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Ford GT
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- This page refers to the concept and production cars of 2002 and later; for the mid-1960s race car, see Ford GT40.
The Ford GT is a mid-engined sports car and is the world's 11th fastest production car. It was built by Ford Motor Company from 2003 to 2006. It began as a concept car designed in anticipation of Ford's centennial year and as part of its drive to showcase and revive its "heritage" names such as Mustang and Thunderbird.
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Encyclopedia
- This page refers to the concept and production cars of 2002 and later; for the mid-1960s race car, see Ford GT40.
The Ford GT is a mid-engined sports car and is the world's 11th fastest production car. It was built by Ford Motor Company from 2003 to 2006. It began as a concept car designed in anticipation of Ford's centennial year and as part of its drive to showcase and revive its "heritage" names such as Mustang and Thunderbird. Camilo Pardo, the head of Ford's "Living Legends" studio, is credited as the chief designer of the GT and worked under the guidance of J Mays. The designers drew inspiration from Ford's classic GT40 race cars of the 1960s and the GT is sometimes mistaken for its 1960s counterpart.
Positive response on the auto show circuit in 2002 helped persuade the company to produce the car in limited quantities, and the first production versions appeared in 2005. It is a very high-performance, two-seater vehicle with a strong styling resemblance to its racing ancestor and performance to match. The powerplant is a mid-mounted supercharged 5.4 litre V8, producing and . Top speed is (electronically limited).
Development
At the 1995 Detroit Auto Show, the Ford GT90 concept was shown and at the 2002 show, a new GT40 Concept was unveiled by Ford.
The GT is similar to the original Ford GT40 cars, but bigger, wider, and three inches (76 mm) taller than the original 40 inches (1.02 m)—as a result of which, a potential name for the car was the GT43. Three production prototype cars were shown in 2003 as part of Ford's centenary, and delivery of the production Ford GT began in the fall of 2004.
A British company, Safir Engineering, who made continuation GT40s in the 1980s owned the GT40 trademark at that time, and when they completed production, they sold the excess parts, tooling, design, and trademark to a small Ohio company called Safir GT40 Spares. Safir GT40 Spares licensed the use of the GT40 trademark to Ford for the initial 2002 show car, but when Ford decided to make the production vehicle, negotiations between the two failed, and as a result the new Ford GT does not wear the badge GT40. It is rumored that Safir GT40 Spares asked $40 million for the rights, but this has never been verified. The partners at Safir GT40 Spares state they have correspondence from Ford declining Safir's $8 million offer. Early cars from the 1960s were simply named "Ford GT".
The name "GT40" was the name of Ford's project to prepare the cars for the international endurance racing circuit, and the quest to win the 24 Hours of LeMans. The first 12 prototype vehicles carried serial numbers GT-101 through GT-112. The "production" began and the subsequent cars, the MkI, MkIIs, MkIIIs, and MkVs, numbered GT40-P-1000 through GT40-P-1145, were officially "GT40s". The name of Ford's project, and the serial numbers, thus show the story that "GT40" was only the car's nickname to be false.
Production and sales
The first customers took delivery in August 2004. The GT began assembly and was painted by Saleen in their Saleen Special Vehicles facility in Troy, Michigan. The GT is powered by an engine built at Ford's Romeo Engine Plant in Romeo, Michigan. Installation of the engine and manual transmission along with interior finishing was handled in the SVT building at Ford's Wixom, Michigan plant.
Of the 4,500 GTs originally planned, approximately 100 were to be exported to Europe, starting in late 2005. An additional 200 were destined for sale in Canada. When production ended in 2006, the full planned lot of 4500 were not produced. Approximately 550 were built in 2004, nearly 1900 in 2005, and just over 1600 in 2006, for a grand total of 4038; however, the final 11 car bodies manufactured by Mayflower Vehicle Systems were disassembled and the frames and body panels sold as service parts.
As with many highly desirable new vehicles, when the Ford GT was first released, the demand severely 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 (chassis #10) at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance Auction after bidding over $557,000. Jay Leno, host of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, took possession of his private sale Red 2005 GT (chassis #12) a week later.
