Whoever would have thought it? Thirty-eight years after Ford had commenced work on the GT40, they started over, with a car destined – we think – to be a GT40 for the 21st century. Perhaps we should have read the signs. Already there was the GT90, a supercar that had everything except practicality and feasibility of production. We had the 2001 Thunderbird, a modern re-incarnation of the original T-bird of the mid-fifties, and we had the ’94 Mustang, the design of which incorporated a host of styling cues taken from the original Mustang of 1964. Ford had got a serious case of nostalgia.
Having put the Mustang and Thunderbird behind them, Ford’s Living Legends design studio set to work on recreating what we all know is the greatest Ford of them all – the fabulous GT40.
The Living Legends design studio continues ongoing work on the Mustang, Thunderbird and others, including feasibility studies on concepts in whole or in part. The studioÂ’s personnel includes Doug Gaffka, appointed studio director in July 2000 and given the task of overseeing the creation of a new spate of production and concept cars. Gaffka is a 24-year veteran designer with Ford who has influenced a wide array of Ford cars from the Mustang to the Taurus. Gaffka's most visible recent work is in his contributions as chief designer on the 2002 Thunderbird.
Chief designer of the GT40 is Camillo Pardo, who began his career in Ford's Advance Design Studio where he focused on visionary designs of the future, from form-fitting interior components to future car aerodynamic studies. Pardo's handiwork is also featured on the latest Mustang SVT Cobra.
The GT40 project was born in Design Studio II. To get to work on the GT40 each morning, Pardo and his team have to pass through as many as four security checkpoints. His office is located in the studio, a mere 20 steps from the clay models of the GT40. His office door must be kept closed most of the time because it allows passersby in the outer hallway, who have access through the first level of security, to see into the secret studio where the new GT40 was designed; this area is decorated with original Le Mans race photos of the sixties, combined with technical drawings and, on one moveable wall, a lifesize photo of an original GT40. Racing stripes are everywhere.
There are clay models, too. One is a first-attempt, an sharp-edged machine which Ford thinks of as modern, but which has not a little of the 1970s in its shape. Pardo remembers beaming with pride over it, until the first review by J Mays, FoMoCo’s VP, Design. Thankfully, after the review, Mays quickly sent the team back to the drawing board with instructions to be more true to the original design. Pardo keeps it around to ensure that the team never repeats the same mistakes. The other car is the clay model that represents the final product. Pardo thinks it's perfect. Mays agrees; true GT40 aficionados will probably think it’s almost perfect – but then, you can’t improve on the perfection of the real thing, can you?
Well, maybe you can...
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and all that – and if you thought that the original GT40 was beautiful, then you’ll probably think much the same about the new one. The GT40 we have known since the mid-sixties now has to line up against a new incarnation, which is unquestionably more in the style of the 21st century, and the original car suddenly looks, er, old. That doesn’t mean better, or worse, just… older. Which you prefer is up to you, but don’t be surprised if a lot of people for whom the Mark I holds no attractions positively drool over the GT40 for the 2000s. What is truly astonishing is that Ford could take a design which first saw the light of day in April 1964, and, 38 years later, produce a slightly revised version which looks absolutely breathtaking. That speaks volumes for the timelessness of the original car’s shape.
However, enough of this digression – back to that studio. In one bay are several variations of seats, and an instrument panel. In another bay is a "package study buck." It is a life-size wire-frame vehicle with seats, an engine and chassis components squeezed into its silhouette. This is a step rarely taken on a concept car, but Ford believed that the GT40 had to be done differently to be true to its namesake.
PardoÂ’s team began work on the GT40 concept by borrowing an original production car, a light blue Mark I, GT40P/1030, and rolling it into the studio for inspiration. Owned by a collector in Massachusetts, 1030 became a fixture in the studio. The owner took Pardo and team on hot-laps at Ford's Dearborn Proving Grounds, across the street from the studio, to give them the full GT40 experience.
, now we have a new GT40. But, is it a car worthy of the name? Is it really a GT40, or merely a Johnny-come-lately impostor?" Ford is convinced it’s the real thing. “GT40 is the ultimate Living Legend”, claims Mays. “It's a true supercar with appeal equal to that of the greatest sports cars in the world, but with the addition of a heritage no one can match. Essential elements of the original - including the stunning low profile and mid-mounted American V-8 - continue in this latest interpretation of the classic."
