{"id":24307,"date":"2019-10-23T15:32:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T19:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=24307"},"modified":"2019-10-23T15:32:29","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T19:32:29","slug":"payne-the-end-of-an-era-for-ford-gt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2019\/10\/payne-the-end-of-an-era-for-ford-gt","title":{"rendered":"Payne: The end of an era for Ford GT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/12d5df71-255c-450c-aa75-95fc14b08f9f-fordgt_hill.JPG?crop=3600,1866,x0,y527&amp;width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The Ford GT piloted by Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe, and Richard Westbrook at speed at Road Atlanta.\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div><p>The Ford GT piloted by Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe, and Richard Westbrook at speed at Road Atlanta.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Wes Duenkel)<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\"><em>Atlanta<\/em>\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Ford GT marked the end of an era here last weekend for Ford Performance Motorsports when it crossed the finish line for the last time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">The flag-bearer for Ford\u2019s international racing efforts the last four years, the GT earned its place in the history books in 2016 when it won France\u2019s 24 Hours of Le Mans GT-class in its maiden effort \u2014\u00a050 years after its legendary GT40 forefather shocked the world by beating Ferrari for the overall win at the 1966 race.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SMFNwf9l1r4\" class=\"story-asset video-asset\">\u00a0Since then, the mid-engine, carbon-fiber GT \u2014\u00a0the most advanced sports car to ever wear the Blue Oval \u2014\u00a0has raced across the globe in the IMSA Weathertech and World Endurance Championship winning 19 races and taking home the prestigious IMSA Manufacturer\u2019s Championship in 2018. It has also helped sell 1,350 production model GTs\u00a0for princely sums starting at $500,000 to buyers eager to own a piece of history.<\/div>\n<div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThe emotions are starting to come through\u00a0in terms of everything this great team of partners and people have done together to make this program so special these four years,\u201d said Ford Motorsports Chief Mark Rushbrook in the Ford paddock on the eve of GT\u2019s last hurrah.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The driving team of Ryan Briscoe, Richard Westbrook\u00a0and IndyCar superstar Scott Dixon brought the\u00a0#67\u00a0Ford GT home in second place Sunday at Road Atlanta\u2019s 10 Hour Petit Le Mans behind a Ferrari 488 \u2014\u00a0ironically, the same make of car that Ford bested in 2016 to win the coveted 24 Hours of Le Mans trophy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;It&#8217;s a bit emotional, I had a lot of thoughts going through my head the last few laps, but I&#8217;m really proud of the job that everyone&#8217;s done &#8211; today and for the past four years,&#8221; said driver Briscoe after the race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">A second, #66 car piloted by 2016 Le Mans winners\u00a0Joey Hand, Dirk Muller, and S\u00e9bastien Bourdais finished a distant eighth in class.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But the end of the GT\u2019s factory-backed racing efforts only closes a chapter in\u00a0Ford\u2019s continued assault on racing\u2019s record books. Racing is integral to the company since its founding over 100 years ago when Henry Ford attracted investors by winning on track.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SMFNwf9Efq8\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/0f19b90f-ba33-4062-b966-dfed65c36513-fordgt_rushbrook2.JPG?crop=3879,2094,x0,y0&amp;width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Ford Performance Motorsports boss Mark Rushbrook in front of the Ford GT in Road Atlanta. \" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/0f19b90f-ba33-4062-b966-dfed65c36513-fordgt_rushbrook2.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/0f19b90f-ba33-4062-b966-dfed65c36513-fordgt_rushbrook2.JPG?width=500&amp;height=281\" \/>Ford Performance Motorsports boss Mark Rushbrook in front of the Ford GT in Road Atlanta.\u00a0\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Henry Payne, The Detroit News)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">If the Ford GT was a celebration of a 50-year-old golden era, Rushbrook says the next chapter will explore the future of Ford\u2019s ambitious electrification plans. With global governments forcing battery-powered cars, Ford says the future is electric.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cWe are excited that many of (the race series we participate in) are transitioning to hybrids like our road cars,\u201d said Rushbrook. \u201cNASCAR is going hybrid (in 2022) and the World Rally Championship is going hybrid as well. With fully electric cars coming down the road, we are looking at where we can race. That is very important for us \u2014\u00a0it\u2019s the opportunity to innovate and use the tech transfer that is relevant to our road cars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">In addition to its NASCAR Mustangs and WRC Focus hatchbacks, Ford will also enter Mustangs in the Australia Supercars Championship as well as fire-breathing dragsters in NHRA. And Rushbrook says that Ford plans to sell the GT racers as customer cars so that they can continue to compete in the IMSA and WEC sports car series.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cWe don\u2019t plan to build any more cars, but we do plan to keep the factory race cars on the track through customers,\u201d said Rushbrook. Indeed, a private, purple-livery, Wynn-sponsored Ford GT\u00a0\u2014\u00a0which nearly won its Le Mans\u00a0class in 2018 \u2014\u00a0was on display in the Road Atlanta paddock.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SMFNwf9SwLM\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/0225cdff-3a99-4ae8-9598-292ef53d49cb-fordgt_ferrari.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"The #67 Ford GT finished second at its last race - behind the Ferrari 488 seen in the background.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/0225cdff-3a99-4ae8-9598-292ef53d49cb-fordgt_ferrari.