2016 Ford GT press release

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With the third-generation GT, the Blue Oval is attempting to make a game-changing supercar that doesn't just match-up to the best of Europe, but manages to establish a new benchmark.

While it has almost been a year since we first saw the new GT in the flesh at January's Detroit Auto Show, development of the car is far from over as Ford takes its time to ensure everything is absolutely perfect. Up until this point, we've only seen a handful of concept versions displayed at numerous motor shows but now the Ford GT Forum page on Facebook has posted up a picture of what it believes is a production-spec 2017 Ford GT.

Rather remarkably, the silver example pictured looks almost identical to the concept car presented almost 12 months ago. As a matter of fact, the only points of difference seem to be the larger wing mirrors, the amber side markers on the front fenders as well as a gloss black front splitter, rather than a matte black one.

It isn't yet known when Ford plans on introducing the production-ready car to the world. Since it will hit the US market as a 2017 model, though, a debut sometime in 2016 is very likely.

In the meantime, we expect the company to release official details, because it hasn't even disclosed the engine output of the new GT. All we know is that it will have a twin-turbocharged 3.5-litre V6 EcoBoost engine with "more than 600 hp" and possibly as much as 700 hp.

http://www.carscoops.com/2015/12/201...-definite.html

[serialk11r]

Originally Posted by Dimman

Oh my, the aero...

Honestly, its about time a major manufacturer tried something really crazy. They have much more resources for testing aero than everyone else. I'm glad the NSX went with the flying buttresses but this is just so awesome...it's like they looked at the rear of the car, opened up every single inch of sheet metal they could, and made it useful. Intercoolers venting through the tail lamps = mind blown.

I can't wait to see a picture of the underbody, it's probably a work of art too. Those vents behind the front wheels seem to be coming from underneath.

Though I'm not the biggest fan of turbo, I respect how Ford has at least thought about the power to weight ratio of the drivetrain. I cannot understand the use of large heavy engines that underperform for their mass. For example, why the hell is the Porsche flat 6 450lbs in NA form? Now that they're going turbo everything, they managed to increase the weight again...

[vh_supra26]

Last month a photo of what was supposedly a production-intent Ford GT surfaced on the Internet. Turns out, that photo was of a production-intent GT buck. As in, it wasn't a real car, just a design buck. That was then, this is now. Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] quietly placed a real working GT that is, for all intents purposes, ready for production in its booth at the 2016 Detroit Auto Show.

To be more specific, a source told us this white-on-red example is supposedly the first VP1 prototype complete with production-ready design and equipment. We've reached out to Ford for comment and confirmation. Ford confirmed the car is production intent, but said it's still a development vehicle and as such, things are subject to change. Ford was unwilling to confirm what level of build it is, whether it is a VP1, or even what VP1 officially stands for.

Matt Leaver from Ford Performance Communications told us this white-on-red GT is fully street legal and could be driven right off the show floor. Though, he quickly followed that by saying the final calibrations, tuning, and software are still in development.

So what's changed from the car we were shown last year in Detroit?

We asked this very question to Jamal Hameedi, Ford Performance chief vehicle engineer. In a few words, not a ton has changed.

It's the small details that add up. The side view mirrors are now larger, and legal. There are reflectors on the front fenders, and the headlights have changed slightly. You'll never notice the changes to the headlights as the design itself is the same. The fans that sit below the mesh grilles in the scooped out hood are larger, and now actually function properly. The front splitter now has two air inlets in the center to help direct airflow, and the rear diffuser has been updated for better downforce at speed. The rear taillights look the same, but they are now street legal, and the housings no longer have GT etched into them. Lastly, the engine now sports a plastic cover that proudly reads "EcoBoost."

It's also worth noting that the carbon fiber splitter, side skirts, and rear diffuser are all glossy carbon fiber, while the car shown last year had matte carbon fiber. We were told that matte carbon fiber will be stock but this glossy look will be optional.

For those who might have forgotten, the new GT will be powered by a twin-turbocharged V-6 that will likely have about 630 horsepower and 539 pound-feet of torque. Power will be sent to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

Enthusiasts are excited the GT is coming back, and it's no secret why given the legendary status of the GT40s of the 1960s and the reborn Ford GT of a decade ago.

Stay tuned for more updates as we near the GT's on-sale date later this year.

http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1...for-production

[vh_supra26]

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.


Words: Jack Rix

“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.”

