EVO and CAR on US newstands

Brian,

I read both articles as well. I find it surprising what they ended up choosing. The things that EVO and Car like about the Ford GT is funny as in previous articles they have critized ares for being difficult like the GT to drive hard on the streets. Now it is okay. Hmmm interesting. I have to say for the most part I like both of these magazines a great deal. The writing is good and they do end up picking a winner.

My thoughts are that the Ford GT is going to be a good sports car but it is going to challenge a lot of drivers who have gotten used to all the eletronic devices that safe us before we realize it is about to happen. The Ford GT has none of that. I personally liked what Damon said about the 360 CS. He felt it was a really sports car and that Ferrari had done a better job felt like quality.

Question: how many people are going to wreck their Ford GT's in the first several months?

 

I was just reading the Evo article
- Lambo is the best daily driver for an Exotic
- Ferrari is the best track car
- Ford is the new kid on the block so the article has to pick the Ford as the Champ... at least for this months mag.

Ford 3.7 0-60, 205 top speed 1583kg
Lambo 4.4 0-60, 192 top speed 1520kg
Ferrari 4.1 0-60, 186 top speed 1280kg

Just goes to show that Ford, Ferrar, and Lambo have all built the same car at this price point.... nice to have so many choices, depending on your needs

 

Car:
The Ferrari has more magic. It serenades. It moves with a poetic grace. Its steering, its carbon ceramic brakes and its engine note: all signal an inner knowledge about sports cars that no amount of research by virginal Ford can beat.

Evo:
There's a brittleness to the Stradale's demeanour, an anxious intensity that distances it from the other cars. It fizzes with energy from the moment the tearaway V8 blats into life. In this respect the F1 paddle-shift transmission is utterly appropriate, its snappy, impatient shifts suiting it to a tee.

The steering also responds in hot-headed fashion, the slightest twitch of the wheel translating into a sharp direction change. There's zero slack - a complete contrast to the soft-edged Ford - the dagger-like Stradale fairly stabbing at the road. It corners hard and flat, and whatever the gear, whatever the corner radius, you'll experience absolutely no understeer whatsoever.

What you do find, through the slower, lower geared corners, is that with the ASR disabled the tail can get lively without feeling that you've actively provoked it. With little roll, glassy steering feel and no hint of the front-end washing even a millimetre wide, there's lees impression of working the chassis hard. and as the front-end has such a fearsome rate of response the rear has to work pretty hard simply to keep up. Get on the power early and, with such limited reference points available, it's no wonder the spiky CS can take you by surprise every now and then.

Lack of detailed feedback aside, the CS is a uniquely thrilling car to unleash. All that noise, the bapp-bapp-bapp gearchanges, the brickwall brakes and surgical steering delivering a driving experience totally unlike the ruthlessly effective but occasionally aloof Gallardo. Nothing like the humungous GT either, its hyperactive motor feeling anorexic compared with the bear-hug of accelerative g served-up by 5.4 litres of supercharged Ford V8.

The Ferrari is an aggressive extrovert, seducing you with its raucous, animalistic manner and illicit race-car-on-the-road character. It has an intensity not even big brother Enzo can match, but its for this very reason that the CS is a car to be enjoyed in small doses, warmed-up, wrung-out, than put away.

BRIAN:
After reading both articles (that pick the Ford), I cannot thing of one reason I'd want the Ford GT over the Stradale. I accept their data... but I interpret/prioritize it completely different.

I agree wholeheartedly.