Other early cars sold for as much as a $100,000 premium over the suggested retail price of $203,599. Optional equipment available included a McIntosh sound system, racing stripes and forged alloy wheels adding an additional $13,500 to the MSRP. By June 2005, retail sale prices had dropped to around $10,000 to $20,000 over MSRP, and in August 2005 several new GTs were sold on eBay for no more than the suggested retail price.
The production run of 4038 GT's ended with the 2006 model year on 21 September, 2006, short of the originally planned 4500. 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.
Ford GT, US sales and world production totals, 2004–2007| Year | US Sales | Production | | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total |
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| 2004 | | | | | | | | | | 22 | 63 | 59 | 144 | 547 | | 2005 | 7 | 4 | 44 | 70 | 117 | 150 | 91 | 113 | 176 | 165 | 157 | 208 | 1302 | 1890 | | 2006 | 157 | 194 | 204 | 157 | 178 | 185 | 147 | 143 | 133 | 102 | 261 | 58 | 1919 | 1601 | | 2007 | 62 | 169 | | | | | | | | | | | 231 | 0 | Grand Total | 3596 | 4038 |
Ford GTX1
In November 2005 the Ford GTX1, a roadster version of the Ford GT, was unveiled in Las Vegas. The $48,000 aftermarket conversion was performed by the Genaddi Design Group. It included optional performance upgrades to the suspension, brakes, aerodynamics, and an improved supercharger that increases power to .
Performance and engineering
The Ford GT features many new and unique technologies, including super-plastic-formed aluminum body panels, roll-bonded floor panels, a friction-stir welded center tunnel, a “ship-in-a-bottle” gas tank, a capless fuel filler system, one-piece door 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 5.4L Modular V8 powerplant is all-aluminum and fed by a Lysholm twin screw-type supercharger. It features a forged rotating assembly housed in an aluminum block designed specifically for the GT program. A dry sump oiling system is employed, allowing the engine to sit very low in the frame. The DOHC 4-valve heads are a revision of the 2000 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R cylinder heads (with slightly increased wall casting thickness in the exhaust port) and the design is essentially shared with the Ford Shelby GT500. The camshafts have unique specifications, with more lift and duration than those found in the Shelby GT500 or 2003–2004 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra. Power output is and of torque. A Ricardo six-speed manual transmission is fitted featuring a helical limited-slip differential.
Performance:
- 0–60 mph (0–96 km/h): 3.7 seconds
- 0–100 mph (0–160 km/h): 7.4 seconds
- Standing 1/4 mile: 11.2 seconds @
- Top speed: 205 mph (electronically limited)
Fuel consumption
The United States Environmental Protection Agency mileage estimate for the GT is in city driving, and in highway cruising, for a combined .
On May 14 2007 a GT participated in an economy driving contest around Reykjavík in Iceland held by FÍB (the association of car owners in Iceland)and the oil company Atlantsolía. The driver Gísli Jón Bjarnason, finished the circle on the GT through hilly terrain with average fuel consumption of . This performance was then improved in the same competition the consecutive year. At that time the driver Egill Jóhannsson drove the lap on the GT with fuel consumption of only .
Racing
- A is currently in use in Super GT's GT300 class driven by Hidetoshi Mitsusada and Daisuke Ikeda. Designed by DHG Racing, it is powered by a 3.5 L Formula 1 Ford Cosworth DFR unit.
- Swiss team Matech Racing currently runs three in the FIA GT3 European Championship. The Ford GT Matech team wins the title in the European FIA GT3 Championship 2008. They plan a modified version of the GT3 car for the VLN championship, before offering the car in a GT1 class form.
- PSI Experience of Belgium is also planning to enter Ford GTs in the FIA GT3 European Championship
- Doran Racing is currently using a Ford GT in the American Le Mans Series GT2 class.
- Falken Tires is also racing a Ford GT in the GT2 class in the American Le Mans Series.
- British front-running team RPM Motorsport, title winner in 2007 with Alex Mortimer and Bradley Ellis, is shortly to take delivery of one of Ford's V8-powered GT supercars and is aiming for a full assault on the British GT title. RPM’s Ford GT has just been completed at the Swiss workshops of FIA GT3 European Champions Matech Racing.
External links
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