New Ford GT

The McLaren is more durable? LOL. Ask the guys at exotics racing which two cars break the most on them - MP4 and Aventador.

The MP4 isn't exciting even at 10/10ths.

Yes I do. No additional costs incurred other than brake pads and brake fluid...extra oil changes, yearly fluid changes. Big whoop.

It's more dynamic because it has a stick? That is a detail and totally subjective. The 458 weighs substantially less and is mid-engined. It's also proven and available in significant numbers. They are going to make 500 GT350Rs a year.

Now you are introducing cost as a criteria in "dynamic driving" - has nothing to do with the driving experience.

You have yet to tell me about all these expensive consumables involved in tracking a 458. I beat on my scud and the extra costs are listed above - basically nothing if you keep it out of a wall. Keep slicks off it and you will save the suspension. Not sure what you think is going to happen to these cars by tracking them?

LOL! Your condescension would actually be accurate if the 350R wheels were light, but they aren't - 18lbs each. Yipee. BBS makes the FI-R which weighs 16-18 lbs in 19" sizes. They also claim to be the first to put carbon wheels on a production car, which is not true. Nice job by Ford PR comparing them to 33lb cast wheels though : O

CF brakes also don't fade at all with proper setup and appropriate pads...besides the light weight. They also last quite a long time despite a lot of the propaganda you read about them here and elsewhere.

Yes...no cred. What does Gordon Murray know and every else who has celebrated the 458. Just because you want to put the owners in a box, doesn't change what the cars are capable of doing.

Of course the delta has shrunk, and I actually think the 350R and the new GT are awesome cars, but you are delusional if you think Ferrari makes anything other than amazing cars which are very capable on the track or that a fat 350R is somehow so much more "dynamic" simply because it has a stick.

 

I would guess it's because many consumers are more fans of supercars than racing cars. I mean look at the most celebrated modern cars with fans today - many of them have no racing counterpart...P1, LaF, 918, etc...

I like that it has a racing engine in it, I just hope they manage to make it sound decent.

 

Here we go again with the engine sound nonsense..."Calgon, take me away!"

J/K

 

Right - because it isn't important to anyone...

 

Not to me, I only care about what happens on the track.

 

I agree to some extent depending on the racing series in question. But someone still needs to drive/live-with their 400k supercar. Hopefully it doesn't sound like a tractor ; )

Either way there are just as many, if not more people who disagree with you...so it has to be factored in for production cars. Else why bother tuning the sound - as every major manufacturer does. It isn't just to burn money and waste time.

 

In the evo article in which he was quoted( the one where he showed his garage with the F1 prototype he owns) Gordon Murray slaged off the whole crop of modern cars, then said the 458 was the best of them, I guess thats a backhanded compliment. If the 458 is so celebrated, how come we never see them at the track. Well I have one friend who is a bike racer and tracked his a few times, and have seen one other, although that guy moved on to a vette for track.

My 458 owner friends comment was that after his 2 GT3 porche he couldnt understand what the hype of a ferrari is about on road, its in his words not exciting unless really pushed, and poorly consntructed, he has his own workshop BTW and knows his stuff. Out on the track he said that the 458 can really shine as a rewarding drive more so than the porche, but at more than a few K in consumables for the day(pads and tires, plus fluids) its not really trackable by mere mortals. He loves his 458 which is driven a few times per year, and considered sellign it to get a "proper" useable track car. Its driven a few times per year, becasue other than posing the opportunity to really use a 458 as an entertaining drive requires such speeds that its seldom possible or worth the risk on road.

So yeah as I said earlier, if you lived in germany or the middle east and could run your 458 close to max on road its a really great car. But othrwise bland to drive at highly ilegal yet still mortal speeds and too expensive to run on track with any seriousness.

I dont think you track your car real hard. CF brakes are what 15 or 30k and toast if you go in the dirt, and everyone comes off sooner or later. Tires? How long do those street tires last or cost, street tires are not really a serious track option imo, well some r compouds at what 2-3k per set for a day.. Clutches, I read horror stories about those in the 430 thread.. Then what do the fluids cost on a ferrari How often do you change the oil?

