I liked it. It actually gave me goose bumps watching the #2 car watching itself winning LeMans.
Not LMP1. They are racing against production cars. 90% of buyers could care less about LM. ask you avg Audi owner is they know the Marques history at LM. I'd wager you'll get a blank stare most of the time.
I think the Ford's will get more attention than most if not all the LMP1 cars next year for a fraction of the price of those race programs.
so cynical these days! the ad is great. rip off of the shell/ferrari ad only in that they both flaunt racing heritage. and the melding of the old gt40 into the new one is unique to the ford ad its a great car/ad!
Although this is a great thing Ford is doing, this time they are only going for a GT class win.That is a good thing in some ways as the WEC style cars are hideous.
Meh. Last American made factory chassis built cars to do the deed in the GT classes were the 2000 Chrysler factory built ORECA Vipers. Corvettes have been all subcontractor produced Pratt & Millers. New Fords to be built by Canadian Multimatic so NBD. Still nice that FMC want to write the check.
Meh yourself. The motor is still theirs and already proven; they are involved in the design as well. Just because they subcontract the build to a purpose-built facility and partner does not make it not-a-Ford. But obviously it would be awesome to see Ford tool up to be able to build this kind of stuff in-house. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of companies that are that far along at this point.
Much of the work on the original GT40 Ford's was done 'outside' by Dearborn Steel Tubing, Car Craft (sp?) and several other contractors IIRC
Agreed basic motor castings will be theirs. However if the chassis were to be built by Ford inside the factory it would be a Ford. Since the chassis is built by subcontractor Mutimatic outside the factory it is not a Ford and therefore becomes nothing more than a Multimatic Canadian manufactured vehicle. This is in contrast to the Le Mans Vipers which were the last in factory American built and race engineered designed chassis Le Mans winners of modern times which was the point. In any case good luck to Multimatic, Ford & Ganassi and hope they pull it off. MEH
The MKII's were not even built in Detroit. If you listen to some people you would think Shelby built them but in fact they were just a FORD team. If the Shelby team had failed the Holman and Moody team would have won for FORD in 1966 anyway, with British built cars.
The Corvettes start with a factory chassis. Besides, today's racing is nearly like the production car end of it-much outsourcing and shared components.
Quote from Official Corvette Racing website about the 2015 CR7 Race cars: However, for the first time, the frames for the race car and production Z06 will be built in-house at the Corvette’s Bowling Green, Ky., assembly plant. So I stand corrected regarding 2015 however that does not change the fact that that a Canadian built Mutimatic racing car is simply just a brand badging exercise and not a factory produced FORD.
Not sure if and when Ferrari actually started making their own chassis' but Gilco or something named like that made them in the 50's ... and yet they are considered Ferraris ... so your comment confuses me. Surely who pays for and designs them is what matters Pete
'67 LeMans winner in the mix (trick mid-engined Boss 9, too) ...? [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Z1zzURLCM[/ame]
Super funny. It's really weird, I spent a bunch of time talking leadership and design staff from both Multimatic and Ford while standing in front of the car yesterday. The Ford guys would be really surprised to learn that in fact, no, they did not design and engineer the car. Thanks for clarifying that. Maybe they'll read this and be convinced to move the autoclaves to Dearborn... Video was CGI because they aren't exactly going to drive the car around pre-reveal. Real B-Roll footage from the circuit is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEwpBjl0ros
"The Ford guys would be really surprised to learn that in fact, no, they did not design and engineer the car. " Hmm where in any of my previous posts did I state or imply that? All semantics aside fact: The car is constructed by Mutimatic in Canada and is a Mutimatic produced product underneath a Ford badge and is not a FORD made product, end of story. Over and out.
I'm sure AF Corse will definitely say that if they lose... "Well you guys know this isn't REALLY a Ford right!? It's made in Canada!" Some of you guys crack me up.
My 430 chassis is made by Alcoa. So is the 360. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/360-430/183341-430-scuderia-chassis-alcoa.html It's a silly argument in today's day and age.
"It's a silly argument in today's day and age." You are certainly entitled to your opinion even though it is not academically relevant to the facts.
You said that: "it is just a brand badging exercise." Seems to pretty clearly imply the car is from Multimatic, not Ford. I pointed out that's interesting because I know a number of Ford employees that do nothing but work on the car, and were responsible for it's origin, design and engineering. But I'm sure that's not "academically" relevant, though maybe it has relevance of a non-academic nature.
So did they say for certain which class this will race in now? The 458 won GTE again @ Le Mans : ) I assume AF Corse and SMP will run the 488 next year in GTE and that is where the Ford GT will also land?
You might consider reading some of the conversations DBK had with the Multimatic and Ford Senior Leadership team(s) working on the project. Good bedside reading at: Ford GT Race Car from Le Mans weekend
