The Ford GT: the company's birthday present to itself for finishing 1-2-3 at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. There's a 3.5L turbocharged EcoBoost engine that's good for more than 600 horsepower.
Credit:
Ford
The Ford GT: the company's birthday present to itself for finishing 1-2-3 at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. There's a 3.5L turbocharged EcoBoost engine that's good for more than 600 horsepower.
Credit:
Ford
The Ford GT: the company’s birthday present to itself for finishing 1-2-3 at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. There’s a 3.5L turbocharged EcoBoost engine that’s good for more than 600 horsepower.
Ford
The Ford GT: the company’s birthday present to itself for finishing 1-2-3 at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. There’s a 3.5L turbocharged EcoBoost engine that’s good for more than 600 horsepower.
Ford
We’ve seen the GT at a few shows now. In LA it was sporting this fetching yellow color.
Jonathan Gitlin
We’ve seen the GT at a few shows now. In LA it was sporting this fetching yellow color.
Jonathan Gitlin
The GT was definitely designed with racing in mind. However, the GTs have not had an easy time of it so far this year. We are excited to see how they get on at Le Mans in June.
The GT was definitely designed with racing in mind. However, the GTs have not had an easy time of it so far this year. We are excited to see how they get on at Le Mans in June.
We’ve seen the GT at a few shows now. In LA it was sporting this fetching yellow color.
Jonathan Gitlin
The GT was definitely designed with racing in mind. However, the GTs have not had an easy time of it so far this year. We are excited to see how they get on at Le Mans in June.
The car’s aerodynamics are as extreme as the hybrid Le Mans prototypes from Audi, Toyota, and Porsche.
Ford
We’re also quite partial to this red and white version we came across in the online configurator.
Ford
The GT’s cockpit looks like a pleasant place to while away the hours.
Ford
So far, we’ve seen the new Ford GT in Forza, at auto shows, and on the track at Daytona. Deliveries of the 600hp (447kW) supercar begin later in the year, but with just 500 cars planned, many have wondered how they will be allocated. On Wednesday morning, the Blue Oval revealed its plan; customers will be chosen from online applicants, and if you have $400,000 (~£320,000) and want a GT in your garage, you have until May 12 to apply.
On Tuesday afternoon, we spoke to Henry Ford III about the program. He told us there had been plenty of internal discussion on how to allocate 500 GTs across the 10,000 Ford dealers in the US and 18 other countries. “We want to put the car in the hands of people who are true brand ambassadors for Ford,” he told us. That means people who will drive their GTs—to track days, to Cars and Coffee, and the like—rather than lock it away, or worse, flip it for a quick buck.
Senior management at Ford will review the applicant pool and make some hard choices after the May deadline. The lucky few will be guided through the ordering process by a concierge service that will liaise between the local Ford dealer and Ford Performance, the new division that is responsible for developing and building the GT (as well as some of Ford’s other more interesting vehicles).
Meanwhile, development of the road car continues. The car is still in the prototype stage and is benefiting from lessons learned at the racetrack. A pair of Ford GTs have contested the Rolex 24 at Daytona and more recently the 12 Hours of Sebring, and a second pair will race at this weekend’s opening event for the World Endurance Championship. The goal is to repeat Ford’s 1966 success at Le Mans. “The vehicle is all about celebrating the brand,” Ford told us.
We also asked whether there would be trickle-down from the GT to more mundane vehicles. “This level of technology and innovation is unprecedented at Ford. We’ve pushed EcoBoost to levels we didn’t think possible before,” he said, adding that Ford has also learned a lot about using carbon fiber, aluminum, and active aerodynamics. “We think down the road there could be applications to a lot of other Ford vehicles. We’re always experimenting with new lightweight materials. The more we learn with the Ford GT, the more we’re able to use those in other cars.”
If you want to apply for a Ford GT, or just want to spec out your dream car, the site is now live.
Jonathan is the Automotive Editor at Ars Technica. He has a BSc and PhD in Pharmacology. In 2014 he decided to indulge his lifelong passion for the car by leaving the National Human Genome Research Institute and launching Ars Technica's automotive coverage. He lives in Washington, DC.
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