2018 Heritage Ford GT review


Mar 15, 2006
767
Seriously. Hennessy Performance is the go to tuner for literally all types of vehicles. Hopefully, we'll see some modifications on Mr. John's NFGT... wonder how much power he can squeeze out of that.

Cheers.

Not going to modify the new GT. But the new GT500, now that is a different story..
 

PashaGT

GT Owner
Apr 23, 2016
178
Orange County
Can't wait to see what kind of power you will be able to extract from the GT500!! From your experience and what you know about the car how much more power can reliably be increased from the NFGT?
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,267
Kalama, Free part of WA State
John probably will reply later, but I'll opine: Ford left very little on the table for the tuners. At about 650 HP from 3.5 liters, the stock engine is producing race-level power. Any increases in boost or other mods will require tradeoffs in reliability, longevity or other factors. The power plant was optimized to the car, which was optimized to win LeMans.
 

PashaGT

GT Owner
Apr 23, 2016
178
Orange County
Thanks for the reply so it's best to not modify this GT and enjoy it the way it was built. Some think their is another 100 or so HP to be made with down pipes, tune, exhaust.
 

Pro_GT_driver

GT Owner
Jun 23, 2010
131
Getrag gearbox is already at its torque limit of 750Nm. No more room left here.
2005-06 Ricardo there is practically "no limit"
 
Mar 15, 2006
767
I could give a really long answer but the short answer is that the GT is perfectly balanced the way that it is. Given the value of these cars, the risk to modify is probably not worth the reward. Its way easier to buy a used 2005-2006 GT with miles and modify it to 1000+ hp on pump gas with a stock motor and transmission.
 

Ed Sims

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Apr 7, 2006
7,850
NorCal
The exhaust is probably the only engine mod for the NGT that is safe.

Ed
 

Jason Watt

Had both, sold both
Mark II Lifetime
Oct 14, 2005
1,227
Copenhagen, Denmark
I just had the GT on a track day in the company of a La Ferrari, Porsche 918, Hurancan Performante, Mercedes GTR and a GT3 RS.

The GT is a tad fatser than the Porsche in a straight line, and on par with the Huracan and the Merc. The hyper car Ferrari and Porsche was a different leage gon the straights.

I could brake a lot later and deeper that the cars above, and cornering was also faster than them all execpt the La Ferrari (driven by a racing driver)

I must say that I wish the GT had just 50-60 HP more than is the case, this would make it a Porsche GT2 RS contender.

But when I see boost level at 1,7 bar I must admit i find it hard that there should be room for more power unless you rebuild the complete motor with stronger internals.

IMG_6332 (002).jpg
I tried - but no cigar
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,267
Kalama, Free part of WA State
Thanks for the reply so it's best to not modify this GT and enjoy it the way it was built. Some think their is another 100 or so HP to be made with down pipes, tune, exhaust.

Let "them" do the R&D and make and break expensive stuff, and see if anything makes a difference. I've pointed out before in another thread that boosted engines do not respond much to exhaust mods. When you're boosting the air in the intake, efficient exhaust scavenging makes little difference. One mod that might make a difference is removing the cats. However, then it won't pass emissions and I'm sure it would also invalidate warranty. Let someone else learn the hard way.

If you like the different sound of some other exhaust system (X, H, etc.), that's a fair reason to buy it, but don't expect any more power from it.
 
Last edited:

Apollo

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Aug 5, 2006
2,499
Pahrump, NV
I just had the GT on a track day in the company of a La Ferrari, Porsche 918, Hurancan Performante, Mercedes GTR and a GT3 RS.

The GT is a tad fatser than the Porsche in a straight line, and on par with the Huracan and the Merc. The hyper car Ferrari and Porsche was a different leage gon the straights.

I could brake a lot later and deeper that the cars above, and cornering was also faster than them all execpt the La Ferrari (driven by a racing driver)

I must say that I wish the GT had just 50-60 HP more than is the case, this would make it a Porsche GT2 RS contender.

But when I see boost level at 1,7 bar I must admit i find it hard that there should be room for more power unless you rebuild the complete motor with stronger internals.