Arguably, the car has every right to the name “GT40”. Ford owns the name, after all, and just as we never expect a road car’s name to be limited to one incarnation, why should we expect the GT40 title to be so limited? A Mustang of 2002 is no less a Mustang than is one from 1964, even though nothing bar the name and badge survives from the first to the last. Should it be any different for the GT40? Incidentally, we haven’t yet been told whether or not the new car will receive the designation Mark VI (which would be logical), but the first two prototypes do have serial numbers which follow on from the last of the Mark Vs…
The GT40 concept was designed as a modern road car that would provide the presence of the racer and the comfort of a grand touring sports car. Proportionally bigger than its predecessor in every dimension, the challenge was to increase the size without sacrificing the overall effect. The concept is more than a foot and a half longer and stands nearly four inches taller. Does that mean it should be a GT44? According to Ford, its new lines draw upon and refine the best features of GT40 history and express the car's identity through modern proportion and surface development. Whether those proportions and surface development are quite as appealing as are those of the original car, is, as already stated, a moot point which only you can decide.
The new GT40 concept adopts the familiar, sleek silhouette we are used to, yet every dimension, every curve and every line on the car is a unique reinterpretation of the original. The GT40 concept features a long front overhang reminiscent of 1960s-era racecars. But its sweeping cowl, subtle accent lines and fibre-optic headlamps strike a distinctly contemporary pose. The geometric reorganization of the prominent GT40 headlamps adds to the modern effect. The headlamps symbolize the car's heritage as a 24-hour endurance runner, but are key in creating the car's contemporary image through the use of a combination of fibre optics and HID projection beams.
The front fenders curve over 18-inch wheels and Goodyear white-lettered tyres. In the tradition of the original cars, the doors cut into the roof. Prominent on the leading edge of the rear quarter panel are functional cooling scoops that channel fresh air to the engine. The rear wheel wells, filled with 19-inch Goodyear tyres, define the rear of the car, while the accent line from the front cowl rejoins and finishes the car's profile at the integrated "ducktail" spoiler. The two-piece rear canopy is hinged at the rear, as on the original, although only the upper part of the body actually opens. While most vehicles are designed to look great with all the access panels shut, the effect resulting from opening all the doors and cowls on the GT40 is, as with the original, part of the design in and of itself.
The interior design incorporates the novel "ventilated seats" and instrument layout of the original car, with straightforward analogue gauges and large tachometer. Modern versions of the original car's toggle switches operate key systems. "Like its namesake, the GT40 concept is not over-wrought with advanced technologies," Mays says. "While it represents the best of Ford design, engineering and expertise, it is a no-frills machine. You won't find voice-activated telematics here - not even power windows - just pure, refined performance”. That claim notwithstanding, it’s a safe bet that the new car has a computer or two more than the 1964 version. And, to be honest, that’s no bad thing. It would take a very brave enthusiast to argue that the new car would be less user-friendly than an original would be. The new GT40 is going to provide its owners (always assuming that there are going to be some) with infinitely more on-the-road pleasure than an original ever could. Walk to your garage, put the key in, turn it, and go. Who could do that with an original car? And who would bet on an original being more comfortable?
Behind the cockpit is the essence of a GT40: a V-8 engine and a complex array of polished stainless-steel header pipes, and braided stainless steel fuel lines with anodised aluminium fittings. Engine size is 5.4 litres, its power enhanced by a supercharger with intercooler.
The powerplant is all-American, from Ford's modular engine family. The version in the GT40 concept features aluminium four-valve heads, forged steel crankshaft, H-beam forged rods from Manley, and forged aluminium pistons from Karl Schmidt Unisia, fed by a Roots-type supercharger from Eaton with an intercooled intake; all this combines to make more than 500 horsepower (at 5250rpm) and 500 foot-pounds of torque (at 3250rpm). Those figures are similar to those of the most powerful period GT40, the Mark IV, a car that could top 200 mph on the Hunaudières straight at Le Mans. Because of the supercharger and high-revving, free-breathing valve train, the new car produces this power from only 5.4-litres; in the mid-sixties no less than seven litres were needed. Behind the 9-inch heavy-duty McLeod clutch, the SVT team installed a special transaxle to accommodate the mid-engine layout. Sourced from RBT, the close-ratio six-speed uses internal components from transmission manufacturer ZF. It is fully synchronized and features an integral limited-slip differential.
“The GT40 concept should do three things: go fast, handle exceptionally and look great," says Chris Theodore, Ford's vice president of North America Product Development. "To be true to its Ford heritage, we had to create a supercar that would be uniquely a Ford. Anyone can do technology showpieces, high-displacement engines and modernistic designs, but there's much more to a GT40. There's heritage and heart. We think this car remains true to the spirit of its predecessors."
Instead of the sheet steel or aluminium honeycomb tubs used in the 1960s, Ford's SVT Engineering group developed an all-new aluminium spaceframe as the foundation for the GT40 concept. This news will bring wry smiles to the faces of those replica-GT40 owners whose cars differ from the original in little other than their spaceframe chassis!
