Ford Finally Releases Specs, Says the GT Is the Fastest Thing It Has Ever Built

Matt Posky
by Matt Posky
ford finally releases specs says the gt is the fastest thing it has ever built

For the longest time, Ford was staunchly resistant to giving up details about the new Ford GT. With the automaker abandoning its 5.4 liter supercharged modular V8 for a 3.5 liter EcoBoost V6, everyone wanted to know the numbers. However, anytime someone asked for definitive specifications, Ford shrugged its shoulders. Then, today, the company gave us some numbers and proclaimed the second-generation 3.5-liter as its most powerful production EcoBoost to date, making the Ford GT the company’s fastest car to date.

Hold the phone. Are you telling us that the extremely expensive supercar that Ford specifically engineered to be the fastest vehicle in the company’s entire history somehow managed to out-perform cars like the Fiesta ST and Focus RS on a racetrack?

Absolutely incredible.

Peevishness aside, Ford says the new GT also bests the McLaren 675LT and Ferrari 458 Speciale on the Calabogie Motorsports Park race circuit by a fair margin. Calabogie is three-mile Canadian course with a lot of sweeping turns and some elevation changes that any of the three vehicles should have been adept at tackling. While it is safe to assume all of the vehicles were lapped using a driver on Ford’s payroll, the GT managed a 2:09.8 time — swift for any road vehicle on that particular circuit.

The technical specs are impressive, too. According to Ford, the GT’s powerband is wide enough to produce 90 percent of its 550 pounds-feet of torque at 3,500 rpm. Horsepower is a supercar-acceptable 647 ponies, propelling the vehicle to top speed of 216 miles an hour.

“The Ford GT is all about performance,” said Raj Nair, Ford’s executive VP for global product development and the chief technical officer. “We achieved considerable weight savings with the carbon fiber architecture. We then reinvested some of that savings into where it counts most – performance, specifically, the active dynamics. The result is an even faster car.”

Ford claims the model’s active-aero and smart suspension dynamics are designed to give the GT optimum downforce at any speed, giving novice and experience drivers an easier to work with setup.

If you’re looking for a power-to-weight ratio, it is my duty to tell you that we cannot give you one. Ford listed the GT’s dry weight as “just topping 3,000 pounds” and somewhere between a Ferrari 488 GTB and the aforementioned McLaren. My guess is that the Blue Oval’s indefinite answer to heft has something to do with a power-to-weight ratio that is slightly weaker than the 488’s.

Production of the GT is being handled by Multimatic, based in Markham, Ontario. Despite the limited production of 250 vehicles per year, the first units have already been delivered — perhaps one of those owners would be kind enough to weigh one.

[Image: Ford Motor Co.]

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  • Tassos GM, especially under the sorry reign of socially promoted nobody Mary Barra (who would not have a chance in hell being appointed the CEO if she was a MALE) has done far dumber and sillier things than that, wasting BILLIONS on 'cruise' and expecting it to make it $50 billion, remember? THey do not mention the name much these days, the clowns at GM, do they?
  • MaintenanceCosts I notice that the pictures don't show the dash or the door cards, two places where you'd be most likely to notice interior disintegration on a VW of this vintage.Looks nice on the outside but I wouldn't touch it.
  • SilverHawk At least in the short term, this is simply going to cause more anxiety among the more technology shy consumers looking to buy a new vehicle. Especially when this is not being done for the benefit of the vehicle owner, but for the convenience of GM's marketing department. Personal data security is an extremely important issue in today's world.
  • Ajla I don't think I'd be able to part with something I kept for 23 years. Especially as the only owner.
  • MaintenanceCosts What now?Lack of CarPlay would be disqualifying for me, and as a current GM EV owner I was a reasonably likely future GM EV customer. Not good at all.
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