A week or two ago we brought you news of a new variant of the GT that Ford would be bringing to this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Details were scarce, and we only really had a secretive photo to make any assumptions. Well, the wait is over, so welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Ford GT Mk II.
In 1966 the original Ford GT race car took part in the 24 Hours Le Mans and famously beat the mighty Ferrari empire. Fast forward 50 years to 2016 and Ford brought back the GT to the gruelling endurance race and once again finished victorious. Sadly, this year’s Le Mans marked the end of the GT’s racing days and this MK II can be seen as a farewell to the GT’s racing success.
A week or two ago we brought you news of a new variant of the GT that Ford would be bringing to this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Details were scarce, and we only really had a secretive photo to make any assumptions. Well, the wait is over, so welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Ford GT Mk II.
In 1966 the original Ford GT race car took part in the 24 Hours Le Mans and famously beat the mighty Ferrari empire. Fast forward 50 years to 2016, and Ford brought back the GT to the gruelling endurance race and once again finished victorious. Sadly, this year’s Le Mans marked the end of the GT’s racing days and this MK II can be seen as a farewell to the GT’s racing success.
This track-only GT will be limited to 45 units and will carry a price tag starting at $1.2 million (approx. R16.8 million). The really nice thing about this Mk II, though, is that all race regulations that would govern it in a normal race has now been lifted which means everything from the power to the aerodynamics has been turned up to eleven.
Motor1 had a chat with Multimatic’s (Ford’ race partner) Chief Techincal Officer, Larry Holt, about the GT Mk II. “The Mk II answers the regularly asked question of how the car would perform with all the limitations lifted: the answer is spectacularly,” Holt said. He also mentioned that it “is as fast as any GT3 car.”
The Mk II’s twin-turbo, 3.5-litre V6 engine has been given an extra dose of power now producing more than 700 horsepower (522 kW), which is 200 HP (149 kW) more than the Le Mans car. Downforce is also the order of the day. A new rear wing, a bigger front splitter, louvered fenders, new dive planes, and a more sizeable rear diffuser means the GT Mk II produces 180 kilograms more downforce than the race car. This means that the car is able to pull 2.0 g’s through the corners. Brakes have been upgraded from the mandatory FIA steel rotors to more racy carbon ceramics.
The car will be seen driving up the hill at Goodwood FOS this weekend, so make sure you head over to the live stream or, if you’re lucky enough, make the journo to Goodwood House to see it in person.
This track-only GT will be limited to 45 units and will carry a price tag starting at $1.2 million (approx. R16.8 million). The really nice thing about this Mk II, though, is that all race regulations that would govern it in a normal race has now been lifted which means everything from the power to the aerodynamics has been turned up to eleven.
Motor1 had a chat with Multimatic’s (Ford’ race partner) Chief Techincal Officer, Larry Holt, about the GT Mk II. “The Mk II answers the regularly asked question of how the car would perform with all the limitations lifted: the answer is spectacularly,” Holt said. He also mentioned that it “is as fast as any GT3 car.”
The Mk II’s twin-turbo, 3.5-litre V6 engine has been given an extra dose of power now producing more than 700 horsepower (522 kW), which is 200 HP (149 kW) more than the Le Mans car. Downforce is also the order of the day. A new rear wing, a bigger front splitter, louvered fenders, new dive planes, and a more sizeable rear diffuser means the GT Mk II produces 180 kilograms more downforce than the race car. This means that the car is able to pull 2.0 g’s through the corners. Brakes have been upgraded from the mandatory FIA steel rotors to more racy carbon ceramics.
The car will be seen driving up the hill at Goodwood FOS this weekend, so make sure you head over to the live stream or, if you’re lucky enough, make the journo to Goodwood House to see it in person.
