Future Ford GT First Look


dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
Ford is Bringing Back the GT, and It’s Coming to the Detroit Auto Show

http://www.motortrend.com/future/future_vehicles/1410_future_ford_gt_first_look/

For Blue Oval fans, 2016 looms large. That year marks the 50th anniversary of Ford's greatest racing victory, the first of four consecutive wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. To commemorate and celebrate this glorious anniversary, several sources tell Motor Trend that Ford is bringing back the GT for 2016, though that might not be its name. Not just for the street, either. Looks like the company that Hank built is packing its bags and heading across the pond to France. Whispers in and around Dearborn indicate that Ford has a skunkworks team working on a mid-engine supercar that will not only show up on dealer lots, but also will return Ford to the top of the endurance car podium.

What engine will power such a machine? Every car person on the Internet knows the old Ford GT can handle far more power than the 550-hp, 500 lb-ft of torque the Lysholm supercharger helped squeeze out of the 5.4-liter V-8 it shipped with back in 2005. After all, 1000-plus-hp GTs are still frequently used for events such the Texas Mile. As a matter of fact (and example), in 2013 a 2000-hp M2K Motorsports Ford GT went 278.2 mph at the big Texas event. That's nuts! Even if Ford kept the GT's chassis the same and only updated the engine to the last GT500's specs -- 662 hp and 631 lb-ft of torque from a blown 5.8-liter V-8 -- that would be a significant improvement. Add in modern materials, components, and current engineering know-how and Ford could quickly be back on top of the supercar pile.

There is one major roadblock to that powerplant scenario: The 5.8-liter supercharged V-8 went out of production in November 2013 and it's never coming back. What engine could possibly power a new GT, then -- especially since the second-generation car simply has to make more power than the previous one? Look to the east, and then straight south. Ford recently started supplying engines to Daytona Prototype cars in the Tudor racing series. In March, a Chip Ganassi Racing/Felix Sabates Riley car powered by a Roush Yates-prepped 3.5-liter, twin-turbo EcoBoost engine making 600 hp won the 12 Hours of Sebring. That's the first time a Ford-powered product has been on the podium in 45 years, with 1969 being the year Ford left endurance racing. I remember years ago at the launch of the Taurus SHO -- one of the first vehicles to receive the 3.5-liter EcoBoost mill -- an engineer explained that while the SHO only makes 365 hp, the engine can easily produce 600 hp and still be reliable. If and when Ford returns to Le Mans, expect this engine to power its entry.

There's another engine possibility, and you can file this one in the "Who wants a mid-engine supercar with a V-6?" category. The motor in the upcoming Mustang GT350 -- the replacement for the GT500, for now -- is an uprated version of the 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 rumored to be based on the Aluminator crate engine (it is optimized for twin-screw superchargers), though displacing 5.2 liters with a flat-plane crankshaft and natural aspiration. For you engineering geeks, this is huge news, as no one's been able to successfully create a flat-plane engine larger than 4.5 liters because the NVH is too severe. If Ford can pull the big flat-plane V-8 off, it will really move the needle. Power is expected to be significantly higher than the 2015 Mustang GT's 435 hp. How high? Well, the Ferrari 458 Speciale has a 4.5-liter V-8 with a flat-plane crank that spits out 597 hp. The Speciale's torque output is 398 lb-ft. Figure the larger Ford engine will have more torque than that (500 lb-ft feels about right) and a bit more power, too (625 hp sounds about right). Remember, the whole reason Ford went to Le Mans in the first place was because Henry Ford II hated Enzo Ferrari's guts. A new mid-engine Ford GT beating the best Ferrari street car would be the real way to commemorate a 50th anniversary. To sum up, race-proven EcoBoost V-6 for the track; high-revving natural V-8 for the street.

Ford not only beat Ferrari but everybody else in 1966. Ford then won the big race three more times, in 1967, 1968, and 1969. Surely it wants to trumpet (and cash in) on all that glorious history. It's well-known that Ford is itching to return to Le Mans in 2016. Ask Jim Farley what he thinks. Forty-eight years ago, Ford won the race in the top class, then called simply P for prototype. However, these days the top class is filled with zillion-dollar hybrids such as the Audi R18 E-tron Quattro Hybrid, the Porsche 919 Hybrid, and the Toyota TS040 Hybrid. Assuming the new GT is similar to the old one, any sort of racing version would be similar to a street car. In that case the new mid-engine Ford will be competing in GTE-Pro alongside the Chevy Corvette C7.R, Ferrari 458 GT2, Porsche 911 RSR, and Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2. That's totally sweet. Expect to see both the race car and the production car at the Detroit show.

To you and me, building a new version of the GT might seem like a no-brainer. Things probably seem awfully different inside the pressure cooker that is Ford product planning. However, one source told us that money once set aside for the Ford GT 2.0 has instead been funneled into Lincoln. That would be sad if true. Most important, Ford would be missing out on a massive goodwill opportunity by ignoring the GT40's 50th anniversary. Few cars have ever appreciated as quickly as the first-generation GT, and original GT40s are worth several million dollars apiece. Ford already shocked the world a decade ago with the reborn GT, and that was just for the legendary car's 40th birthday. Why not go whole hog for the golden jubilee? Ford, the ball's in your court. Don't choke the layup.
 

33Bravo

GT Owner
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Nov 3, 2006
688
Minneapolis, MN
Holy Crap!

These really are the good old days!
 

