M/T: Ford GT second (first) test

[kevm14]

Apparently the first one broke.

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/ford/gt/ ... A89D9ECCE8

It’s not the first time we’d stood around at Willow Springs International Raceway and gawked at an all-new Ford GT, waiting for clearance to begin hot laps. Seven weeks earlier, we were in this very spot with a black GT awaiting the same test. Our resident pro driver, Randy Pobst, had reported issues with the damping and braking. Then one of the well-worn prototype’s fuel pumps failed. The other fuel pump kept it running well enough to finish the photos you’re looking at.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

[kevm14]

Classic Ford hype machine.

The expectations of this car, stoked by a protracted rollout and delivery process carefully curated to maximize hype, are by now many times its 3,354-pound curb weight (some 300 pounds more than Ford’s published “dry weight”).

Not that 3,354 is heavy - if this were a Corvette. But for a supercar, it's not impressive.

So it does trap 130 and gets out of the hole hard. But at 130, this $450-$500k supercar is barely going to walk an 09 Corvette ZR1 that you can get for $50k or whatever. Just saying.

Oh and:

The finer details: 22.7 seconds at 0.97 average g in the figure eight and 1.11 average lateral g on the skidpad.

How elite is that? Take all the cars listed above, and the GT is faster around the eight than everything but the Corvette Z06, Viper ACR, 488 GTB, Huracán Performante, 675LT, 720S, and 918 Spyder.

Over 1.0 g on the skidpad is also elite, and the GT’s 1.11 is better than any car tested except the Corvette Z06, Huracán Performante, AMG GT R, and 918 Spyder and is tied with the ZL1 1LE and GT3.

Notice the Corvette Z06 keeps coming up. Now the true value of that car is plainly evident, if it wasn't before.

Puts down a great lap time though.

Fastest Production Car Lap Times at Big Willow
2018 McLaren 720S 1:21.75 sec
2018 Lamborghini Huracán Performante (Euro-spec) 1:22.53 sec
2015 Porsche 918 Spyder 1:23.54 sec
2017 Ford GT 1:23.69 sec
2017 Porsche 911 Turbo S 1:24.26 sec
2016 McLaren 675LT 1:24.29 sec
2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (Z07, 6M) 1:25.00 sec
2014 Lamborghini Huracán LP 610-4 1:25.17 sec
2016 Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce 1:25.42 sec
2015 Nissan GT-R NISMO 1:25.70 sec
2015 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (Z07, 8A) 1:25.76 sec
2015 McLaren 650S Spyder 1:25.88 sec

But if I really had $500k to spend on a car, there's no way I'd be looking at the Ford GT. I just don't understand.

The results in, we arrive at the overriding question: Is it worth it? If this were a $200,000 car, we wouldn’t even ask the question. With a starting price of $453,750 and an as-tested price estimated to be an extra set of tires south of half a million dollars, though, these factors become pertinent.

I guess it is just a rolling advertisement, not an actual attempt to sell a car for money. Right?

[Bob]

By the way, the McLaren 720S runs the quarter mile in 9.9 @ 148 with a base price of $289k! That's on a whole other level. It also ran the fastest lap time of the bunch. Ford is probably just trying to limit the number of flippers with such a high MSRP. That was an issue with the last GT.

[kevm14]

I bet the 720S is a better supercar in every conceivable way. Their cars lately seem to press all the right buttons.

9.9 @ 148 is like a 1000cc sport bike right?

[Bob]

Yes, most 1000 cc sport bikes are in that range, so that really is remarkable for a car.

[kevm14]

Unless you have a turbo LS. Then that level of performance is rather normal.

[Bob]

I guess I should edit that to say for a stock car with a warranty. By the way, I saw a 720S at my local Cars and Cappuccino last weekend.

[kevm14]

Aside from the warranty, I haven't seen an LS turbo build that attempts to actually deliver balanced performance. The 720S is not on drag radials (and is not built for drag racing - it is just ludicrously fast), though I am sure it is on sticky tires. Put another way, I think it would be easier to duplicate the cruiser/GT approach to speed of a Bugatti with a turbo LS, than the high end lightness and handling of something like a McLaren.

[bill25]

Cars and Cappuccino

Is that the super car version of Cars and Coffee? Sounds fancy!

Also

Aside from the warranty, I haven't seen an LS turbo build that attempts to actually deliver balanced performance.

RX-8 swap??? Come on!

[kevm14]

Haha, yeah.

But honestly if you build an RX8 that traps 148 and retains all of the balance, then you could probably sell it for a LOT of money....or maybe not, as the supercar is about the image, even though McLaren is about no frills performance.