While DeLorean is famed for its time-travelling sports car, Ford aims
to bridge a half-century of history with the GT, unveiled at the Detroit
auto show on 12 January.
June 2016 will mark 50 years since Ford prevailed against the Ferrari juggernaut in the premier Le Mans endurance-race category.
To
commemorate that feat, the company will build a new, 600-plus
horsepower GT road car and race it at the legendary French event in
2016.
This road-going, carbon-fibre wonder features a race-rated
version of the company's signature EcoBoost turbocharged engine
technology, with a mid-mounted 3.5-litre V6 matched to a seven-speed
dual-clutch automated transmission driving the rear wheels.
(Ford Motor)
For the company's 100th anniversary in 2003, it
introduced a GT whose styling was a tribute to that of the '60s racer.
This new car, however, looks resolutely forward, with contemporary
styling that eschews so-called retro-futurism, a design language
championed by J Mays, Ford’s former chief designer.
The bodywork
looks shrink-wrapped over the cockpit and powertrain in the manner of
the latest sports prototype racers, lending it a focused, track-ready
look.
As the car that proved Ford’s ability against the world's
established sports car companies the GT holds a special place in Ford
history.
(Geoff Robins/AFP/Getty)
"For students of racing, this seems to me the
coolest story to come along in years," said AJ Baime, author of Go Like
Hell, an account of Ford's attack on Le Mans, in a telephone interview.
"It's got everything in it: history, a hugely important brand, American
pride and the most important sports car race on earth, all wrapped up in
a new car. The stakes are huge."
The original Ford GT enjoyed
association with drivers who are icons of the sport. "The Ford GT at Le
Mans in the 1960s is the story of Henry Ford II, Carroll Shelby, Bruce
McLaren, Lee Iacocca, Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt, among so many others,"
Baime added, noting just some of the drivers and craftsmen who helped
stoke the car’s legend. "This new programme will be the impetus to
celebrate it all again, on the 50th anniversary of Ford's first Le Mans
victory."
(Jonathan Schultz)
Indeed, the GT is a halo car, the kind of machine
that casts its glow down the product line. And Jim Farley, Ford of
Europe's leader, expects to see a "GT effect".
"Even if people
don't buy a GT, they would be talking about it as they buy their ST," he
said, referencing initials bolted on a higher-performance Fiesta whose
pricing begins around $21,000. It is safe to say that pricing will be
significantly higher for the GT, though the final figure will not be
announced until closer to the car's June sale date.
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