Just imagine that level of secrecy for a moment. Keeping schtum from the press is one thing, but the guy you sit next to on your lunch break? It must have been excruciating.

But those were the conditions if you wanted to work on America’s next great supercar. Many of the designers and engineers had other projects on the boil, too, so the GT became extra curricular. Team leaders were pulling 8pm to midnight shifts to get everything done within the ridiculously tight timeframe. Soon though, it will all be worth it. It goes on sale towards the end of 2016, costing around £250,000 for a hand-picked few.

As we’re led into the studio it is indeed dingy, windowless, but fortunately dry as a bone. There are three full-scale prototypes lined up nose to tail along the length of the room: a painted clay model, the 2015 Detroit show car re-coloured white, and a final verification model milled out of solid aluminium. Display boards are plastered with sketches arranged in chronological order, starting with the three main themes (new generation GT, performance efficiency and modern seduction) that eventually get fleshed out and whittled down to the final design – both for the exterior and the interior. It’s reassuring to note that in this digital age designers still get the crayons out and sketch by hand.








Chris hands over to Jamal Hameedi, chief engineer for Ford performance. “Where we started was aerodynamic efficiency. If anyone knows anything about Le Mans, it’s always low down force that’s efficient. I think that’s what makes the Ford GT more special than the Ferrari or the McLaren is that the purpose of this car, and the efficiency of the racing, goes right down to the very core of its existence. For example, the powertrain selection was unusual because it was a secondary criteria to the main aerodynamic signature of the car. The aerodynamics were developed first, and then we picked the most efficient Eco boost engine that we could find for that package.”

Other supercar manufacturers might have weekend bags, or golf clubs… we didn’t have those kind of targets.
It’s fascinating to hear how on this project, more than any other in Ford’s history, engineers and designers had to work together in real time, living in each other’s pockets. But assuming the GT performs like Ford claims, engineering perfection has never looked so good. The huge negative spaces below the pontoons were agreed early, Svensson says. The “teardrop profile” is seen all the time on LMP1 cars, but rarely on road cars and is the most efficient way to slip through the air. There are other tricks too: air gulped into vents ahead of the rear wheels is expelled through the middle of the circular taillights – a perfect example of function complementing design.

Of course, it had to be recognisable as the GT40’s offspring, hence the square headlights, cut back leading edge on the nose, wraparound windscreen and circular taillights with raised twin pipes between them were non-negotiable. “At no point did we talk about retro on this car. We talked about the lineage Ford has, history, and building on that history, but doing something very different to anybody else,” Svensson says. “We didn’t want to just do another Ferrari, another Lamborghini, another Mclaren. We wanted to do our own thing.”






The downside to this wonderfully packaged piece of design? “Our targets didn’t include things like luggage. It didn’t include creature comforts. Other supercar manufacturers might have weekend bags, or golf clubs, we didn’t have those kind of targets.”

Peering down at the 600bhp-odd 3.5-litre V6 turbo through the glass engine cover, there’s precious little space to spare, but shouldn’t a true American supercar always use a V8? Hameedi disagrees. “Le Mans is very much a full economy race. The power level for this engine on a homologated race car is around 500bhp, so, you can easily reach that with a V6, and Eco-boost technology makes it extremely fuel efficient. Its mass per bhp, and mass per lb ft of torque, as well as its centre of gravity, all of those are vastly superior to a V8. If the other guys want to haul around two cylinders not doing anything, then go ahead, but a six cylinder is all we need.”



The defining characteristic of the GT’s interior is a fixed seating position – allowing the bodywork to be shrink-wrapped around the occupants. Adjustment comes from the electrically-moveable pedal box and a telescopic steering wheel that can shift back and forth by up to 200mm. Tight dimensions in the cabin defined the components that were chosen, too, as Amko Leenarts, global interior design director, explains. “That is why we opted for a six and a half inch touch screen and a very small steering wheel that’s cut on the top and cut on the bottom: cut on the top for vision, and we cut on the bottom because otherwise you couldn’t get in the car.



“We opted for a visual cluster with different driving modes,” he adds. “We have sport, then you have track, we’ve got a wet mode, then V-max mode which is really about top speed. The car lowers down.”

It dawns on me that these three guys have been talking relentlessly for over an hour, unscripted, unprompted, just spewing enthusiasm on every tiny detail of this extraordinary thing. You can feel the passion in this small, leaky room, and not just from the team who have occupied it for the last 15 months; it oozes from every sketch, every scale model, every element of the finished car.