I know a 911 Gt3 is about 1500 per day in consumables on track, can run slicks no problem. Whats a ferrari double that? Even my simple lotus is $400 per day.

As to the 350R on street, no one has driven one yet, so its speculation, but I think it will be dynamicaly entertaining. Here is why. A 458 is bland on street, its performance peak so high its not attainable and yet below peak not so exciting, thats my experienced opinion and that of a 458 owner, its why I passed on a 458 and a mp12. But yeah they can work great as dailys. Sticks on cars with appropriate powertains are more engaging at somewhat sanely attainable road speeds, especialy in an edgy car. In any event my 350 comment started with ford offers a choice.

I seriously doubt most here will be as fast in a speciale as someone who really knows what they are doing in a 350R, but thats another debate.

Fearrari makes great appealing cars that are like many a supercar imo largely irrelevant. Too "useable" and capable to be really fun on street, and really too heavy and expensive to run hard on track. Yep if you live where you can use them all out on superlative roads, then yes they are great.

Have no idea what exotics racing is, but its almost a contradiction in terms. Now if you mean a place where people pay a few K to go to drive a fast car for a day thrill, well I guess that racing then, for some.

The 350R we have a lower expectation than a 350K ferrari and so will make some allowances, but as a car to run on street for fun, and competant on track, seems its a great piece, as is a cayman GT4 or a 997 GT3. Is a speciale faster on track, yes, is it more fun on street, doubtful, other than the ego boost of it being a ferrari.

If the CF wheels are not as light as you expect 18 lbs, they are a whole lot lighter than stock items 33lbs and confer a great performance advantage to an otherwise similar car, thats the point of them. BTW I see scud wheels are 25lbs front and 28 Lbs rear, my guess is 18 lbs wheels and appropriatly tuned suspesion woudl confer a great performance advantge on scud, and be a better bet than the more expensive Ceramic brakes which save less weight..

Not that I think nurbering lap times are anything but a one lap stunt. however it seems the 350r can show a previous gen ferrari a thing or two, at least for one lap.

If Ceramic brakes are so great, how come the competition porche guys(the ones who actualy race) use steel. CF used to be a 430 option before ferrari made them mandatory because well they could just load up the cost. Do Ceramic brakes confer any benefit to a street driven ferrari, no. On track, well if you dont want them to fade, you need the right fluid and pads, the type of pads that will eat your expensive rotors pretty quick, they do weigh less though and weight savings was their real tout for street/track cars.

Seems some here get really upset whenever a ferrari is criticised or compared, and seem threatened that ford or someone mundane might make someting that can compete with or exceed what ferrari does(THe FGT). These are cars, not our chilldren. Or perhaps slights on ferrari are taken as slights on ones sucess.

Imo ferrari would do well to also make cars that are both modern and more experiential, engaing and viceral to drive on street, and ones not so ruinous and "relatively" heavy to run on track. But yes they do currently make the state of the art Gt style cars in the low 3000lbs range, with stuning design(sometimes a miss) and great motors. spec.

Imo the most origional and special current ferrai is the FF, at least its different to what everyone else does. Had ferrari done the FGT it would be hailed as the true sucessor to the F40. BTW I also think the C7 vette is a better executed F12 astheticaly, and far lighter.

Ferraris are great, they are just not the nee plus ultra they once were, and depending on what you want to do, there may well be better choices, like for tracking or backroad driving.

But hey ferrari is racing a 488 in Gt3 so maybe we will see somehtign hot, and maybe ferrari will doa dino that does justice to the 4c platform.

In this year from what we know so far, imo ford with the Gt astheticaly, and most likely from a track drive prespective has blown ferrari away, same as the 60s then.

 

True and part of the failure of the XJ200 was that it sounded like a bucket of bolts. The maiat famously factored in sound and shift feel, two experiential items.
Still you can tune an exhaust for great sound, or like many a modern you can go overboard to fake sound.