427Aggie

GT Owner
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885
Frisco, Tx
Dave I HATE YOU!
 

dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
Why? :lol
 

w.a.nelson

GT Owner
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Feb 29, 2008
1,096
Asbury, NJ and Bourne, MA
Checked calendar, not April 1.

This would be really cool!
 

MarkH

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
May 19, 2007
528
Katy, Texas
Wow, what great news..... Time to step up and knock it out of the park once again Ford. Great thanks go out to Dave (DBK) for the props to M2K Motorsports in the Motor Trend article and what they have been able to accomplish with this awesome piece of machinery at the Texas Mile. I know everyone at M2K can not wait to see the "NEW" car and plan our next adventure.

Mark Heidaker
M2K Motorsports, LLC
 

GTdrummer

GT Owner
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Richmond Virginia
Never say never
 

Silverbullitt

GT Owner
Mar 3, 2006
1,757
Lago Vista, TX
How could Camillo be the designer??? Bs detector just went off.
 

Pdenaro

GT Owner
Jan 15, 2009
24
Glendale,AZ
The talk of the New FGT is Great news, but does anyone think that will hurt the value of our Current FGTs or even slow the appreciation as so many of us have been enjoying,I was able to buy my second FGT in thanks to the value added from my First one?
 

radarblip

New member
Aug 18, 2010
1
I am glad Camilo Pardo, design chief for 2004 - 2006 Ford GT is also doing the new one.

"Pardo wasn't too thrilled with the Galpin Ford GTR1 shown at Pebble Beach last month. "It's a very delicate project. It's something you have to be very well-experienced as a designer to tackle something like that," he says.

But, "I would love to give another shot to the Ford GT to make it a lot more contemporary. I did like what was done with the GT90, it was just still too far for most people to take in."

via: http://jalopnik.com/ford-gt-designer-camilo-pardo-would-love-another-crack-1403989877

http://www.camilopardo.com/blog/

I hope he realizes he is trying to improve on near perfection IMHO. They tried that with the Jaguar E-Type. It is not easy to capture lightning in a bottle twice.
 

BAT

GT Owner
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Oct 11, 2012
946
Central Mitten
Never say never

Ha. You called it.
 

dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
How could Camillo be the designer??? Bs detector just went off.

Camilo only did the below renderings and sketches as a contracted employee of Motor Trend, and they are purely speculative. He is not an employee of Ford Motor Company, and he is not working on any projects in any capacity for Ford Motor Company.

15234422927_ff7f669566_b.jpg


15420633802_3dc457f410_b.jpg
 

mmlcobra

GT Owner
May 25, 2013
1,215
If true.
Yesssss!
 

Xcentric

GT Owner
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Jul 9, 2012
5,213
Myakka City, Florida
51 years ago when Hank the Deuce was preparing to go endurance racing, Motor Trend named the AMC Rambler their "Car of the Year."

I actually remember getting that issue of MT. I believe that award embedded "wtf?" in my 12 year old vocabulary.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
 

Empty Pockets

ex-GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Oct 18, 2006
1,361
Washington State
If true.
Yesssss!

Eeeeeeeh..............no. The fwd section of rear qtr panel area is just "off" to me visually.

But, the one Camilo did several months ago...the one Dave said would be impossible to get into/drive (which I can't find right now to save my soul)...THAT ONE?...Ooooooh yeah!!! Dear LORD that thing is/was SHARP!!! Oh, PUHLEEEEZE! Be still my heart! :willy:willy:willy
 

STORMCAT

GT
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OMG !!! Freaking awesome !!! Time to bring out this guy !! :biggrin >>> :banana:banana:banana:banana
 

B.M.F.

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jan 29, 2009
1,782
Minnesota
I know that ford has had some alum chassis with supercharged coyotes motors in them running around! I know they have talked about ordering and had quotes for more GT transaxles up to 4000 also.. Time will tell what they are gonna do.
 

debtdrives

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 20, 2007
438
Oakland, Michigan 48363
Rumor has it that, prices ($400k msrp) and volumes (500/yr for 5yrs) will make it a very exclusive automobile! So, prices over sticker should be expected in the marketplace. Making our cars a bargain! and driving them up in value again. Buy another and use the profit towards this new car?
 

Indy GT

Yea, I got one...too
Mark IV Lifetime
Jan 14, 2006
2,526
Greenwood, IN
They didn't make one 10 years ago, why would they do it now. Nice dream, but its not happening. What would the factory street car be?. Corvette isn't doing a thing with a mid engine. Sad to say, ALL cars are so boring there is nothing to talk about. So back to reality, THE FORD GT is the last great super car.GTJOEY1314

OMG…..!

Joey, how did you miss this?????:eek
 

twobjshelbys

GT Owner
Jul 26, 2010
6,053
Las Vegas, NV
Doesn't this come up about twice a year? How is this different from the last time?

It would be really swell to see Ford attempt a Le Mans win on the 50th anniversary, but recall that the original GT40 was campaigned for a couple of years before it went to Le Mans. Wouldn't wee see cars out and about now? Heck prototype/mockups of the 2016 car purported to be Ford GT350 are out now. I'm sure to run in the GT class at Le Mans the car has to be homologated so where are they?

Who's going to drive it? If Ford expects to win they need a driving team in place now. Where is that team? It wouldn't matter much if they turn the win over to a privateer.

I truly hope it happens but I think they are two years behind schedule.

P.S. Will Camilo have signed copies of his picture at the rally?