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Ford GT Mk II Is A Rule-Breaking Swan Song

3K views 31 replies 17 participants last post by  CaptainDan 
#1 ·
Ford GT Mk II Is A Rule-Breaking Swan Song
Motor1

BY: BRANDON TURKUS
JUL 04, 2019






The Ford GT race car competed in its final 24 Hours of Le Mans as a factory backed team in June, only three years after it rolled back into France with a four-car squad built to kick Ferrari’s teeth in on the 50th anniversary of its legendary 1966 win. It won its class in that race, making the second-coming of the GT a legend for Blue Oval fans. But now it’s all over. Sort of. The GT’s competitive career is coming to an end, but Ford and its race partner Multimatic are sending the car out in style with the GT Mk II, a no-holds-barred track-only weapon designed for well-heeled enthusiasts that want to embarrass the competition at their local track days. Only 45 will be built, with prices starting at $1.2 million.

That seven-figure sum yields a car that Multimatic’s Chief Technical Officer, Larry Holt, told Motor1.com “is as fast as any GT3 car.” It couldn’t outpace a GTE-spec GT at Le Mans, but Holt added that the Mk II might be able to outpace the Le Mans variant at a high-downforce circuit.

But how? By completely ignoring Balance of Performance.
The GT Mk II is subject to intensive body modifications designed to increase downforce. There’s a new dual-element rear wing, a larger front splitter, louvered fenders, new dive planes, and a more prominent rear diffuser. The fascia has more in common with the road car, but also creates a small amount of downforce And although the ride height is the same as the GTE car, the underfloor is lower. The result? A 400-pound increase in downforce over the race car. And if that’s not cool enough, there’s a giant roof scoop.

Along with a 200-pound reduction in weight, race-spec Michelin Pilot Sport GT tires, and DSSV shocks, the GT Mk II can pull 2.0 Gs while cornering. When it comes to slowing down, the Mk II ditches the FIA-mandated steel brake rotors for a full set of carbon-ceramic brakes. Push hard enough, and the GT Mk II just might tear your face off.
That’s after it rearranges your organs, because this car’s twin-turbocharged, 3.5-liter V6 packs 200 more horsepower than the Le Mans racer. In other words, this is the most powerful GT available, with over 700 horsepower. The Mk II is better setup to feed that monster engine, featuring larger air coolers and a water-spray system for better thermal management.

The GT Mk II is debuting this weekend at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where it will be competing in – and based on our experience at past Festivals, winning – the supercar shootout.
 
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#7 ·
It's a track car and like every other Ford GT, you'll have to get on a list before you can get n line to pay $1.2 million as there's only 45 to be made.

More power, more down force, what a weapon and that's all without even considering C8 Corvette track versions.
 
#8 ·
Without knowing the weight on this thing I don't see it being anything that is going to be class breaking, the Aston Martin Vulcan packs 820BHP and has a weight under 3,000 pounds so I expect this to be a good bit slower then that car. Really though depending on weight this car still might be slower then the ZR1 Corvette around VIR for example as it might not be enough to make up the 6 second gap the ZR1 Corvette had over the Ford GT there (same day test). With that being said then what really makes this look like a pointless exercise is if it won't add much performance to the equation then not being street legal for example while the Corvette ZR1 is makes one wonder why bother? besides the fact that they will likely sell them.
 
#10 · (Edited)
with only a 200 pound weight loss then it won't be faster then the Aston Martin Vulcan, I guess it is convenient that this Ford GT will be much cheaper then the vulcan (though as if anyone buys a million plus dollar car doesn't care about performance per dollar), the Vulcan is faster, sounds better, and looks better. Though all the ZR1 would need is about 200-300 pounds dropped and it would stay ahead of this Ford GT at VIR.
 
#15 ·
These are not competitive cars, you keep saying compete with them when these cars are like the Ferrari XX models and the Aston Martin Vulcan to name a few. this are not street legal cars and they do not comply with any racing sanctioning body rules to compete competitively, these are expensive track day toys.

With that being said this does high light the real reason why the Corvette is going mid engine, as they will be competing in the luxury sports car market and be able to charge these kind of prices. I really do like the Ford GT (even if I think it would be cooler with a Voodoo engine pushed to its limits) and I like what they did here. Though for anyone who thinks that this is done for any reason other then being an expensive track day toy and are trying to make sense of it then you truely don't get it. Cars like these do not sell on performance or price let alone performance/price ratios but on many other points otherwise no one would buy anything but American and Japanese performance cars and we know that this isn't the case.
 
#29 ·
Judging by the sales of the GT in general, there was never any real interest in the car. I just looked it up, 126 sold last year.

Who even cares about the GT (besides those 126 people)?

I agree it's a cool car and all, but I assume this cars getting the Hackett due to it being a money loser.
 
#21 ·
The current Ford GT is stellar at the one thing it was actually designed to do, and that is what is wrong with it. Take any existing production car you want, limit it to the 550hp racing cars in this class are subject to, spend a week tuning them for the specific track in question, and nine times out of ten the Ford GT is going to eat it outright

We saw this at LeMans where the GT’s destroyed everything in sight until parity rules slowed them down. But, I should mention, that focus is one of two reasons that I find the car pointless. Ford literally designed a car to win LeMans one time, because the instant the car showed dominance performance parity rules were largely going to leave any future racing success to luck of the draw as much as effort.

The second reason? That focus in conjunction with the rules limitations led Ford to build a car that is actually less adept on the street where there is no 550hp limitation. The chassis and handling are there, but the engine was designed to be the perfect weapon for a 550hp race car, and it shows.

They could have parlayed the platform into something truly special on the street, but they didn’t. Instead we literally got a spec driven LeMans racer for the street in an era where LeMans racer for the street doesn’t mean what it once did. If you want consistent, ridiculous, lap after lap handling and chassis dynamics and mega hp isn’t on the menu then the GT is your tailor made cup of tea. But it is largely a very, very narrowly focused car and, on the street, it’s lessened for it imo.
 
#22 ·
This isn't factually correct, Ford GT won that one year as they hid their performance and the other cars that didn't never had their original speed returned to them and as a result the Ford GT won that race. There is nothing about what you just said here that is factually correct, also being built to GTE specs instead of having the car modified like others isn't going to hurt the road car on race tracks (unless those road cars are built in a way where it would give them an advantage over the race car). This is why I don't like fan boys, they don't care about facts they will only listen to the narrative that works in their favor and test events to fit that narrative.

So yes if you hide your speed until the last minute after the sanctioning body took speed from others then show your speed with before the race with no one for the sanctioning body can figure out how to fix it that doesn't screw you over or the other teams then win then claim that you dominate the competition.
 
#24 ·
And speaking of fanboys. I think it’s obvious by now that I’m not really a fan. For me, this just isn’t an appropriate Ford GT for the street, not without some fairly serious changes in the transition from race car to road car that didn’t happen. Because of that I would much rather have an 05 GT than one of these.

But, even that brings an argument from the fanboys.
 
#32 · (Edited)
This car can't really be raced against anything in a sanctioned event, and it can't be driven on public roads. I'm sorry, but Ford screwed up there. As unrealistic as such cars are, what good is it if you can't do ANYTHING with it. All the other cars like it are legal for racing or street, some can do both.

If all you can do is show it off stationary, you could have just added a flux capacitor, and made it REALLY special.
 
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