A TT v6 will never sound like a V12, but can sound decent. I always wonder why alfa left the 4c sounding like a blare. Its still surprising to me how Mclaren made a TTV8 that sounds like a loud blare.

Its also disapointing how so many aftermarket exhausts are overly loud, even stock ones when baffles open, seems like noise is a badge unto itself. Whereas in the old days exhausets were for tuning, freer flow and tuneful but not overly loud..

 

I won't quote reply to that massive post, but the 458 is a very exciting car even at normal speeds. The sound and vibration are wonderful and it makes me feel very special at all times. Definitely disagree with those negative statements in your post.

 

I think these cars will be gobbled up entirely by collectors and speculators. You'd have to be willing to throw away big $ to track one and there are race car options that are faster and cheaper if you want speed. Ligier, Wolf, Radical, and so many others. I'm personally more excited by the ACR Exteme Aero, cause I can actually have one and I bet it gives up nothing on pace and won't make me want to commit hari Kari over track rash

 

Adding practical logic again Keith.

Yep ACR looks to be a very impressive piece. Would love to hear your impressions going to the ACR from a GT3, such different animals..

 

You are really grasping at straws. I didn't quote EVO, I quoted a Goodwood article. It's enlightening to see that you don't read other people's posts though. Here is the quote for you:

"The purest new sports car for me is the Ferrari 458. And the best is the Porsche Cayman S. Among old cars, the (original) Lotus Elan is the ultimate, better than the F1. We tried to get its delicious steering feel in the F1 but we just missed it."

What does the frequency or tendency of owners to track a car have to do with the ability of the car? Why do you keep trying to make this about the owners?

...and the GT3 is sliding around corners and magically rowing tons of gears? Nah, it's also too fast for the street. I think German build quality is superior to Italian also.

Nonsense. First of all, the exact same compounds can be had from Pagid, who OE's the factory pads for a fraction of the cost. If you buddy is burning up sets of pads per day, then he has the traction control on - period. Same thing happens in modern BMWs...and it will also limit the CF rotor life also. You don't have to change all fluids after every track event, that's silly.

But his GT3 isn't? Makes no sense. My M3 is too fast for the street also...all of the modern high performance cars are too fast for the street.

So basically no modern car with a lot of HP is a good car for the street according to you. Ok, that is your opinion. My opinion is that there are a lot of things that are still present in a great car even when it is being driven 1-60mph on the right kind of road.

LOL! I guess I would care if I sought the approval of strangers on the internet?

Seriously though, HPDE is not racing and there is absolutely no reason for me to drive my car 10/10ths...I drive it 9/10ths and that is plenty for me to have a lot of fun. The most rewarding part for me is sharing the noise and experience with others. I love seeing people enjoy a Ferrari being run, giving people rides, etc. It makes great noises, it's gives great sensations. When I want to go max attack, I jump in someone else's race car with insurance on it, proper safety equipment, good coaching, etc.

Not true, where do you come up with this stuff? There are places that refurb them IF you were to damage one I suppose. But if that were the way I thought, I would never leave the house. The sticker on the front bumper is 15k, the rear diffuser? 15k. If I drive over a tire, I could be out a sticker of 30k. I don't live my life like that.

LOL! Why? Because you can't be the fastest guy at a non racing event? I mean are you doing time trials or hill climbs or something? Otherwise, you are just competing against yourself and there is absolutely no need to get on r compounds to improve yourself. In fact, in many cases it is counter-productive. Cup tires are more than enough grip for a street car that can be taken on the track.

3k OMG end of world. More propaganda...they last quite long actually if you drive them properly. It's the exact same transmission in the Scud as the 6 speed, only the actuation is different. Service is once a year at a cost of 1800-3k depending on where you take it. I change the oil once or twice in between yearly services depending on how much track use it gets and miles. I order the oil off amazon, it's cheaper than the oil for my M3. The other fluids are all standard-ish stuff as well for foreign cars; you can get 15% off parts and service with a FCA membership.

