cars news 10: Under The Skin of the Ford GT: 8 Cool Facts About the 647-HP Supercar

Aside from engine components, some minor switch hardware, and Ford’s Sync 3 software, the new Ford GT is otherwise unique. Here’s a look under the skin of the newest all-American supercar.

Carbon-Fiber Tub and Integrated Rollcage

The central structure of the GT is a bespoke carbon-fiber tub made from 45 different parts. The instrument panel is a structural element, and atop the tub is a tubular structure that not only supports the roof but is also certified as a race-approved rollcage. “We’ve been asked many times why we didn’t do the cutouts in the roof that were such iconic elements of the original GT40,” GT design chief Chris Svensson says. “Well, we couldn’t because the rollcage requirements dictated where we needed the structural members.”

Aluminum Castings

These massive aircraft-industry-standard aluminum castings are bonded to the front and rear of the tub and machined to ensure precise locations for the suspension and steering components and the front and rear crash structures.

Carbon-Fiber Body Panels

The GT’s exterior panels all carbon fiber—there’s no plastic, no metal. Ford claims a dry weight of 3,054 pounds for the road-going GT. The race car is homologated at 2,778 pounds, but it actually weighs about 2,425 pounds. Ford is therefore allowed to carry a lot of ballast to bring the race version up to its required weight, and it puts that ballast down low in the car to improve handling.

Engine

The GT’s 647-hp 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine shares 60 percent of its parts with the Ford Raptor engine. The block is the same as the one used in EcoBoost-powered F-150s. All ancillary drives have been removed from the front of the engine to allow it to be positioned as far forward as possible. The tall, round element just behind the block is part of the dry sump system, which holds 15.3 quarts of oil. The seven-speed dual-clutch transmission is Getrag’s 7DCL750. The intercoolers are mounted in the sponsons ahead of the rear wheels, and cooled, pressurized air is fed to the plenum chamber via tubes inside the dramatic flying buttresses that connect the sponsons to the GT’s roof.

Pushrod Suspension

The GT’s compact and complex pushrod suspension is similar to systems used by F1 racers and Le Mans prototypes. The remote coil spring (green) is connected by a torsion bar (green) to a rocker actuated by the pushrod coming off the lower control arm. A third rocker actuates the remote-mounted DSSV shock (blue) made by Multimatic, which also assembles the GT in its plant in Markham, Ontario, Canada. In Track mode the high-pressure hydraulic system that also runs the power steering and controls the active rear wing compresses the coil spring, dropping the ride height from 4.7 inches to 2.7 inches, and springing is by way of the torsion bar.

Aerodynamic Floor

The inboard pickup points of the front suspension are close to the center of the car, allowing the GT’s floor to feature a race car–style “keel” that enables a high volume of air to pass into the wheelwell and bleed out via a low vent just behind the front wheel opening. This helps the airfoil-shaped front section of the floor generate downforce. When the rear wing is stowed, flaps open above the front splitter to guide air through vents in the front foil section (just under the second set of arrows) to reduce the downforce and balance the chassis.

Rear Wing

As the rear wing deploys, it also changes its profile, courtesy of electric motors inside that change the foil shape underneath and automatically extend a small Gurney flap along the trailing edge. The result is a 14 percent change in efficiency between the stowed and deployed positions. Depending on how you look at it, you get 14 percent more downforce while it’s in the air or 14 percent less drag when it’s stowed. Ford has a patent pending on the design.

Steering Wheel

The GT’s steering wheel was designed with the help of Ford’s team of racing drivers. “They gave us their input, they told us what they wanted, what functions needed to be at hand,” GT design chief Chris Svensson says. Controls include light and wiper/washer switches, the drive mode selector, turn signal buttons, audio, and cruise control. The paddle detents are magnetic, as in the GT race car, to give better precision and feel.