Canada. Production ended in September 2006 without reaching the planned production target. Approximately 550 cars were built in 2004, nearly 1,900 in 2005, and just over 1,600 in 2006, for a total of 4,038 cars. The final 11 car bodies manufactured by Mayflower Vehicle Systems were disassembled, and the frames and body panels were sold as service parts. The Wixom Assembly Plant has stopped production of all models as of May 31, 2007. Sales of the GT continued into 2007, from cars held in storage and in dealer inventories.
Heritage edition
Ford produced a total of 346 Heritage editions, recognizable by the Gulf Oil-inspired livery. The livery is in honor of the back to back wins of Ford at the 1968 and 1969 24 Hours of Le Mans by the GT40 Mk I.Sales and marketing
When the Ford GT was first announced, the demand outpaced supply, and the cars initially sold for premium prices. The first private sale of Ford's new mid-engine sports car was completed on August 4, 2004, when former Microsoft executive Jon Shirley took delivery of his Midnight Blue 2005 Ford GT. Shirley earned the right to purchase the first production Ford GT at a charity auction at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Auction after bidding over US$557,000.A few other early cars sold for as much as a US$100,000 premium over the suggested retail price of US$139,995. Optional equipment available included a McIntosh sound system, racing stripes, painted brake calipers, and BBS forged alloy wheels adding US$13,500 to the MSRP.
Performance and engineering
The Ford GT features many technologies unique at its time including a superplastic-formed frame, aluminum body panels, roll-bonded floor panels, a friction stir welded center tunnel, covered by a magnesium center console, a "ship-in-a-bottle" gas tank, a capless fuel filler system, one-piece panels, and an aluminum engine cover with a one-piece carbon fiber inner panel.Brakes are four-piston aluminum Brembo calipers with cross-drilled and vented rotors at all four corners. When the rear canopy is opened, the rear suspension components and engine are visible.
The 5.4 L longitudinal rear mounted Modular V8 engine is an all-aluminum alloy engine with an Eaton 2300 Lysholm screw-type supercharger. It features a forged rotating assembly housed in an aluminum block designed specifically for the car. A dry sump oiling system is employed, allowing the engine to sit low in the car's frame. The DOHC 4 valves per cylinder heads are a revision of the 2000 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R cylinder heads. The camshafts have unique specifications, with more lift and duration than those found in the Shelby GT500. Power output is at 6,500 rpm and of torque at 4,500 rpm. A Ricardo 6-speed manual transmission is fitted featuring a helical limited-slip differential. Car and Driver tested the GT in January 2004 and recorded a 0- acceleration time of 3.3 seconds.
Performance:
- Top speed:
- : 11.8 seconds
- : 3.8 seconds
- : 12.3 seconds
- : 44.3 seconds
Fuel consumption
Standing mile speed record
Modified versions of the Ford GT have established several speed records, including the standing mile. One modified version broke the record for fastest street legal vehicle achieved by a highly modified twin turbo version of the original 5.4-liter V8 rated at approximately with a top speed of at Space Florida launch and landing facility.Ford GTX1
The Ford GTX1 is an aftermarket roadster iteration of the Ford GT introduced by the company at the 2005 SEMA Show. The car was built by Mark Gerisch, owner of Genaddi Design Group from Green Bay, Wisconsin with assistance from Ford. Kip Ewing, a development engineer who had been involved in the development of the GT and conceived the idea, supervised the project. The resulting chassis is ten percent less stiff than the standard GT.The design was inspired by the open top GT40 which was conceived in the 1960s. The car had a modified engine cover, modified doors and a central removable roof bar. Two roof pieces could be installed and removed when the roof bar was installed making the car a T-top, a canvas roof panel would be installed when the roof bar was removed. The car had headrests inspired from the Porsche Carrera GT.
The car received a positive response at the show and customers urged Ford to build this version of the GT but the end of the production of the GT in the forthcoming year meant that it would be expensive to produce another limited variant of the car. The GTX1 was offered as a kit by the body shop adding US$38,000 to the price of a standard Ford GT. The involvement of Ford in the process meant that the warranty and other obligations on the car were unaltered.
A total of 100 orders for the GTX1 were received and completed over a two-year planned production period, these including the exact copies of the SEMA show car. Other modifications on the GTX1 included race seats, a customized interior, new Wilwood brakes, a hidden rear bumper and a maximum power increase to. The GTX1 was featured in various automotive publications along with several reviews.
A specialist Sony Xplod audio system was fitted to the GTX1.
Second generation (2017–2022)
At the 2015 North American International Auto Show and at the unveiling of the 2015 racing video game Forza Motorsport 6, the second-generation Ford GT was shown to the public with plans for production in 2016, after a decade-old hiatus from the first generation. The car marked 50 years since the GT40 won the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans and competed successfully in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans to better celebrate the anniversary, winning the LM GTE-Pro class, taking 1st and 3rd in class.Development
The development of the second generation GT at Ford was a very secretive operation–according to design director Chris Svensson, "a handful of twelve people, including some key engineers, had access to the ". This secrecy was maintained inside Ford and to the press until its 2015 unveiling at the North American Auto Show.The design of the new GT began with its aerodynamics package, which was closely related to the ultimate focus of the design team of creating a successful Le Mans race car. Low drag and aerodynamic efficiency were of primary importance in the development of the exterior of the car, and this drove designers to pursue a 'teardrop profile' as often seen in LMP1 cars. The powertrain of the new GT, therefore, became a secondary criterion to the external design and aerodynamic performance of the car. Although a V8 and even a V12 engine were both considered, it was ultimately decided to use Ford's EcoBoost V6 engine due to the degree of freedom that the compact engine gave designers.
The intent behind the design was for the overall look of the second generation GT to be recognizable as a part of the GT line, which meant, for example, a cut back front nose piece, circular tail lights, and raised twin exhaust pipes. There was no explicit requirement for luxury or practicality in the design of the road car, which is the reason behind the car's negligible cargo space and spartan interior. The interior seating position was fixed to provide additional space for the bodywork and teardrop exterior shape.