Stradale vs. 911GT3 vs. Ford GT at Gingerman: Chart

Not last? That wasn't a problem at LeMans in 66,67,68,69. these cars will last. As for service anyone can service one of these. Engine out takes 15 minutes in mine.

 

Those cars weren't relying on a belt-driven supercharger. Big difference.

How many cars do you know of that currently race Lemans with a belt driver supercharger?

 

We're going to find out next June...

 

Jim, are you guessing that Ford plans on returning to Le Mans?

It would be great if they did....

Dale

 

I don't think we'll see a factory effort but I do think a privateer will try it.
It would great to see the Enzo/Maser, Murcie GTR, and Ford GT having at it!

 

But if the Ford wins, then what will we have to whine about here on FC!

Actually, I think that it would be great race to see. Hmmm... just when is Le Mans?

Dale

 

Early June.

 

James, i believe the Ford Gt in stock form will have performance on par with the Viper Srt and Lambo Gallardo. I know that with some slight tweaks it will easily outperform the both of them, and stay together without any loss in reliability The performance of this car has already been shown in both Road and Track and the new Motor Trend.

As for me, im not a fan of any American cars, other than Cadillacs, and maybe the Viper. I would never spend 150,000 on an American anything, and only like the Viper because it is a good used car value in the 40,000 range.

 

Hmmm... (wheels turning slowly in head). Have you or anybody else on this list been to Le Mans in the last few years? I have heard rumors that it has kinda turned into a Hooligan soccer match type event, i.e., several hundred thousand drunks who like to burns tires at night (yuk!).

But man-oh-man, to see the Americans, Italians, Germans, and Brits go at it in one race. Now that would be fun!

DrTax

 

Neb
You've got it. This is production trim. It's 500HP. 500HP at the rear wheels. That's what going on. It's also 500 ft lbs of torque. That's why it's over 2 seconds a lap faster than a CS.

 

If the production GT delivers those test numbers, it will have raised the bar significantly - great for all of us.

 

I find it easy to believe that Ford would supply the magazines with a "road test" special in order to stimulate interest. Very easy to do with forced induction too.

Many manufacturers have done this over the years. GM did it with the Syclone. Heck, Lamborghini did it back with the Muira back in the '60's.

 

My letter to Car and Driver editors:

Much as I'd like to get excited about a true American sports car that can run with the best around the world, I have some serious doubts about the data you reported for the Ford GT (Jan '04). You guys are professional journalists, right? And a journalist above all else must have at their core a doubting soul, lest you be sold a bill of goods, looking foolish to your audience, right? So how in the world do you sign off on a road test of a 500 hp, 3400 lb car that puts down 0 - 60 and 0 - 100 numbers essentially equal to a Ferrari Enzo (650 hp, 3400 lbs) and much faster than the Viper SRT-10 (500 hp, 3500 lbs)? And seriously faster than your rival mag Road & Track in the same car (your Ford GT was 1.2 sec faster in the quarter than theirs!) Didn't your BS antenna give even a little quiver? Then again, maybe you guys are just that much better at getting the most out of a car.

Gary

 

Good letter... I don't think they have the balls to print it though!!

 

I bet they do... they'll read it as a complement on how superior their driving skills are to their competitors!!

 

The numbers are bothering me more than a little. The ford is 21% faster 0-60 and 25% faster 0-100, but it's power to weight ratio is only 8.3% better. The porsche power to weight is 24% less than the ford and it is 21-25% slower than the ford, exactly what you would expect. The porsche has a 14% lower power to weight than the ferrari, but it tied or just beat the ferrari in acceleration. So either both porsche and ford are under rating their engines by about 16%, or the ferrari is over-rated by 16% and realy only making about 357 hp....I wonder if it was running on all 8 cylinders, that would explain 12.5% a least

 

