{"id":20568,"date":"2017-05-23T15:12:50","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T19:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=20568"},"modified":"2017-05-23T15:12:50","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T19:12:50","slug":"payne-ford-gt-tested-at-warp-speed-wow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2017\/05\/payne-ford-gt-tested-at-warp-speed-wow","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Ford GT tested at warp speed. Wow."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/9ddb467e530c282d9c101d355e6531a65fc7e7f3\/c=504-0-3528-2268&amp;r=x404&amp;c=534x401\/local\/-\/media\/2017\/05\/17\/DetroitNews\/B99532693Z.1_20170517173602_000_GN21FT648.1-0.jpg\" alt=\"gt_silver-doors\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><p>Stickering at half-a-million dollars, the 2017 Ford GT race car in street clothing is unobtainable, made-from-unobtanium, and unbelievably capable. As I folded myself into its cockpit for a test drive this month at Utah Motorsports race track, I couldn\u2019t help but think of its old man, the legendary GT40.<\/p>\n<p>My favorite racing encounter against the 1966 GT40 came in the mid-1990s at New York\u2019s Watkins Glen race track. Vintage racing in those days brought together the finest sports racers of the 1960s: the GT40, Ferrari 330, Lola T70, Lotus 23, Chevron B16 &#8230; and Porsches like my 1966 906.<\/p>\n<p>On this day I was cooking along in second place, locked in a race-long duel for first with a sister 906. But I knew a Ford GT was lurking. Beset by bugs in practice but skillfully manned, it started from the back of the pack \u2014 where it wouldn\u2019t stay long.<\/p>\n<p>My 220-horse, 1,350-pound Porsche had dominated the 2.0-liter class at the \u201966 24 Hours of Le Mans. But the Ford was a different species \u2014 a 7-liter, 2,682-pound, 485-horsepower brute that had finished 1-2-3 overall that same year. Ford would repeat its win four years running.<\/p>\n<p>As I scaled the Glen\u2019s uphill esses with two laps to go, the GT40\u2019s unmistakable, shark-like visage loomed in my mirrors. As we emerged onto the long back-straight, the Ford went by like a freight train, its huge center-mounted twin exhaust nearly blowing me off the road at 150 mph, the deafening V-8 rattling my eardrums.<\/p>\n<p>Inside my helmet, I think I let out a \u201cwow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s how racers feel about the GT, America\u2019s most revered race badge. So you can imagine the anticipation for this year\u2019s Ford supercar, the first GT in 50 years that\u2019s purpose-built to go racing.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ad-position-235\" class=\"partner-outstream\">\n<div id=\"ad-slot-7103-mi-detroit-C1561-outstream_video-news-opinion-237\" class=\"ad-slot\">\n<div id=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/mi-detroit-C1561\/outstream_video\/news\/opinion_0__container__\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/mi-detroit-C1561\/outstream_video\/news\/opinion_0\" title=\"3rd party ad content\" name=\"google_ads_iframe_7103\/mi-detroit-C1561\/outstream_video\/news\/opinion_0\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>It\u2019s different than the 2005 V8-powered GT made to celebrate Ford Motor Company\u2019s centennial. Capable as it was, that model was meant for production only. The 2017 car was built from the ground up to reclaim the Le Mans title that old-man GT40 won in 1966 \u2014 while satisfying rules requiring that the race thoroughbreds be born from a production sire.<\/p>\n<p>A year ago, the GT race car won Le Mans. Mission accomplished. Now comes the production version which I sampled in Utah.<\/p>\n<p>With its state-of-the-art aerodynamics and electronic wizardry, it is 50 light years from its ancestor. Drivers concede that, for all its glory, the 1966 car was a handful. An engine strapped to four wheels. Heavy and cramped, it was a physical experience. The new GT is a 21st-century thrill ride.<\/p>\n<p>Getting into the Ford, I felt like a Jedi pilot strapping into an X-Wing.<\/p>\n<p>Just fore of the car\u2019s signature sci-fi \u201cflying buttress\u201d air scoops, I lowered my 6-foot-5 frame under the scissor door and into a spartan carbon-fiber space capsule.<\/p>\n<p>The cabin\u2019s focus is the digital instrument panel and a steering wheel that contains every function \u2014 from driving modes to turn signals to huge batwing paddles that operate the car\u2019s quick twin-clutch seven-speed tranny. Press the starter button and the old GT\u2019s V-8 drama is gone, replaced by the purposeful grunt of a twin-turbo \u201cEcoboost\u201d V-6. On Utah mountain roads the precision of the carbon-fiber chassis was reminiscent of the $60,000 carbon Alfa Romeo 4C\u2019s scalpel-like precision. A 4C with 647-horsepower, 550 pound-feet of torque and 400 pounds of downforce, that is. Those numbers come into clearer focus at the track.<\/p>\n<p>Thumb the Mode selector to \u201cTrack\u201d and the car thunks to 75 millimeters off the ground like it was dropped from IndyCar air jacks. That\u2019s race-car low, just shy of the Le Mans car\u2019s 50 mm. From launch control, the car rockets forward, my right hand flicking off shifts as the car builds speed smoothly. There is no high-rev wail like a Corvette or Porsche flat-6. Just. Relentless. Thrust.