The U.S.A.’s birthday has arrived, and along with all the tasty BBQ and cold beer, it’s looking like we’ll get a full serving of gas-fed American horsepower to boot. The latest comes from Texas-based tuner Hennessey Performance, which recently posted the second episode of its Heroes & Horsepower series, this time featuring a 2018 Ford GT Heritage Edition and a U.S. Army veteran.

Continue reading for the full story.

The Full Story

Hennessey Performance is obviously the right shop for a series like this. One quick look at the tuner’s resumé reveals a long history of creating some brutally powerful vehicles, including the Ford F-150 VelociRaptor 6x6, the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Exorcist, and of course, the Venom GT and its successor the Venom F5.

Right. So, horsepower? Check. How about the heroes part of the equation?

That’s where U.S. Army vet Sterling Dodd comes in. Dodd served in Iraq and Afghanistan with one of Hennessey Performance’s shop techs, and as such, he was given the chance to ride along with John Hennessey in a 2018 Ford GT Heritage Edition.

The car is question is a special variant of the Blue Oval’s latest road-going race car, sporting a unique exterior treatment that pays tribute to Ford’s victory at Le Mans in the late ‘60s. Outside, there’s a Race Red paint job offset by white racing stripes, as well as 20-inch forged aluminum wheels. Inside, there are carbon fiber seats and exposed matte carbon fiber door sills, all of which give the car a particularly racey feel.

The video is a little over nine minutes long and includes plenty of shots of the special edition GT, both inside and outside, as Hennessey and Dodd take it for a spin. Hennessey puts the hammer down and you can hear the twin-turbo Ford V-6 do its thing, propelling the composite supercar to some impressive speeds, and in between the boosted antics, Dodd recounts some of the harrowing experiences he had on tour.

If you like Ford Performance and war stories, this is the video for you.

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2017 Ford GT.

Read more Ford news.