Gary
There are many things that make a car perform. Torque which this engine has a lot of, gearing , torque range, flatness of curve, etc, etc,etc.
There is also the issue of where HP is measured, and as one of the engineers who designed this car said to me with a smile on his face. "It's about 500hp measured somewhere..."
Another member of the team told me that in it's production form it would stay with anything Ferrari produced for the street. He did not exclude the Enzo. This person was part of the team that stomped Ferrari in the 60's. The same engineer who discussed the hp. also said they were continuing to develop this car and a second version would be even faster. Someone will be racing this car against the Enzo/Maser and the Murcie GTR. That's when it's really going to be interesting.
As for Car&Driver the car they drove was never driven over 170 at Fords insistance. When Ford removes that restriction it will beat the CS by even more than the stunning 2 seconds per lap at Gingerman. At LeMans it will obilerate a CS.

 

Napolis -

I have no doubt this car is a monster, at least as tested by C&D. My point was there is something wrong with the claimed horsepower and/or weight. Either Ford is going to come out with some new specs for the car, showing ~650 hp, or perhaps they will just say a mistake was made, and a prototype was released to C&D without proper authority. In any case, I really do believe the car will not perform to C&D numbers with 500 hp at the flywheel, no matter what the shape of the torque curve.

Gary

 

Gary,
If the numbers on the ford are wrong, so are the numbers on the porsche and by the same amount. The more likely answer is that the ferrari they had was broken and doesn't make even close to the claimed 425. The ferrari's 0-60, 0-100, 0-150, the 1/4 mile mph (times depend on launch, mph really doesn't)are almost a perfect match to the porsche, so they have the same hp to weight ratios. F=ma is true no match who made the car. Either ferrari is lying about the 425 or the car tested was broken. The difference in the lap times is easily acounted for in the acceleration between the last 2 turns and down the front straight, hp to weight again. I would love to see split times because it looks to me that the ford is probably behind up until then, when it can use it's hp. The other thing is that tires are about the most important thing when it comes to cornering, and they are different on all the cars, so I have no idea what to make of mph or Gs in turn "x". I think this has come up before, but the point of a magazine comparison is the sell magazines, and really isn't good for much more. JMO

 

It would have been a better test if they would of compared the ford gt, ferrari stradale and a Porsche GT2.

 

Do you guys really believe that a car with a 5.4 liter V8 and a superchanger pushing 12 psi of boost is only making 500hp/500tq at the crank?

 

The numbers on the Ford are incorrect, so what? Thats easy to see, Jim explained it, insert dead horse here about what 500bhp crank and 3400lbs can/can't do.

So now thats out of the way, is it really going to matter what the gear ratios, power to weight, weight distribution, rwhp and crank hp are if the final numbers for the whole package at $150,000 delivery Enzo performance, more reliably, without exotic maintenance nightmares?

Even if you don't like Ford, you have to respect Ford for wanting to celebrate one of their biggest milestones and a milestone in racing history by repeating what they did.

There is a lot more at stake in this car than just a profit margin. The pedigree of the GT40 for starters. The crown jewel of Ford's Le Mans racing career. Future uses (and successes) of their push rod and street engines in other racing series, the TransAM series for one where Jaguar has been dominant for the last few years because of it.

Its more than just a pipe dream car. Its a statement to every exotic car manufacturer that holds their head above the American domestic market. That statement is, "Bring it."

Sunny

 

Agreed. The low maintenance costs alone are enough to make me want one.

 

What I found interesting was the lap times. Low to mid 1:30s are rather slow around Gingerman, which puts a premium on cornering speed. The track record is 1:00 which was set by Paul Tracy in a Penske IndyCar a number of years ago. Obviously that's a much faster car, but even the Formula Mazdas are 10-12 seconds quicker, and FFords 5-8 seconds faster.

 

You can all most buy the Ford GT for the cost of doing a brake job on the Enzo.


Enzo: 1'22"30
F50: 1'27"00
360 CS: 1'28"00
So if the Ford is 2 to 5 seconds faster then CS depending on track, how close is it to Enzo?