That is absolutely untrue and ludicrous. The lead instructor at Pitt Race runs a GT3RS. He often brags about his track prep..."I get up, check the tire pressure, drive to the track, drive it, drive it home; service it once a year, change the brake fluid more often" Where do you come up with $1500? He doesn't run slicks; no idea about how it handles them.

Um...I spend maybe $40 on brake fluid, let's say $200 on oil and filter, tire wear, and event fee ($250). What other costs were you expecting?

There is no way a 350R is going to be high performance and still edgy at low speeds - unless you are forcing it to step out...which you could do with the 458 also if you would like. The 350R has over 500HP...you will be breaking the law in a matter of seconds. Hey, I like rowing gears too sometimes, but you need a pretty low HP car to make it through more than a shift...

I agree racing drivers are faster than people that are not racing drivers.

Again, this makes absolutely no sense. They aren't too heavy to run and they aren't too expensive to run either. Why because more oil changes and brake pads? I mean if that really bothers you, it is best not to take your 250-350k car to the track at all. But chances are that if you have the money, and like to go to the track, it isn't a concern. Look at the cost of running in the CCR series as an example or the challenge series...those are expensive. The track is cheap in comparison.

It's just a name despite your put down, and it's a good data point because novices beating on cars do damage. So it shows which are robust and which are not. Yes, it is a place where people go do laps in expensive cars. If you know what you are doing and know them, then you can negotiate custom track time and training. You can't test drive an exotic like that from a dealer, so it's a very valuable service for novices and experienced drivers alike.

Pssst - let's let the first 500 come out first before we start comparing it to a cayman gt4 or a gt3.

"Ego boost" - there you go putting down Ferrari owners again man. You should just let that hate go, it's not good for you.

Sure...and they will cost a ton to replace I'm sure and didn't achieve a new benchmark in weight despite the effort. So to me, they fail in their purpose to some extent. I do think they are cool though, but find a bit funny that they couldn't figure out ways to shave more weight off the car they are going on. They are one of those last detail kind of things that you expect on an already lightweight car...which the 350R is not.

Yah maybe, and that might be important to me if I wanted to spend the money and time to tune that to get a couple hundreds better at my local track...alas I do not care. I drive the scud at the track for the sensation; HPDE is not racing. There is more time to be shaved off me than the car. I did drop a bunch of weight in the exhaust and stereo though : P

I'm sure it can...but not without also being stable on the street ; )

You'd have to ask them, but racing is not HPDE. Racing is far more persistent and demanding on the car and the costs are far higher everywhere, so if you can get close to the performance with steel, then it makes a ton of sense.

Not true at all again about the pads. Pagid released a specific compound (now multiple) for the CF brakes that is not that bad on them at all. They have all those fancy graphs that show the wear vs temp vs whatever on their site so you can pick the right compromise:

characteristics: PAGID RACING - Motorsport and High Performance Brake Pads

I just think you have repeatedly put down Ferrari and the owners, so I call you on it. Are you really surprised on a Ferrari site? I'm not bothered by the GT at all. If you go back and read my posts I'm actually a huge fan of it. It's the blanket statements you make that I don't agree with and don't think are accurate.

I hope they release a new dino line, but I'm not holding my breath. I just don't think there is any need for them to do that; they already make more per car than any other company. Their focus will undoubtedly turn to increased productions, and likely, more special editions to drive revenue.

The FF is awesome - that is my dream winter car. I doubt it is as engrossing or fun as my Scud though.

The C7 vette has 127 individual exterior vents. LOL. It's a great car, but overdone IMHO. Also a fair amount of engines going pop.

Seems they are the best they have ever been to me in terms of quality and tech. Lower tech, older cars will always be better for backroad driving IMHO.

Not the factory are they? You mean AF Corse? Would be awesome if the factory runs one, but I have not heard that. Got a link?

OK...agree to disagree. Also funny considering neither car is out or run a single race. I'm pulling for Ford. I love Ferrari, but I'm also an American...and I just like the GT period. Also a Ganassi fan.

