Has there been any official tests on the GT yet? I know Ford did I high speed test on the Mulsanne straight, pulling 213 i think. Motor Trend, Car & Driver and Top Gear are the only others i know of.
Official Performance Test
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We never went took a car to LeMans.
212mph in Nardo Italy
"The track in Nardo is a perfect circle, 7.8 miles around, and only has 12 degrees of banking," said McGowan. "There is very little lateral and vertical loading due to centrifugal force because the banking is so low. What that does is allow you to go flat foot all the way around the track. You want to spend a lot of time at speeds in excess of 200 mph and you want to stay there for 15 or 20 minutes at a time. The only place you can do that is Nardo, Italy."
Most test tracks in the U.S. are 5-mile ovals with about 35-degree banking. The problem with tracks like those is you lose speed in the corners, so you can maybe hit 200 for a second down a straightaway. You also have centrifugal force in the banking that confounds the test data you're trying to compile for a 200-mph car.
"Two hundred and five mph is the top speed that the car is certified and electronically limited to," said McGowan. "In testing, we actually got a car up to 212 mph, which is redline in fifth gear. Sixth gear is too tall, so you run top speed in fifth. It got to 211.89 mph, and we were bouncing off the rev limiter in fifth gear and it was still accelerating. The whole objective is to make sure the car is extremely stable, and at 200 mph, it is actually a very comfortable car to drive. Obviously never do 200 mph on a public road. You ever see those signs that say professional driver closed track? I'm that guy."
http://media.ford.com/newsroom/feature_display.cfm?release=18759
"The track in Nardo is a perfect circle, 7.8 miles around, and only has 12 degrees of banking," said McGowan. "There is very little lateral and vertical loading due to centrifugal force because the banking is so low. What that does is allow you to go flat foot all the way around the track. You want to spend a lot of time at speeds in excess of 200 mph and you want to stay there for 15 or 20 minutes at a time. The only place you can do that is Nardo, Italy."
Most test tracks in the U.S. are 5-mile ovals with about 35-degree banking. The problem with tracks like those is you lose speed in the corners, so you can maybe hit 200 for a second down a straightaway. You also have centrifugal force in the banking that confounds the test data you're trying to compile for a 200-mph car.
"Two hundred and five mph is the top speed that the car is certified and electronically limited to," said McGowan. "In testing, we actually got a car up to 212 mph, which is redline in fifth gear. Sixth gear is too tall, so you run top speed in fifth. It got to 211.89 mph, and we were bouncing off the rev limiter in fifth gear and it was still accelerating. The whole objective is to make sure the car is extremely stable, and at 200 mph, it is actually a very comfortable car to drive. Obviously never do 200 mph on a public road. You ever see those signs that say professional driver closed track? I'm that guy."
http://media.ford.com/newsroom/feature_display.cfm?release=18759
bobby1 said:
It is/was a typing error.
Here you go: We never took a GT to LeMans.
Is that better and are you satisfied? Any other thoughts? I'll be happy to hear what you have to say.
bpt
When was this photo taken at LeMans? Did it do some laps? Do you know the lap times if it did?
Guys, you need to remember that press photos are just that--Press. When I say that "we never took a GT to LeMans" I am speaking from the Dynamics Development Team point of view. What the press, magazines and PR mongers do is a different story. While under development the car ran at a number of tracks and LeMans was not one of them. Nardo was, as was Mid Ohio, Nelsons Ledges, Barber Motorsports park, Laguna Seca, Grattan, Gingerman, Arizona Motorsports Park.....
I hope this clears some things up. If you have any questions about the development process I can offer insight on that but since release of the car many people have take the cars to a number of locations where the development team never went. Don't get confused with what these guys are telling you and what actually happened by the team doing the development work.
Better?
I hope this clears some things up. If you have any questions about the development process I can offer insight on that but since release of the car many people have take the cars to a number of locations where the development team never went. Don't get confused with what these guys are telling you and what actually happened by the team doing the development work.
Better?
http://www.roadandtrack.com/article.asp?section_id=7&article_id=1642&page_number=1
Looks like R&D was there just for a publicity photo shoot.
Looks like R&D was there just for a publicity photo shoot.
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