Do We Really Need a New Ford GT?
Posted on Nov 26, 2022 in Racing | 1 comment
The last couple of days have been intense for fans of the Ford GT. Rumors are strong that the much-loved supercar could come racing back, with a debut coming as early as next month at theNorth American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Why would Ford want to get back into the supercar business? There are plenty of reasons but the biggest two, in my opinion, are the Corvette and the Viper.
Arch rivals Chevrolet and Dodge both have supercars, and the closest Ford currently gets is with the Shelby Mustang, which admittedly is almost as good. Almost.
In the game of car competition, though, “almost” doesn’t win many sales. The timing is right for the GT to come back, but does it make sense?
Road & Track said this week,
A replacement for the Ford GT will likely be the big headliner at Detroit. As we’ve previously reported, several indicators on the racing side suggest Ford is preparing a Le Mans GTE-class car for 2016, the 50th anniversary of the Ford GT40’s first Le Mans overall win in 1966. A road-car counterpart would go with that, and Detroit is the logical place to announce everything. If this all comes together as we’ve heard, it will be the story of the Detroit show, period.
The GTE class racers must be based on a road car, so a new GT is a very real possibility. Not only that, but an entire stable of performance vehicles could be unleashed along with a new, as-of-yet unnamed brand to house them under. A new Focus RS, Focus ST, Fiesta ST, F-150 Raptor, and a racing version of the Shelby Mustang could be under the lights in Detroit.
When I first heard about the possibility of a new Ford GT, I wondered why we’d need it. With so many amazing cars on the market, and more on the way, is there room for yet another supercar? There’s a new Acura NSX coming (probably also in Detroit), the domestics have finally arrived with the ‘Vette, and we can’t seem to stop talking about the Hellcats.
The more I thought about it the more I convinced myself that Ford is doing it right. If it’s capable of building a world-class supercar, by all means, it should. Do we need a new GT? Yes. Yes we do.
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God yes!!!! Of course we need it. Even if I can never afford one, I still want Ford to make one. What they did last time was pure genius. Just amazing. Better than the “real” GT-40’s of old. Hopefully this time they bring back the Big Block style, with all the scoops and vents. I also hope they put in a real engine and not a hybrid. Just to keep it pure. Rear drive with an engine that makes giant hp.
I had a client drive a 1969 that he bought unfinished. It took him years to track down the parts and make it whole. It was an unbuilt chassis that Ford never used and it passed to an Ohio racing family and sat for years until he purchased one. Had a numbered plate. Pretty cool. Ford used it as the template for the new one.
So I was able to get into my dream car and then disappointment took hold. Loud, smelled of gas and oil and the interior wasn’t one. Just a bare bones race car. I used to be extremely hard core with cars and motorcycles when I was younger and would have loved driving a race car on the street then but not now.
The new Ford GT was perfect. Gorgeous interior, loud but cool loud. Race car handling but still a real car, not a bare bones race car. I had no idea the old GT40’s were THAT extreme. My client was a wild man for driving it on our roads in traffic, but a super cool guy.
It Ford brings back the GT, they’ll sell everyone at a profit, just like last time.