 

Without going into another long diatribe. Any car run round a track softly wont use up too much in consumeables. Not pointing at ferrari owners in this thread(as opposed to elsewhere) not going to track, was comenting on the product and its suitability for regular track use, but yes it can also say somehting about the majority of owners and what they value in the product, the product development cycle then reflects this customer base priorities.

Some who I know that own the newer ferraris dont track them because of cost, not because they cant afford it, but because the way ferrari prices things strikes them as absurd thats the whole ferrari scthick with parts cost, compared to Mclaren, or even porche, not to mention the whole depreciation game, which points to owners and what they value. That questions in my mind the relevancy of the cars for drivers(as opposed to their image), esp given their limited imo street application for driving fun. I get it that for many ferrari is about the show. In the past a ferrari was definatly the drivers choice.

As I said if I lived in Germany the relevancy of the 458 to me would be quite different.

Your Gordon Murray quote is what I was saying, the 458 was the best of the then supercar breed. I will see if I can find my old magazine.

The 997GT3, if you drove one, it was fun and engaging at all speeds, my last drive in one was back to back with a 458 and a mp12 on roads I know well. For contrast I drove there in my Boxer, which despite its manifest period flaws of execution is really engaging too. Did the paddles take away engagement on the 991 at lower speeds. Probably a number of factors did this, but I have not driven one so cant comment on it at all.

Carrera Gt had lots of power was still very engaging on road, at least the one I drove for a day, the steering was not as good as the 997gt3 but it was the most fun road car I have driven to date. Its not a rule that power or even excess power needs reduce engagement. More like what are the goals of the manufacturer. It seems to me that if the goal is to make the car "driveable" for anybody and in traffic and get paper laptimes the cars loose a lot in enagement below 9/10ths. Ferrari is guilty of this and its a pity as their cars were traditionaly so engaging to drive. The engagement and drama was to me and me and others a big part of the driving appeal off track. From what the factory says they are trying to bring engagement at 70mph back to the product.

I agree with you about most moderns, many too bland, the new BMWs are particular offenders. Even my M46 M3 is bland, but hen its really a sedan that can go fast. However not all moderns are so isolated, hence the appreciation in many circles here and abroad for the mustang in all its guises. If you dont drive your car on track so hard the extra weight shouldnt be an issue.

Funny how R&T rated the stang above all the others overall, 488 Viper ACR etc. Yes its a magazine, its also a data point, lest say a surprising win which even if biased says a lot..

I agree about the scoops on the vette, but its still a more balanced coherant design than the F12 which frankly looks bloated and melted in parts. The FF yes it wil be less engaging than a 488, but how much less in reality on road, and you gain so much more.

The mtor on the vette z06. Well it seems to criticise any marque and in particular american cars is to insult a fan base. To me I wnat to see team USA do well but I dont let blind patriotism censor me. Criticism of cars, hopefully helps towards better products, blind following or patriotism leads to sloth.
The C6 was almost brilliant, it was really light and had a great motor. Its build may have been durable but reeked of used tupperware. Many here excorciated me for saying this, or questioning why Gm cheaped on on cheap brake lines ina hi po car.. But the fact is if hyundai could do a decent ineterior on a 30k car chevy could have gotten that right, there were no excuses, and Gm itself got it much better on the C7.. On the C7 z06 GM cheaped out on the motor, not developing soethign like the ls7 and essentialy puttign the next and heavy zr1 motor in a z06, you shoudl hear the insults I got on that one, like I didnt know the difference between the old Zr1 motor and the new Z06. Peopl here freaked out when I said this, or that they overheated or failed, but I had seen it at the track more than once. And who supercharges a track car?

What I admire about ford, at least their "track" oreintated cars is that they seem to really be trying to get all the details big and small right, they dont have a barnd image liek ferrari or porche, so if their cars are rated its purely on excelence..

As an enthusuast I see no reason to be a fanboy of any brand or nationality just because. Very few manufactuers make a brilliant product, even though the formula are not that hard to discern, and often brilliance alone does not sell as we saw with the F1.. Imo the company that gets it most right currently on their high performnce cars is porche(depite so many being cynical marketsng products), chevy has shown real sparks of brilliance, as a sedan the new CTS V seems awesome except CUE which is an abortion, at least on the ATS I had for a week.I add the last bit because Caddy fanbois say you just have to get used to it, but it sucks so bad that its a deal breaker and makes you wonder.

