Back in the early 1960’s Bill Ford wanted to go racing at Le Mans to settle a score with Enzo Ferrari after the Italian racer suddenly backed out of a deal where the FoMoCo would absorb the Scuderia, and with it all of their competition cars. Thus is the story if the legendary Ford GT-40, which eventually won the historic race twice around the clock four times in a row from 1966 to 1969, dethroning the Italian stallion and making names for driving greats like Dan Gurney, A.J. Foyt, Pedro Rodríguez and Jacky Ickx.
A modern day interpretation of the iconic Ford GT will once again represent the Blue Oval at 2010 running of the 24 hours of Le Mans thanks to the Matech Competition team. "This is great recognition for the whole team who have worked very hard on this Ford GT1 project. That our car has been considered for this 78th edition exceeds our wildest dreams. The 24 Hours of Le Mans are as much a legend as Ford’s adventure at Le Mans. Now we need to prove that both the team and the car are ready for the unique challenge that is Le Mans. We are equally pleased that our customer team, MarcVDS Racing, has also received an invitation to the race, and we look forward to providing them with our support as we do in the GT1 World Championship." While a four-peat may be difficult to do in the 21st century, the Matech Ford GT will definitely have history on its side when the green flag drops at the Circuit de la Sarthe this June.
You’re going to have to excuse those people who think that the sounds of revving engines are nothing more than just noise. It’s not their fault that they can’t appreciate what we consider as music to our ears. After all, musical taste is subjective and for us car enthusiasts, the sound of a roaring engine is enough to put us on a catatonic state of euphoria.
Take these two videos for example. The folks over at iCar decided to take two pretty powerful cars for a nice and friendly revving duel. On one video, we have a Heffner Performance-powered Ford GT and on the other corner...err...video...we have a Ferrari F430 Spider.
Check both videos out and see which machine gives you more goosebumps.
The Ford GT is without a doubt one of the best blue oval cars of all time, so it is no wonder that despite being out of production since 2006 tuners are still tweaking the 21st century retro super cars today. The most recent group to turn a wrench on a GT are the U.S. high performance specialists at Geiger Cars when they readied their HP790 package for the Ford.
The Geiger HP790 is powered by a the Ford GT’s standard 5.4 Liter V8 unit, however it has been boosted by about 240 HP to produce a maximum output of 790 HP and 637 lb-ft of torque. Thanks to the newfound power the Ford GT is able to sprint from 0 to to 60 MPH in under 3.6 seconds and climb all the way up to a top speed of 223 MPH. In order to keep the super car stable at speed, the GT has been lowered by about two and a half inches that eliminates whatever fender gap was in between the body and the car’s 20 and 21 inch staggered wheel setup giving the tuned Ford GT the stance it deserves.
We don’t know if there’s anything more sickening than crashing your car merely minutes after leaving the dealership. You spend thousands of dollars on a new set of wheels and you should be on top of the world, right?
This guy from Houston should be ecstatic. He just bought a 2009 Ford GT and was on his to brag to his buddies about his new ride when he inexplicably crashed his car on a telephone pole. The GT, which we can imagine still had that unmistakeable smell of a brand-new vehicle, sustained significant damage on the front.
We don’t know what the guy was doing when he collided with the pole but we’re certain that he probably wasn’t concentrating on the road. Maybe he was on the phone and bragging to his buddies about his new GT.
We can all take a good lesson from this unfortunate fellow. When you buy a car, it’s always a smart idea to bring it home first before deciding to crash it – on a telephone pole, no less.
We already knew that Heffner Performance made a turbocharging kit for the Ford GT, so why are we showing this car? Well, because this time he teamed up with artist Camilo Pardo, and we are always looking for an excuse to show a 200+ mph car. Heffner’s twin-turbo kit for the Ford GT takes the car’s stock 550 hp from the V8 and boosts it to 900 hp. This over sixty percent improvement gives the car a 0 to 200 mph in under 19 seconds and can hit over 150 mph in quarter mile runs.
Pardo’s contribution is a little more subtile. He’s responsible for items like the "gumball" racing graphics, black BBS wheels and removal of the rear bumper. There is only one of this specific car, and its already sold. But this isn’t the first time Heffner and Pardo teamed up on a twin-turbo Ford GT. So if you really like this car, and you have plenty of cash lying around, they may be motivated to do something similar again.
If you want an unique piece of history this is your chance. This is not only a pre-production Ford GT, but it’s also Steve Saleen’s personal GT. There were only 9 of this type made.
Ford GT was produced between 2005 and 2006. It began as a concept car designed in anticipation of Ford’s centennial year. Positive response on the auto show circuit in 2002 helped persuade the company to produce the car in limited quantities, and the first production versions appeared in 2005. Production startup began on August 17th, 2001.
The first customers took delivery in August 2004. The GT began assembly and was painted by Saleen in their Saleen Special Vehicles facility in Troy, Michigan. The GT is powered by an engine built at Ford’s Romeo Engine Plant in Romeo, Michigan. Installation of the engine and transmission along with interior finishing was handled in the SVT building at Ford’s Wixom, Michigan plant.
The MkII GT40 was built in celebration of Carroll Shelby’s 85TH birthday. The car is a near-exact replication of the original race car, featuring the original styling inside and out; the only difference is the use of electro-galvanized sheet steel in the construction.
The Shelby 85th Commemorative GT40 is built to accommodate only a Shelby branded engine. The top of the line engine includes the Shelby 427FE V8.
The car will be available in three different colors: Arcadian Blue with whites stripes, black with silver stripes and red with white stripes, and will be limited to a production of 85 units in each color.
Just as the Ford GT becomes a legend in its own time, Avro Motor Cars, the Brooklands-based supercar specialist, has joined forces with Roush Technologies in the UK to create a further strictly limited edition of the car. The Avro 720 Mirage special edition will be limited to just 10 cars – the first of which has just been rolled out of Roush’s Technical Centre in Brentwood, Essex.
Avro engineers have applied a custom calibration package to the car, to extract a delivered, mean 720bhp at 6950rpm and a massive 627lb.ft. of torque at 4800rpm. The car is also derestricted, which gives a top speed capability in excess of 220mph.
Finished in vibrant Arancia Metallica (Italian Metallic Orange) with semi-matt black details and wheels – and exclusive sill plates and side decals, the 720 Mirage incorporates a significant range of engine and mechanical upgrades. Changes in appearance include the deletion of the rear bumper – partly to save weight – and each car will carry an exclusive numbered Avro plaque on the centre tunnel.
It seems true that all good things must come to an end and so it is with the Ford GTX1 concept car that was designed by Kip Ewing of SVT Division for the 2005 SEMA show in Las Vegas. The car was an instant hit at the show. Plans to build a limited production run of the GTX1 were laid and agreed to between Ford Motor Co. and Genaddi Design Group. Clients could now upgrade their Ford GT Supercars into the GTX1 Roadster version at Genaddi Design Group’s facilities in Green Bay, WI. A limited number of 500 GTX1s, built to the customer’s request, plus an additional 100 SEMA edition cars, built to duplicate the car that appeared at the SEMA show in 2005, were available > More
The 2008 CAV GT Gulf Oil Edition is a car made by and for the fans, inspired by the mythical Ford GT40. It comes to celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of his biggest conquest, the victory at the 24h Le Mans race against the powerful Ferrari > More
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