FORD GT

In an industry that tends toward superficiality in its anniversary observations—for the Corvette’s 50th anniversary, Chevy painted a handful of cars maroon—Ford goes big. It gave itself the 2005 GT to celebrate its 100th birthday; got around creating a special-edition 50th-anniversary Mustang by redesigning the entire car; and is now honoring the golden anniversary of its historic 1-2-3 sweep at Le Mans in 1966 with another interpretation of the winning GT40.

As opposed to that redux of 2005, this one isn’t a 13/10-scale model of anything. Ford’s global performance vehicle chief engineer, Jamal Hameedi, says that with the last GT, “we had the show car, and we had to make the aerodynamics work within that silhouette. Here, we had a clean sheet.” Aerodynamics, he says, were “the tip of the spear” for the development of the GT, from the shark nose to the teardrop-shaped cockpit to the radical body-side channels back to the movable rear wing, which can adjust both its height and pitch. Even those flying buttresses bridging the roof to the fenders are aerodynamically formed, with a wing-shaped cross-section.

Another of the development team’s priorities was minimizing mass. The GT’s chief engineer, Kip Ewing, calls the target weight “extraordinary,” and we’re translating that to around 2800 pounds. The car’s central tub and bodywork are carbon fiber, with the front and rear substructures and most of the suspension constructed of aluminum. In the narrow cabin, driver and passenger sit shoulder to shoulder in seats that are fixed directly to the tub. As in Ferrari’s LaFerrari, the steering wheel and pedals adjust. Hameedi says the fixed-seat arrangement is not a weight-savings measure, but a design and safety one. “Fix the occupants, and you can shrink-wrap the greenhouse around them. You know where they’re going to be and can bring everything in closer.”

The riskiest aspect of the GT, however, is its powertrain. For its Ferrari fighter, Ford has forsaken the V-8s in its portfolio and chosen a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V-6. If the cylinder count seems low, take heart that the engine descends directly from the one in Ford’s Daytona-winning IMSA prototype sports racer. Indeed, Ford spokesman Paul Seredynski says: “The GT engine wasn’t developed in concert with the Daytona Prototype engine. It is the Daytona Prototype engine. That was our engine-development program.” For the road car, it’ll make about 650 horsepower and be backed by a Getrag seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

The engine won’t be the GT’s only link to the track. A racing-style, pushrod-activated suspension setup enables the car’s unique body sides, and Ewing says the GT’s “first and foremost obligation is to be an excellent track car.”

Buyers will be able to find out for themselves how good it is next year. Ford Performance director Dave Pericak says production will be in the “hundreds, not thousands.” Pricing will crowd $400,000.

But can Ford resist making this anniversary celebration even bigger? Ask anyone in the company about a return to Le Mans and they stress that they’re “focused on the road car,” implying that there is an as-yet unannounced racing program. We expect to see Fords once again fighting Ferraris in the production-based and less-costly GT class at Le Mans in June 2016.