As to the topic at hand the FGT, it seems to me based on the spec that this car is the sucessor to all the principles that made the F1 and zonda so great, with maybe more of a track focus. That makes it to me potentialy the best of the current crop, esp compared with the almost ridiculosly overwrught Laferrari, which BTW ferrari says they may make a non electric lighter version of.

Everyone has their choices especialy in fanstasy league as here. To me for the same money I would still rather have an FGT than a Laferrari. I know for many they would much rather take the ferrari because its a ferrari. I prioritise differently.

If the lotus elise is the modern rendition of evrything that made an elan so great, I am waiting for the modern rendition from ferrari of evrything that made a 250swb so great.

Yeah modern ferraris are great, but to me the focus is wrong, and that focus is why you dont see them at the track.
In the modern world fast means it has to go on track, and a car that is not engaing on road at road attainable speeds well what is it, a sucess affirmation, a cool ride? Yes I am being provocative, and the raw nerve struck says much.

There is a reason the previous ford GT was so well rated in period, and rated above the then ferrari by many, it has everythign to do with vehicle dynamics on road and track and little to do with brand name. Its also the reason why one is now just a used car and the other a classic appreciating.

 

Comparison aside, I just talked to the owner of a local Ford dealership where I originally purchased my current Heritage in 2006. He told me there will be 250 cars produced per year for a total of 2 years. About 250 cars will come to the US (200 cars will go to "loyal" customers based on an application process to be selected by Ford, and 50 to the dealers and dealers also have to apply through an application process also). Just FYI, this dealer got allocated probably a total of 6 FGT at that time, and 2 of them were Heritage edition.

 

You keep beating the same drum with nothing to back it up though. Still waiting for the list of consumables for people that drive their Ferrari's hard....or their GT3s, or their M3/M4s, etc. So far we have brakes, brake fluid, and oil and filter.

You can call me slow if you want (which I'm not) but it would seem hard to believe that the head instructor at PIRC is slow in his GT3RS wouldn't it? How do you explain his lack of "consumables"?

My concern is that owners, or potential owners will read this nonsense and shy away from doing a track day in their car which is more than capable of 3x30min sessions, 1-2 times a month.

...and I also don't care if people want to just drive their car easy on a Sunday. The fact that you think someone has to take it to a track or else they have some kind of insecurity about themselves says a lot about you; not them.

Gotta take it to the track, gotta run slicks, blah blah...there is no right way to own or run a car. If it makes you happy, then you are doing it right.

You hear the same ridiculous arguments about working on your own car vs having someone else do it. Who cares?

My Scud has appreciated substantially despite doubling the road and track miles. Shows what cars people recognize as great.

 

Ummpretty much every ferrari has appreciated, and there are numerous threads about mileage and track use affecting value. I drive mine too but in that we are a minority.

The costs of running a gt3 on track, go to rennlist they lay it out pretty well.

No one has to run slicks, but if you track a lot then you know the single biggest consumeable is tires, and that expensive street tires are a waste on track, hoosiers are way less.

Never said everybody had to go to track, in that you are SLOW to use your term, or willfully ignorant, or just arguementative. Or maybe I dont explain well.

So here goes again.

If you want to go fast in a fast car in todays world the track is the place, that is a result of traffic, laws, risk, societal views, potential jail time and the speeds modern cars go.. This also explains the rise of DE events. If a car due to its speed capability/design is unentertaining at slower road speeds, and not eminently trackable what point does its potential performance have, besides the show, self affirmation etc.

Everyone with a street car should enjoy their sunday drive, and all sports cars should be an enetrtainign engaging drive in this realm, but as you point out many high power cars are not.

