(Supposedly) Ford brought a GT to the Ring - going for a lap time?

Spivitz

The Throttle is ur friend
TCG Premium
Oct 5, 2012
39,953
45,478
37659
Bet itll be fast than "most" people expect it to be.

Whos the driver?
[emoji1] Screenshot_20180821-162554_Chrome.jpg
 

Kensington

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 14, 2017
11,312
5,353
Bet it beats it.

I mean, VIR is no Nurburgring, but the ZR1 was faster than the GT there by almost a second and a half. The ZR1 is a monster...I'm also a huge GT and Ford apologist and swinger.

I get what Ford was trying to do with the GT...it's a great car, but it just feels like it came out 10 years too late. It was billed as a world beater, but it compares to 675's, 488's, but for almost double their price, and a minimal performance advantage, sometimes if it all. It's competitive, but it's in no way a world beater.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-ca...ew-ford-gt-stacks-up-against-its-competition/
 

jason05gt

TCG Elite Member
Jan 17, 2007
15,307
7,195
Naperville
I mean, VIR is no Nurburgring, but the ZR1 was faster than the GT there by almost a second and a half. The ZR1 is a monster...I'm also a huge GT and Ford apologist and swinger.

I get what Ford was trying to do with the GT...it's a great car, but it just feels like it came out 10 years too late. It was billed as a world beater, but it compares to 675's, 488's, but for almost double their price, and a minimal performance advantage, sometimes if it all. It's competitive, but it's in no way a world beater.

https://www.roadandtrack.com/new-ca...ew-ford-gt-stacks-up-against-its-competition/

The "story" is that Billy Johnson wasn't trying to set a lap record at VIR. Who knows if that's factual.

The thing about the GT is it was built for endurance racing, where it's done very well. Dare I say a world beater on the track.
 

Kensington

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 14, 2017
11,312
5,353
The "story" is that Billy Johnson wasn't trying to set a lap record at VIR. Who knows if that's factual.

The thing about the GT is it was built for endurance racing, where it's done very well. Dare I say a world beater on the track.

I mean, GM claims they weren't going for the record either, throwing an amateur driver in (Jim Mero, who is arguably not an amateur driver, considering he was a pro driver with Le Mans experience)

And yes, it's been very successful in endurance racing, definitely was top of the class for a couple years. This year has been a mixed bag for some reason. They've had their successes, but some of the competition has really stepped up their game. Porsche has come back very strong with their new GTLM 911, and BMW has been very good with their new M8.
 

Kensington

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 14, 2017
11,312
5,353
Also have to remember IMSA or whoever the sanctioning body of that class is, makes the cars performance as close as possible. Some of their success has less do with the car's performance and more to do with the team's strategy and organization. The first couple of years the Ford team also sandbagged during practice, to lessen their "performance adjustments". Sanctioning body, and other teams got wise to that pretty quickly.
 

jason05gt

TCG Elite Member
Jan 17, 2007
15,307
7,195
Naperville
Also have to remember IMSA or whoever the sanctioning body of that class is, makes the cars performance as close as possible. Some of their success has less do with the car's performance and more to do with the team's strategy and organization. The first couple of years the Ford team also sandbagged during practice, to lessen their "performance adjustments". Sanctioning body, and other teams got wise to that pretty quickly.

Good point, but the GT has been penalized by "balance of performance" rulings where they had to add weight, run less boost, and carry less fuel. It seems like the sanctioning bodies are hindering the GT's performance to make the field more competitive.
 

Kensington

TCG Elite Member
TCG Premium
Aug 14, 2017
11,312
5,353
Good point, but the GT has been penalized by "balance of performance" rulings where they had to add weight, run less boost, and carry less fuel. It seems like the sanctioning bodies are hindering the GT's performance to make the field more competitive.

Yeah, from my understanding, they take lap times/performance metrics from practice and/or qualifying, and then apply the "balance of performance" to make the racing closer. I get it, but it's also frustrating at the same time because you could pour years and years, and millions upon millions into motor and chassis development, only to have to add 100+ pounds of ballast and lose a few PSI of boost, because some other manufacturer or team is phoning it in. I prefer the older rules, when there were rules about weight, restrictors, displacement, etc. but it was that years regulations, and wouldn't be changed week to week, let alone mid weekend.
 
These are hand made/assembled all carbon fiber... Ford designed and built the thing in just a year and a half and went and Won LeMans after not being there for 50 years!:ford:

All cars are hand made fyi..

Again, Ford did not build them.

Congrats on their win to help promote the soon nonexistent cars for sale at ford.
 

jason05gt

TCG Elite Member
Jan 17, 2007
15,307
7,195
Naperville
All cars are hand made fyi..

Again, Ford did not build them.

Congrats on their win to help promote the soon nonexistent cars for sale at ford.

Hand built meaning not built on an assembly line, which modern assembly lines are less hands on and incorporate things like automation and robotics.

I don't think Ford's goal was to promote cars, rather they did it to showcase Ford's engineering talent and win Le Mans.
 
Hand built meaning not built on an assembly line, which modern assembly lines are less hands on and incorporate things like automation and robotics.

I don't think Ford's goal was to promote cars, rather they did it to showcase Ford's engineering talent and win Le Mans.

automation and robotics for sealer and paint. This is actually better for quality. Everywhere else they are built by hand lol.

If not to promote sales, then the program is stupid. It's a good thing I guess that fird is actually better and more profitable at being a bank and investment firm than they are at manufacturing vehicles.
 

Pressure Ratio

....
TCG Premium
Nov 11, 2005
20,302
11,724
Glen Ellyn
automation and robotics for sealer and paint. This is actually better for quality. Everywhere else they are built by hand lol.

If not to promote sales, then the program is stupid. It's a good thing I guess that fird is actually better and more profitable at being a bank and investment firm than they are at manufacturing vehicles.

Was it to promote the car or maybe it was to promote the Ecoboost motor? The motor technology that is to be the future of their car, SUV, and light truck lines? Hmmmmm
 

jason05gt

TCG Elite Member
Jan 17, 2007
15,307
7,195
Naperville
automation and robotics for sealer and paint. This is actually better for quality. Everywhere else they are built by hand lol.

If not to promote sales, then the program is stupid. It's a good thing I guess that fird is actually better and more profitable at being a bank and investment firm than they are at manufacturing vehicles.

No, robotics for assembly, welding, etc. I've witnessed it with my own eyes.

The point of differentiation is hand built vs. mass production. Your Ford F-150 is mass produced vs. a McLaren 720S which is hand built.
 
Old Thread: Hello . There have been no replies in this thread for 90 days.
Content in this thread may no longer be relevant. Consider starting a new thread to get fresh replies.

Thread Info