GTD National Rally #1


ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,773
Scottsdale, Arizona
Gentlemen,

DBK strikes again with another insanely cool event. It’s always great to get together with long-term Forum members but this Rally was different because nobody knew who was going, what was going to happen, or what we would see & hear. Here's an invite...zero information....trust us....show up and shut up. A complete blackout involving this was required. Nothing on the Forum or anywhere else. Ford Motor Company has been working on this project for years in complete secrecy. That Ford was building a Mustang capable of winning at Le Mans was known. That Ford decided to build a limited run of these surprisingly exotic, hand built, carbon fiber Mustangs and sell them to the public was not.

Like the GT, Bill Ford gave Jim Farley the thumbs up to produce something outrageous and give genuine enthusiasts the first opportunities to acquire one. So Jim decided to hold an exclusive party in Las Vegas for the 150 people pre-selected to receive an allocation and show them the new Mustang GTD with an up close look at the components that go into it. Larry Holt did a technical video presentation and Farley gave us a lot of background information. Both before and during the event we were told not to share anything with anybody until late Thursday and everybody abided by that. I ran into fellow Scottsdale resident Craig Jackson and while I was talking to him Steve Davis walked up and they were surprised to see each other. Neither one knew that the other was going to be there!

Every invitee received a personal invitation from Jim Farley and the titanium poker chip you’ve already seen. Best was attendance granting an automatic early allocation without going through the application process.

Chris Callan set up a Sunday night GT Forum dinner at a nice restaurant in our Official GTD Rally Hotel, the Delano. On Monday morning Special K set up breakfast, and Brooks Weisblat (Drag Times) covered lunch at Holstein’s. Monday night at 7:30 the Ford Motor Company rolled out the red carpet and put on a great show for everybody with excellent food, an open bar, and a very hot female violinist!

Honestly, pictures don’t do the GTD justice, you have to see it in person. It’s really beautiful and the suspension, power-train, and aerodynamics are both exotic and spectacular. There will be an extended color pallet program so mine will be Speed Yellow with black stripes of course. I’m encouraging everybody who was there to post up pictures of everybody else in this thread.

Thanks again Dave.

All the best.

Chip


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ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,773
Scottsdale, Arizona
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Joe Dozzo

Well-known member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
May 22, 2006
763
Canon City, CO
Do we know anything about how many will be produced?

Would buy one in a heartbeat IF mere mortals ever get the opportunity!
 

ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,773
Scottsdale, Arizona
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ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,773
Scottsdale, Arizona
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ChipBeck

GT Owner
Staff member
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 13, 2006
5,773
Scottsdale, Arizona
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07XL0027

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
May 20, 2012
1,548
Austin TX
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A couple of booty pics and the nose
 

07XL0027

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
May 20, 2012
1,548
Austin TX
I saw Craig Jackson and I told him I was excited to see Lil Red and the Green Hornet at the Shelby facility in Vegas. Craig informed me they were replicas and both were in Scottsdale with him. Boooooo !! I feel so used.

I saw Tim Allen there as well so I walked up and introduced myself. Super cool car guy. Even though he is an actor he is not acting. The man you see on his shows is truly how he is.
 

extrap

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 16, 2020
1,761
Gainesville FL
24-jpg.68431
Oh man, right when he thought he was done delivering cars all over the place! :)
 

Stef

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Apr 5, 2009
1,082
Southern California
With few invites I'm sure Dave had to make some tough calls.
(I wouldn't want to be the one).
But seeing the pictures here he chose perfectly!

Now with this posting it's like we all got to be there anyway👍

I'll say it again. I'm so very glad to part of this forum, truly the best place you can be as a Ford man.

These are the best of days my friends.

Thank you Chip.
 
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Stef

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Apr 5, 2009
1,082
Southern California

I'm a face man.....but wow that booty. Best of all it looks like a Mustang should.
 
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Sinovac

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 18, 2006
5,832
Largo, Florida
Oh man, right when he thought he was done delivering cars all over the place! :)
I don’t think he is quite finished yet.
 