I enjoy my sunday drives greatly in car that gives me feedback interaction and driving enjoyment at what are approipriate speeds for the road, even if some might frown on those speeds. Some moderns cannot do this because the speed necessary to be a rewarding drive is beyond sanity. In that sense a 350r or cayman Gt4 may be a superior road drive to a 458.

Enjoy your scud.

 

Back to the new GT:

I am constrained by contract from saying much but just some general points:

1.) Ford did a huge amount of baseline comparative work on competitor cars-including a lot of cars you would not even consider evaluating. Ford did this to get a true understanding for what makes a good driving (feel!) car. A lot of track testing and road based (subjective testing).

2.) In the end the overall consensus was that the current 458 Speciale is a very special car. Best car out there today (current) in terms of performance and feedback, feel, sound, just everything. It was, and is the car to aim for and beat.

3.) One of the least enjoyable cars was the McLaren MP4-12C. Almost no one liked it at all. Had it's good points but not many or enough to overcome the overall negative response to the car. Ironically the MP4 did manage to equal the 458 Speciale on laptimes when driven by pro drivers on a race track. So from that standpoint the MP4 is equal to the 458. But at the end of the day, when the cars had to be driven back home-the MP4 was almost never fought over or even really wanted to be driven by anybody. People would pick the Nissan GTR, Shelby Mustang or Camaro first!

4.) One car added to the test group was a Radical RXC turbo V6. Maybe funnest car on track and fun for while on the street but not for more than 30 minutes. Me--I liked it best overall!

5.) Ford's goals with this car are:
A.) Win GTE LeMans in 2016. 50 year anniversary!
B.) Make the best feel/feedback street sports car in the world. Again-Beat Ferrari!
C.) Publicize the Ecoboost engine line.
D.) Show world new technology that nobody has in their street cars.
E.) Sell car at price point around 458
F.) Sell enough cars to carry program without it being a money drain on Ford. Yes Ford expects program to pay for itself. (It will.)

Car exterior and interior design is 100% Ford content. Done by a very small group of very talented guys and with a lot of freedom allowed by the higher ups at Ford. Car was not a "group think" design by committee exercise.

Ecoboost TTV6 choosen as Ecoboost is engine future with Ford. Also no other engine (at that time) in Ford lineup met the performance/reliability/emissions requiremnets needed for the car.

Car has a number of very clever design features on it. Most of which (99%) has not been displayed or talked about. So I will not give away any details. Just note that the car is the nearest thing to a true race car that you will ever get for the road. Everything on the car was designed with the intent in making it the best performing (by that I mean overall drive feel and ability-not 0-60, g numbers, etc.) road car on earth. But with attention applied to the fact the car has to be driveable and usable on the road by a very large skill range of drivers. And car was designed to do this without all of the electronic aids so many mfg's need nowadays to make their car work. This car does it thru lightweight, superb kinematics, weight distribution, yaw characteristics, aero and chassis stiffness.

When the final details of the car are released it will pretty well blow you away, with respect to the type of solutions used, with respect to what other mfg's have done. Pop the body off of this car and you will swear you are looking at an LMP1/2 chassis of the highest order. There is nothing on the road even close to what was done on this car.

Wish I could afford to buy one.

 

Thank you for that peek behind the curtain ! It's going to be a fun next couple of years watching the roll out and racing !

 

Thanks for the inside info! much appreciated. This GT will be something very very special, I knew it from the day I first saw it. Looks like a car truly from 2050.

 

Great post, thank you!

 

I look forward to seeing one in person. I am hoping that ford has a street version on display next to the race version at the Daytona 24.

 

Exciting stuff...thanks!

 

The car is not priced anywhere near base 458 MSRP. Just to make sure expectations are realistic.

 

Ummm-Mentioned around 458 Speciale price. And the actual average price of a 458 Speciale sold in the USA is around $372,000 (Ferrari USA data)

Also like content to like content a 458 Speciale is over $400,000

Ford understands the costs and content and what car they are comparing the GT car much better than dbk does.

 

See below:

Relax, I'm just clarifying so nobody is confusing "Sell car at price point around 458" with "Ford GT will be around $240k."

Super ironic.