Posted on 01/02/2016 7:32:57 PM PST by MtnClimber
The rumors, the buzz? Confirmed. Ford will unveil a GT-successor at January's North American International Auto Show in Detroit, as anticipated.
Sources close to the program have confirmed to Autoweek that the car -- whether or not it is actually named "GT" in production guise, which it very well might not be -- will undertake a full, factory-backed racing effort in 2016. Specifically, a full-season, two-car effort in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship and, most significantly, the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans.
The two-car assault will be campaigned by IndyCar -- and Tudor Series -- stalwart, and full-time NASCAR entrant, Chip Ganassi Racing when the United SportsCar Championship opens 2016 with the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Ganassi is presently Ford's lone Prototype-class representative in United SportsCar (following Michael Shank Racing's recent switch to Honda for 2015), where it campaigns a Riley-Ford EcoBoost Daytona Prototype. The team switched from BMW to turbocharged-V6 Ford EcoBoost power for the recently completed 2014 season, winning the 12 Hours of Sebring, as well as on the streets of Long Beach, Calif., and at Circuit of the Americas in Texas, on its way to finishing fourth in the championship.
Should be interesting. It will be hard starting at the 24 hours of Daytona with the huge loading in the banked turns at Daytona.
BFL
Sweet! Go FoMoCo!
Do they still have a rule that you must sell at least 50 to the general public before you can race at Lemans?
It’s already in an ad. Beautiful car.
WOW, I coulda had a V-8!
Not sure for this class (GT3). There are two prototype classes that usually have no road-going examples. The racing versions of production cars are no longer very similar except for basic appearance. The chassis and bodywork are often carbon fiber, custom suspension and braking. Surprisingly, the engine output is often restricted below the HP of the road cars in this racing series.
Thanks. I remember Ford sold 50 GTs but they all came with the 289. I thought that was cheating a bit but it must have been by the rules.
I guess Ford simply listed two engine options, the 427 or the 289. Of course no one would have willingly chose the 289 but they had no choice.
A normally aspirated V8 does not have the low-end torque of a turbo or supercharged engine. Acceleration out of slow corners suffers. There was probably intense analysis on engine rules vs. fuel milage, torque and weight.
The cars in the same class they will be racing against are the Porsche 911 GT3, Audi R8, Lamborghini Hurucan, Ferrari 458and possibly Dodbe Viper and McLaren 650S. Those are very potent rivals. And the rules people add weight if a car is too fast. Many will run slow in practice and qualifying to avoid a weight penalty.
It’s RPM That makes You Fast ,
but it’s Torque that gets you there.
I have never understood torque. I know it means “twisting force” but isn’t that what horsepower is too?
Dunno if thaere was ever a plan to use that engine in it for real.
Note thaT I own two 4banger turbo Diesels that are GREAT!
Engines with a lot of torque are a lot of fun to drive, especially in the city.
Large RPM times large Torque is fast. The turns in a track can cause non-optimum RPM/Torque options. The wider the torque band, the better the HP over a wider range of corners. In a 24-hour race the reliability is also important and really high revving engines often don’t last.
Yes, and my buddy, Joey Hand, will be piloting one of the Ford GTs. Ford is “all in” on the move from the Prototype class to the GTLM class and badly want to win Le Mans on the 50th anniversary of their last win, with the Ford GT40 in 1966.
While the production Ford GT may produce 600+ horse power, entrants in the GTLM class of the Tudor series are limited to around 435 hp. The Prototype class cars produce 500 or more hp.
“Race engines have typically had small cylinder size. One zttribute being a short stroke to help with higher rpm max to maximize air flow. IC engines are basicakly air pumps. Turboing a smaller cylinder vol V-8 is prefersble to a V-6 od equal displacement. Plus there is a driveline benefit of less torque variability amplitude. V-8s are kinda the sweet spot for that. V-12s are nice and I WANT ONE, but I would settle for a V-8.
Note thaT I own two 4banger turbo Diesels that are GREAT!”
Audi have won the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with 12 cylinder, 10 cylinder and 6 cylinder in gasoline and in diesel formats.
Turbos can compensate for decreased air density at altitude to deliver sea level performance. My turbo diesels rock in the mountains.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.