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07XL0027

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
May 20, 2012
1,548
Austin TX
Regarding Chip’s super secret comment, none of us had any idea who was invited. Chip asked me to arrange dinner because I know Vegas better than he does. We guessed 20 guests and managed to bump into 9 other people at our hotel the first night. So if you didn’t get an invite, it’s not because we didn’t want you there we just had no idea you were there.
 
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Stef

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Apr 5, 2009
1,082
Southern California
Regarding Chip’s super secret comment, None of had any idea who was invited. Chip asked me to arrange dinner because I know Vegas better than he does. We guessed 20 guests and managed to bump into 9 other people at our hotel the first night. So if you didn’t get an invite, it’s not because we didn’t want you there we just had no idea you were there.

No worries here at all.
I figured thats about how it came together, an 'Ad Hoc' situation 👍
 

Johntpr

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jan 18, 2017
236
Rockland County, NY
Congrats to all that attended and received an allocation. Super jealous and excited for you all !
 
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Special K

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Aug 23, 2016
1,775
Franklinton, LA
Yes, what a blurrr of a trip! Thanks again to DBK, Chip, Callan, & Ford, it was spontaneous and exciting in a jam packed timeline. I was already planning on attending the Woodward dream cruise so I pre-staged my RV and trailer in Louisiana so when I returned home on late Tuesday evening, so I could hit the road within minutes and make Michigan in time (Which I did). After looking back through my pics, all I got was a couple of pics from the event and a wall of tennis shoes…IMG_9968.jpegIMG_1709.jpegBut it does look like we’ll get to see some familiar faces behind the wheel next year at the races!IMG_9908.jpeg
 

SYCO GT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Sep 9, 2006
4,975
California
More photos from the top notch event! Didn't make it out to Monterey Car Week this year (showed #98 2021 Ken Miles Heritage M007 at the Quail last year), but my son and I had a wonderful one night in LV, at "Las Vegas Car Night," thanks to the Ford GT Forum family.

And Steve is welcome to drop by our garage, anytime he wants to make it feel like Christmas Day!

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SYCO GT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Sep 9, 2006
4,975
California
Special K, there are some crazy stores in Las Vegas, my son and I ran all over the next day before our flight. Fortunately we left with our hands empty from the stores, and our hearts (and wallets) full from the GTD event.

Check out this $8800 Swatch.

And we also ran across the Harley-Davidson Blue Edition, a gold-plated, diamond-studded and spellbindingly blue bike made in collaboration with watchmaker and jeweler Bucherer. The $1.79 million price tag makes it likely the most expensive new motorcycle ever made.

Two glass-domed safes are built into the tank; the left houses a 5.40 carat-diamond Solitaire Heaven ring, the right a Carl F. Bucherer watch based on the Patravi TravelTec II. Rose gold plating is featured throughout, including on every single screw. And that iridescent blue paint job? Apparently, you can only get that specific hue when the entire bike is first plated in silver.

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NSXER

GT Owner
Aug 13, 2016
45
Kansas
What an amazing experience! Ford knows how to build excitement. The emails, then the chip shows up 4 days before the event...too cool.
To be able to bring my son along and share this with him who loves cars as much as I do was really special. Thank you to whoever dished out the invites and a big thanks to DBK. Got to see some great friends again and talk to so many nice people.
Hayes was so excited he made a model car for Mr. Farley along with a good luck at Lemans note. Definitely one of those "never forget" moments in his life.
 

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Special K

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Aug 23, 2016
1,775
Franklinton, LA
What an amazing experience! Ford knows how to build excitement. The emails, then the chip shows up 4 days before the event...too cool.
To be able to bring my son along and share this with him who loves cars as much as I do was really special. Thank you to whoever dished out the invites and a big thanks to DBK. Got to see some great friends again and talk to so many nice people.
Hayes was so excited he made a model car for Mr. Farley along with a good luck at Lemans note. Definitely one of those "never forget" moments in his life.
Awesome! Too bad we didn’t get to meet up, hope to see you in Daytona!!