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/0225cdff-3a99-4ae8-9598-292ef53d49cb-fordgt_ferrari.JPG?width=500&amp;height=333\" \/>The #67 Ford GT finished second at its last race &#8211; behind the Ferrari 488 seen in the background.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Wes Duenkel)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But while Ford retools for a new racing future, the Road Atlanta weekend was all about remembering an epic last four years. The program debuted in early 2016 at the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona \u2014\u00a0after a breakneck two years of development \u2014\u00a0under intense pressure to bring home a 50th anniversary Le Mans title by June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThe GT40 and everything that team accomplished from 1966-69 \u2014\u00a0that was a very special time in the company\u2019s history. We set out to build upon it and honor that,\u201d said Rushbrook in reference to the GT40\u2019s four years of Le Mans dominance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But the GT stumbled out of the blocks. While fast at the Rolex 24 in January &#8217;16, the two cars managed by Chip Ganassi Racing ran into immediate gearbox issues. The cars fell hopelessly behind in the pits, eventually finishing 31st and 40th overall.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;We came out of the gates fast, but we had durability issues. That 24-hour event defined this program,&#8221; remembers Rushbrook.\u00a0&#8220;We had adversity and we looked at each other and said this is going to be a 24-hour test for us and let&#8217;s fix these problems and see what others we have. We came out of that race a much stronger team.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SMFNwf9BZqs\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/ee56ed1b-2993-40c9-9c95-b41dcda0d40a-fordgt_corvette.JPG?crop=2333,1371,x388,y728&amp;width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"End of an era: The Ford GT, left, and front-engine Chevy Corvette raced at Road Atlanta for the last time Oct. 12.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/ee56ed1b-2993-40c9-9c95-b41dcda0d40a-fordgt_corvette.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/ee56ed1b-2993-40c9-9c95-b41dcda0d40a-fordgt_corvette.JPG?width=500&amp;height=333\" \/>End of an era: The Ford GT, left, and front-engine Chevy Corvette raced at Road Atlanta for the last time Oct. 12.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Wes Duenkel)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">A win at Laguna Seca followed and then the Big One in\u00a0Le Mans, France, in June 2016. The monkey was off the team&#8217;s back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;That Le\u00a0Mans will always stand as the marquee win\u00a0\u2014\u00a0that was what the program was about. Its made our\u00a0history even stronger,&#8221; said Rushbrook.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">It also strengthened Ford&#8217;s production programs by putting its Ecoboost turbo engines\u00a0\u2014\u00a0the same mills\u00a0used in the Ford F-150, for example \u2014\u00a0through high-stress endurance environments and in developing engineering tools.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;One of the things that really helped us in development was the use of a 360-degree simulator \u2014\u00a0we could effectively drive (the GT)\u00a0on a simulator in North Carolina,&#8221; said Rushbrook of Ford&#8217;s southern development center. &#8220;That\u00a0simulator is now being used for all of our mainstream programs. The Mustang GT500 which is launching\u00a0soon used that simulator. Our future electric vehicle\u00a0have all been developed on that simulator as well. Racing engineering tools make our road cars better.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Rushbrook wryly adds that the GT production car was so capable that the race car had to be severely penalized by IMSA and WEC in order to keep front-engine competitors like BMW and Corvette\u00a0close. With its lightweight, carbon-fiber chassis, Formula One-like aerodynamics, and sleek profile, the GT was international racing&#8217;s most advanced car.<\/p>\n<div id=\"module-position-SMFNwf8FxTc\" class=\"story-asset image-asset\">\n<aside class=\"wide single-photo\"><div align=\"left\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/43d691db-69e0-42b5-ae74-df4e04abed0a-fordgt_dixon.JPG?width=540&amp;height=&amp;fit=bounds&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Indycar superstar Scott Dixon was one of a core of world-class drivers that piloted the Ford GT over the last four years.\" width=\"540\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/43d691db-69e0-42b5-ae74-df4e04abed0a-fordgt_dixon.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2019\/10\/17\/PDTN\/43d691db-69e0-42b5-ae74-df4e04abed0a-fordgt_dixon.JPG?width=500&amp;height=333\" \/>Indycar superstar Scott Dixon was one of a core of world-class drivers that piloted the Ford GT over the last four years.\u00a0<span class=\"credit\">(Photo: Wes Duenkel)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/aside>\n<div class=\"clearfix\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;If you let these cars run unbridled with its\u00a0low\u00a0frontal area and weight distribution, it would have run away,&#8221; smiled Rushbrook. So the series enforced parity with weight and horsepower restrictions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">&#8220;We are the heaviest car on the race track even though we are lightest car on the road.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The end of the Ford GT race program also dovetails with the end of the production\u00a0car program. Manufactured by racing specialty shop Multimatic outside Toronto, all 1,350 Ford GTs have been spoken for.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">The last one will roll off the line in 2022 \u2014 and into the history books.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ford GT piloted by Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe, and Richard Westbrook at speed at Road Atlanta.\u00a0(Photo: Wes Duenkel) Atlanta\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Ford GT marked the end of an era here last weekend for Ford Performance Motorsports when it crossed the finish line for the last time. The flag-bearer for Ford\u2019s international racing efforts the last four [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24307"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24307\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}