<\/p>\n<p>A rear-wheel drive racer with none of the all-wheel, rear-turn steer tricks used by some of its supercar peers (tricks that are illegal in racing), the GT\u2019s handling is familiar to any sports car driver with understeer in low-speed turns and manageable oversteer under throttle as the 647 horses overwhelm the grooved Michelins (note to owners: buy slicks for the track).<\/p>\n<p>Unfamiliar, however, is the tail\u2019s tendency to step out as I brake from high speed into tight bends.<\/p>\n<p>Aussie Ford ace Ryan Briscoe climbs into the cockpit for a few laps and explains. It\u2019s caused by downforce washing off the back of the car as I scrub speed, shifting weight to the front.<\/p>\n<p>All that downforce is the GT\u2019s secret sauce: advanced, active aerodynamic design that makes this supercar at once both physically alluring and wicked quick.<\/p>\n<p>Two years on from its dramatic introduction at the 2015 Detroit auto show, the Ford is still the most head-turning car on the floor. At this spring\u2019s New York Auto Show, I ended a group floor-tour at a twin-striped red GT at the Ford stand. Jaws dropped. Strapped into a similar red car just inches off the track, the car\u2019s beauty takes on a different meaning. It\u2019s an aerodynamic tour de force headlining 50 years of fluid dynamics since a 1966 car that barely knew the term.<\/p>\n<p>The shark nose is still familiar. But where the \u201966 car used air largely to feed the hungry mid-engine V-8, the \u201917 also uses air to press the body to the ground. My carbon-fiber cockpit is integrated into a narrow Formula One-style \u201cnose and keel\u201d chassis construction with shocks, springs, seats and engine concentrated in the middle of the car. Enormous, forged aluminum A-arms attach wheels to keel and open up huge tunnels between the chassis and rolling bits, which sucks the shark to pavement.<\/p>\n<p>Air rushes out from under the car through a diffuser, working with a top-side wing rising hydraulically above the rear deck as the car gains speed. When I stomp on the huge carbon-ceramic brakes (more unobtanium), the wing snaps up at a 90-degree angle \u2014 WHAP! \u2014 helping to slow the ground missile.<\/p>\n<p>My tester is only one of 1,000 GTs that will be built \u2014 the first rolled off Ford production-partner Multimatic\u2019s Toronto line in December. Multimatic will produce one a day, 250 a year, for four years. Each car starts at $450,000 before options. Every one is spoken for. Unobtainable, yes.<\/p>\n<p>But like its forefather, it represents America\u2019s best.<\/p>\n<p>Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2017 Ford GT<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>VEHICLE TYPE<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>MID-ENGINE, REAR-WHEEL DRIVE, TWO-PASSENGER,<\/p>\n<p>TWO-DOOR SUPERCAR<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Powerplant<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>3.5-liter, twin-turbo V-6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Transmission<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Seven-speed, dual-clutch automatic with<\/p>\n<p>paddles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Weight<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>3,000 pounds (est. for<\/p>\n<p>Competition Series trim)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Price<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>$450,000 base price<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Power<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>647 horsepower, 550 pound-feet torque<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Performance<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>0-60 mph, 2.9 seconds (Car and Driver est.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Fuel economy<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>EPA est: 11 mpg city\/15 highway\/14 combined<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Report card<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>HIGHS<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>GALACTIC STARFIGHTER DESIGN;<\/p>\n<p>CARBON-FIBER EVERYTHING<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Lows<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Wavy windscreen glass; only 1,000 made<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Overall:<\/strong>\u2605\u2605\u2605\u2605(Do I hear five stars?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stickering at half-a-million dollars, the 2017 Ford GT race car in street clothing is unobtainable, made-from-unobtanium, and unbelievably capable. As I folded myself into its cockpit for a test drive this month at Utah Motorsports race track, I couldn\u2019t help but think of its old man, the legendary GT40. My favorite racing encounter against the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20568"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20568"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20568\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20569,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20568\/revisions\/20569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}