View attachment 50823
I tried - but no cigar

Wow Jason, incredible. Do you have any in-car video?
 

PashaGT

GT Owner
Apr 23, 2016
178
Orange County
Thank you for the reply John.
 

PashaGT

GT Owner
Apr 23, 2016
178
Orange County
Thanks for info Pete!
 

PashaGT

GT Owner
Apr 23, 2016
178
Orange County
Even next to the La Ferrari the Ford GT is clearly a much more thought out purpose built machine. It sit's lower and so focused and aero efficient what a machine!!
 

jnirenstein

GT Owner
May 3, 2014
43
Norcal
Nautoncall No harm no foul. I think it was an innocent question given that this is black magic to those of us over 50! As this is a car forum I will keep this brief. Think of Youtube as TV for people under 40 (for the most part) Certainly people under 30 use Youtube as their source for information and entertainment considerably more than traditional TV. The advertising model however is strikingly similar. As a new "youtuber" starts a channel when he/she gets to a point of having enough views of his/her videos he/she can "apply" to monetize the "channel." Youtube determines if it's enough views (daily, monthly, cumulatively) and then OK's the channel for monetization. This happens thru a "vehicle" called "Google AdSense" (In case you didn't know, Google owns Youtube.) Google sells ad space on popular channels the same way ABC, NBC and CBS does for their shows. Popular shows like "This is us" or Judge Judy get paid more for 15,or 30 seconds then less popular shows. It's the same on Youtube. Parker has ads that run on his Chanel during videos. As he has gotten more popular over the last few years the rate at which the ads pay for exposure on his videos has gone up. Pretty simple really. He can also be approached independently by any manufacturer that wishes to "buy" time and work out a deal for a specific Promo during a video. Examples of this on his channel are Dollar Shave Club, Vincero watches or most recently Bosch. I hope this helps. Cheers,
John
 

dbk

The Favor Factory™
Staff member
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
15,187
Metro Detroit
Even next to the La Ferrari the Ford GT is clearly a much more thought out purpose built machine. It sit's lower and so focused and aero efficient what a machine!!

Maybe dial it back a notch dude.
 

daytrayd

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 23, 2010
557
Austin, TX
Let "them" do the R&D and make and break expensive stuff, and see if anything makes a difference. I've pointed out before in another thread that boosted engines do not respond much to exhaust mods. When you're boosting the air in the intake, efficient exhaust scavenging makes little difference. One mod that might make a difference is removing the cats. However, then it won't pass emissions and I'm sure it would also invalidate warranty. Let someone else learn the hard way.

If you like the different sound of some other exhaust system (X, H, etc.), that's a fair reason to buy it, but don't expect any more power from it.


I am no expert, but in my limited experience I think you are correct to not mod the exhaust on turbo cars. On one of my cars, if you change the exhaust the turbo characteristic changes dramatically, often for the worse with early overboost problems. If you do decide to swap to straight pipes or some low flow exhaust, you usually have to tune that particular car. I'd imagine the NFGT is even more complicated when it comes to back pressure, anti lag tech, etc. Considering everyone has said it is loud and awesome, I think stock is a safe bet as well. I cant wait to hear one in person!
 

Jason Watt

Had both, sold both
Mark II Lifetime
Oct 14, 2005
1,227
Copenhagen, Denmark
Wow Jason, incredible. Do you have any in-car video?

yep - I just need to edit it.
Maybe over the weekend I'll get it done.nfgt-screendump.jpg
 

BtwoG

GT Owner
Dec 8, 2013
1,039
Atlanta, GA
I was a little skeptical of "another Ford GT video" but VV did a really great job. He really covered the history of the car very well. The ride along and commentary of John Hennessey was a great plus.

Is it true that you have to go through a second round of vetting to be allowed to buy a Heritage? Wonder how that works.
 

Apollo

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Aug 5, 2006
2,499
Pahrump, NV
yep - I just need to edit it.
Maybe over the weekend I'll get it done.View attachment 50833

Looking forward to that! :thumbsup
 

Austinj427

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2018
61
Colorado
yep - I just need to edit it.
Maybe over the weekend I'll get it done.View attachment 50833

I really hope you can get this done this weekend!