It’s not a gorgeous design studio, but something beautiful has come out of it.

http://www.topgear.com/car-news/big-...-design-bunker

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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd-HyazYbCU[/ame]

Ford is celebrating the GT's return to racing by releasing a new video series which takes a look back at the model's racing pedigree as well as the development of the new generation of street and race cars.

The first installment is called "The Decision" and touches on the rivalry that was sparked when Henry Ford II offered to buy Ferrari but was rebuffed. Ford was angered by Enzo Ferrari's decision so he decided "If we can't join them, let's beat them." The rivalry culminated in the development of the original GT which would go on to win a 1-2-3 victory at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The model's success went down in history and Ford decided to build a road-going model to celebrate the company's 100th anniversary. The car was an instant success and it helped the automaker to decide to build a second generation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1-2-3 win.

The road-going model was unveiled at the North American International Auto Show last year with a lightweight carbon fiber body and a mid-mounted biturbo V6 engine that produces more than 600 bhp. The company also developed a racing variant and two cars will compete in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship while two others will compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship. All four will be united to race at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this summer.

http://www.worldcarfans.com/11603181...d-future-video

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[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWoPjdqGEhc[/ame]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr8lC2jNPW4[/ame]

Ford's all-new GT supercar features an innovative 10" wide digital instrument display, far removed from the original model's fixed set of analog gauges, buttons and knobs.

The digital display in the all-new GT is meant to quickly and easily present the driver with vital information, based on the car's five special driving modes (Normal, Wet, Sport, Track, V-Max).

"Driver focus and attention are key with such high performance," said Jamal Hameedi, chief engineer, Ford Performance. "We've designed the GT with a sleek digital instrument display that changes depending on driving mode in ways that are important and usable to the driver."

In order to test the initial design, Le Mans winner Scott Maxwell was invited to the Ford GT simulation lab in order to give the engineers feedback. Maxwell was the one who suggested changing the tachometer to provide an expanded view of the power unit's redline, for greater peripheral visibility.

As for the five drive modes, they're easily accessible through the steering wheel-mounted controls, allowing the driver to keep his eyes on the road and hands on the wheel at all time.

In Normal mode, the design theme is simple with a centered speedometer, the gear selection to the right, and fuel and temperature positioned top-left. The 3,000 to 7,000 rpm range dominates the top of the display. Wet mode uses a blue theme and a "wet floor" concept, as graphics under the speedometer emulate the shine of wet asphalt in order to remind the driver of the mode he's in and the grip conditions outside.

For Sport mode, it's all about information priority. You've got the gear selection front and center, with the speedometer to the right and less prominent. Track mode features a combination of black background and highly legible text and graphics, all while using a red visual theme.

Finally, V-Max utilizes a completely different display, with a large, centered speedometer, coolant temp, oil pressure, oil temp and turbo boost to the right and fuel level top left.

"We spent an enormous amount of time getting this just right," said Nick Terzes, Ford GT engineering supervisor. "The result is simple, but achieving simple perfectly can be a challenge."

According to Ford, the all-new GT won't be the only model to receive a full digital instrument display, as future Ford vehicles will also feature this technology.

[JPxM0Dz]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AZLu45nl5A"]Here's Why the 2017 Ford GT Is Worth $500,000 - YouTube[/ame]

[TommyW]

500k is a deal but good luck getting one for that

[Tcoat]

Built in Canada EH!

[mazeroni]

Already seeing comments about "the badge."

Would you want to show up to your local service department where people are dropping off their $16K Fiesta!?

LOL. Yes. Absolutely I would because it means I can both afford it and am able to drive the freaking thing.

[jvincent]

I'm guessing that when you book your service appointment for your GT that they send an email to the GT team and they book the GT-approved techs on a flight.

[bfrank1972]

I dunno.... it's an amazing car no doubt, but it doesn't sound like a $500,000 car to me.

[mark0006]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzoYWYwrlmU"]2017 Ford GT Track & V-MAX Mode - YouTube[/ame]

[nextcar]

Originally Posted by bfrank1972

I dunno.... it's an amazing car no doubt, but it doesn't sound like a $500,000 car to me.

And the marketing departments of Porsche, Lamborghini, and Ferrari all exchange high fives, congratulating themselves on effective branding that makes people ignore facts and go with their emotions...