We may well ask why the move to a spaceframe has been made, and the most likely answer is that a spaceframe is easier and cheaper to construct (and to tool up for) than is a monocoque in steel or carbon-fibre. Constructed of extruded sections and aluminium panels, the spaceframe provides a rigid foundation for the engine and driveline while permitting the use of the specially fabricated composite body panels. The spaceframe consists of a central cabin section, a front suspension sub-section, and a rear powertrain-chassis cradle, bolted together for rigidity. While the original GT40s owed their chassis stiffness to a pair of beefy sills that doubled as fuel reservoirs, the new concept relies on a single central tunnel for its backbone. While greatly improving entry and exit, it has the added benefit of providing a structurally secure location for the fuel supply.
The concept's suspension has been fabricated almost entirely from scratch. The layout, front and rear, uses unequal-length control arms and a push-rod/bell-crank system to interface with the horizontally mounted spring-damper units. Mounting the spring-damper units horizontally allowed the designers to achieve the characteristic low-slung GT40 profile.
As on the historic car, the composite body panels are unstressed. The chassis features four-wheel independent suspension with unequal-length control arms and longitudinally mounted spring-damper units to allow for its low profile.
Braking is handled by six-piston aluminium Alcon calipers with cross-drilled and vented rotors at all four corners. When the rear canopy is opened, the rear suspension components and engine become the car's focal point. Precision-milled aluminium suspension components and 19-inch Goodyear tyres - combined with the overwhelming presence of the V-8 powertrain - create a striking appearance and communicate the GT40 concept's performance credentials. In an age when concept-car tyres have been likened to giant black rubber bands, the GT40 concept is proud to have a relatively tall 45-series sidewall - a throwback to the original car.
The GT40 concept offers excellent entry and exit, thanks to the wide-opening doors and the centre-mounted fuel cells that allow the driver and passenger seat positions to be moved outward, closer to the sides and shallow sills. The two racing fuel cells, sourced from ITW, run longitudinally down the central tunnel and are filled via polished fuel caps at the base of the windscreen. In the original cars, of course, the fuel cells were outboard, in the sills, but they posed driver and passenger alike a significant problem in getting in to or out of the car. Anyone who has tried a GT40 for size, particularly on a wet day, will have looked in dismay at the muddy footprints on the seat on which he is about to park himself; this problem should not afflict the newcomer.
The new GT40 is a left-hand-drive two-seater featuring leather-wrapped, custom Recaro bucket seats. Aluminium grommets that allow occupants more ventilation are embedded into the stitching; whether these work in the same way as did those on the original cars has not been revealed. For easy access, the adjustable handle to control seat position is located on the front of the seat, rather than below.
A console runs the entire length of the GT40 passenger compartment. It houses the six-speed, short-throw gearshift lever, CD player, and a leather-wrapped armrest to store "extras" that can't be allowed to clutter the cockpit. The interior colour scheme is two-toned: black and silver. The console, sill plate, handbrake lever, gearshift lever, safety belt buckles, and pedals are aluminium. "There is no luggage space behind the seats and no room for a set of golf clubs anywhere in this car," says Mays. "It's a car designed for the driver who carves asphalt in his spare time." No change there, then.
Really, what we need to know now, is just how likely the car is to reach production, and if/when it does, will it really cost “only” $100,000? Readers in the UK should remember that to get an example into Britain they will have to add shipping costs, and, of course, approximately 30% in Import Duty and VAT. Remember the Boston Tea Party? It happened because the Americans didn’t like paying British taxes; our taxes don’t seem to have reduced any since then, and the New World doesn’t realise just how lucky it is. That $100,000 will equate to 100,000 pounds by the time the car reaches British shores
Because you have read this far, the chances are that you are already a GT40 enthusiast. You may be relishing the prospect of being able to buy a production GT40 at a fraction of what a real one – no, let’s make that an original one - would cost. On the other hand, you may be bemoaning the watering down of a legend. Before long, perhaps everybody with $100,000 to spare (less when the cars hit the used-car market) will own a “GT40”, and the mystique of the marque will be forever diminished. Is it right to re-use the glorious name we have come to love so much? Should Ford have let the GT40 remain a legend?
We heard lots of encouraging words about the GT90, which, we were told, was actually being considered for production – and then it quietly slipped away. Do we – do you – want the GT40 to meet the same fate? Why not write to Ford and let them know what you think?
Most of the information in this feature has been sourced from FordÂ’s press releases; for keeping me informed about whatÂ’s going on with the GT40 concept IÂ’m grateful to John Sadler, Bob Wood and Brady Pack (all of whom own original GT40s), FordÂ’s Dan Bedore, and Safir GT40 Spares.
John S Allen
Thanks to
GT40.org for the information.
Misnblu
