Ford GT: Le Mans Tech for the Road
The all-new Ford GT is a rolling technology showcase — EcoBoost performance, aerodynamics and carbon-fiber construction wrapped into one mid-engine supercar. More than 50 onboard sensors watch everything from pedal and steering positions to the deployable rear wing, right down to air humidity and sunshine levels, and tune the drive to suit. It’s the thrill of the Le Mans-winning race car engineered for the road, with the comfort and convenience a road car still needs.
The GT is one of more than 12 new Ford Performance vehicles due by 2020, joining the Focus RS, F-150 Raptor, Shelby GT350 and GT350R. Production began in late 2016, and the car reaches select global markets as Ford marks the 50th anniversary of its 1-2-3 finish at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans.
“As we at Ford drive innovation into every part of our business, it’s worth remembering that our first innovation as a company was not in a laboratory, but on the racetrack,” said Mark Fields, Ford president and chief executive officer at the time of the GT’s reveal, recalling Henry Ford’s 1901 race win that convinced backers to invest in his company. “We are passionate about innovation through performance and creating vehicles that make people’s hearts pound.”
Under the skin, the GT runs rear-wheel drive and a mid-mounted engine in a sleek, aerodynamic two-door coupe body. Power comes from the most potent EcoBoost production engine Ford has built — a next-generation twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6 good for more than 600 horsepower. Carbon fiber and aluminum do the heavy lifting on weight, sharpening acceleration and handling while helping efficiency.
Ford’s push to bring elite-car technology to the GT shows up in active aerodynamics, including a deployable rear spoiler, and in SYNC 3, the latest version of Ford’s connectivity system.
“The GT is the ultimate execution of an enthusiast supercar,” said Raj Nair, Ford group vice president, Global Product Development. “GT includes innovations and technologies that can be applied broadly across Ford’s future product portfolio — another proof point that Ford continues raising the performance bar while ultimately improving vehicles for all of our customers.”
Few things pay off across a car’s whole repertoire — acceleration, handling, braking, safety, efficiency — like losing weight. Anchored by a carbon-fiber passenger cell, the GT pairs aluminum front and rear subframes with structural carbon-fiber body panels. Carbon fiber is among the strongest materials for its mass, giving the chassis an ultra-stiff foundation in a lighter overall package — and one of the best power-to-weight ratios of any production car.
Most powerful production EcoBoost yet
EcoBoost now reaches every new Ford car, utility and light-duty pickup in North America, and it powers a growing share of Ford performance models — the new Mustang, the just-announced F-150 Raptor, the Fiesta ST and Focus ST among them. The GT’s next-generation twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 shares its race-proven architecture with Ford’s IMSA Daytona Prototype endurance effort, and it delivers a wide powerband with strong time-to-torque response. Efficiency matters here, too: in endurance racing, pace and economy are a critical competitive advantage.
That twin-turbo V6 raced to three wins in its first IMSA TUDOR United SportsCar Championship season in 2014, including the 12 Hours of Sebring, then opened 2015 with a win at the 24 Hours of Daytona. In the GT it gains an all-new port/direct dual fuel-injection setup for sharper response, plus a low-friction roller-finger-follower valvetrain, and it’s mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transaxle for near-instant shifts and precise control.
Aero that works — and works actively
Aerodynamic efficiency sits at the heart of the GT’s shape, cutting drag while adding downforce and stability. From the teardrop silhouette to the aircraft-style fuselage and the curved windshield that opens up visibility, every surface is shaped to manage airflow — and some of them move. An active rear spoiler reads both speed and driver input, deploying and adjusting its height and pitch angle as conditions change.
It shares a lineage with classic Ford racing and performance cars, but the GT is unmistakably contemporary. An active racing-style torsion-bar and pushrod suspension with adjustable ride height underpins the chassis. The 20-inch wheels wear Michelin Pilot Super Sport Cup 2 tires built with a compound and structure made specifically for this car, and multi-spoke rims ring carbon-ceramic brake discs at all four corners.
The narrow canopy trims frontal area and caps a purposeful cabin. Two seats are molded directly into the carbon-fiber passenger cell — less seating hardware, less weight, and a more direct connection to the chassis — while adjustable pedals and steering column let a wide range of drivers get comfortable. An F1-style wheel gathers the controls into a stalkless column, leaving the paddle shifters clear, and a fully digital, configurable instrument cluster serves up driver-focused data across driving modes.