Inside the Ford GT's Secret Design Bunker


dbk

dbk

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Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Jul 30, 2005
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Rally X attendees will recognize most of what's on the boards. The design team brought up virtually everything they were allowed to show into the PDC showroom. Good stuff from Chris Svensson, Jamal and Amko Leenarts.

http://www.topgear.com/car-news/big-reads/inside-ford-gts-secret-design-bunker

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We poke around the secret US design studio where the Ford GT was born

“It’s not a gorgeous design studio. It’s not this wonderful place with windows and wonderful floors. It was uncomfortable. It was dark. When it rained, it flooded.” So says Chris Svensson, Ford’s Design Director for the Americas. Hard to believe that a car of such potent beauty could emerge from such a place, isn’t it? But emerge it did at the 2015 Detroit motor show and now, a year on, we’ve been granted access to this damp cave of wonders at Ford’s design HQ in Dearborn, Michigan.

“This was a top secret project. Very few of us had access to it and we weren’t allowed to talk about it. So, we created a room outside of the normal studio,” Svensson tells us. “Literally, a handful of twelve people, including some key engineers, had access to the room. We went old school, we had keys. And not until we unveiled the car last year at Detroit, did anybody else in this building know about it."

continued....
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(two white cars - one of the other display vehicles was painted white as well as the actual legit NAIAS car)
 
Yep we were very fortunate to get to see all that when we did so thanks Dave
 
What a privilege to be there when Raj made that announcement. Still get goose bumps recollecting about it. What a time to be a GT owner and Ford loyalist.

Vince H
 
Wow, must have been great to be there!!! Looks like the back of the driver seat was 3D Printed in Polycarbonate.

This car looks awesome in any color!
 
Cool stuff !! It was great to meet some of the design team at Rally X !!
 
So no frunk?
 
I have a bunker in Kansas...but I only wish it looked like that!
 
BAT said:
So no frunk?
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I hope we at least get some mesh pockets on the front of the seat bases..:biggrin
 
There is a small storage space. Gotta be able to fit a briefcase for FIA regs.
 
DBK said:
There is a small storage space. Gotta be able to fit a briefcase for FIA regs.
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"The luggage compartment, airtight, delimited by righd surfaces, shall permit to accomodate from outside a volume (*) measuring at least 45cm x 35cm x 20cm corresponding to a "pilot case". (*)Volume made with flat surfaces and right angles."

The rule book also says the location of the compartment "shall be retained as on the car inspected (Homologation Form).".

Boy, they could use a better French-English translator, but you get the gist. It's gonna be small. Probably, once again, won't hold my six-pack cooler :) I think this is smaller than the 60's version that gave way to the dents in the Cobra trunk lid.

The inside still has to have some storage somewhere (door pocket?) for the owners manuals and place to store registration.
 
I'm really surprised that nobody noticed people going in and out of this work space. It had to be evident something was going on... Maybe they had a back door entrance? Anyway... This is so cool. I love that they did all of it in such a short time and the results are breathtaking. You know you have a perfect car when owners of all the other brands now want to buy one. I hope all of us have a chance at buying one before any of them.
 
As explained to me at the showing at Rally 10, there is luggage space for a briefcase in the engine compartment. Don't know where, the guy explain g wouldn't take a bribe.
 
Awsum GT said:
I'm really surprised that nobody noticed people going in and out of this work space. It had to be evident something was going on... Maybe they had a back door entrance? Anyway... This is so cool. I love that they did all of it in such a short time and the results are breathtaking. You know you have a perfect car when owners of all the other brands now want to buy one. I hope all of us have a chance at buying one before any of them.
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The Design space was located in a secluded basement , an area that is not normally used where there was not normal employee traffic..
 
DBK said:
There is a small storage space. Gotta be able to fit a briefcase for FIA regs.
Click to expand...

twobjshelbys said:
"The luggage compartment, airtight, delimited by righd surfaces, shall permit to accomodate from outside a volume (*) measuring at least 45cm x 35cm x 20cm corresponding to a "pilot case". (*)Volume made with flat surfaces and right angles."

The rule book also says the location of the compartment "shall be retained as on the car inspected (Homologation Form).".

Boy, they could use a better French-English translator, but you get the gist. It's gonna be small. Probably, once again, won't hold my six-pack cooler :) I think this is smaller than the 60's version that gave way to the dents in the Cobra trunk lid.

The inside still has to have some storage somewhere (door pocket?) for the owners manuals and place to store registration.
Click to expand...

The Le Mans cars used to have to carry a Spare Tire too..
 
STORMCAT said:
The Le Mans cars used to have to carry a Spare Tire too..
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Oh yeah. I remember the video of the Daytona coupe with the guy whose job it was to pull the tire out of the rear hatch er trunk, bounce it on the pavement and put it back. But the Cobras didn't have a spare. Were they in different classes or did rules change in time?
 
Great stuff! Does a CF briefcase come with the new GT?

Ed
 
Carbon money inside as well ?
 
avalanche grey hadn't seen that yet.
 
twobjshelbys said:
Oh yeah. I remember the video of the Daytona coupe with the guy whose job it was to pull the tire out of the rear hatch er trunk, bounce it on the pavement and put it back. But the Cobras didn't have a spare. Were they in different classes or did rules change in time?
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Didn't the Le Mans Cobras had the spare in the trunk?

Creative solution to get the luggage to fit into some of the racing Cobras:

image.jpg
 
it would be nice to have a GT specific luggage just for that spot in the car... a little added touch by FORD....
 
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