This GT40 Le Mans winner could get a stablemate as Ford is expected to debut a new version at the Detroit Auto Show next month.
Ford GT fans may be getting a post-holiday Christmas gift in January, as the automaker appears to be ready to unveil a GT-inspired supercar during the Detroit Auto Show next month.
The car will be more than just a showpiece, according to AutoWeek, Ford plans to race it at LeMans in 2016. Chip Ganassi will oversee Ford’s new GT supercar’s entry in the GTE class at Le Mans. Additionally, Ganassi will run two cars in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
The details about the car are sketchy, but various reports suggest the powerplant will be a mid-engine V8 from the new Shelby GT350 with some tweaks, while others think an EcoBoost V6 will find its way into the new beast.
Ford isn’t the only automaker looking to introduce some power at the coming North American International Auto Show. Lexus announced plans to introduce a new “track ready” car, which is expected to be the GS F being tested on Germany’s famed Nurburgring. Honda officials confirmed earlier this week that it would be bringing back the NSX – as a hybrid supercar – next month in Detroit, as well.
Ford’s last GT was sold in 2005 and 2006 and was touted as a direct descendant of the original GT40 that the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker raced at LeMans in the 1960s, winning the event four consecutive years.
(Lexus confirms “track-ready” model coming to Detroit. For more, Click Here.)
The new car could act as a halo product for automaker’s newly formed Ford Performance unit. The new enterprise melds the Ford SVT, Team RS and Ford Racing globally, “serving as an innovation laboratory and test bed to create unique performance vehicles, parts, accessories and experiences for customers,” the company said.
(Click Here for details about the Acura NSX rebirth in Detroit.)
The first introduction from this newly formed unit was supposed to be the new Ford Focus RS, which is slated to debut at the Detroit Auto Show next month. Like the aforementioned GT, the Focus RS has a pedigree – the Ford RS was introduced 1968. The last Focus RS was produced in 2009.
(To see more about Ford’s new Performance unit, Click Here.)
Focus RS will join Ford’s existing performance lineup, including Fiesta ST, Focus ST, Shelby GT350 Mustang and F-150 Raptor. Ford’s plans include 12 new performance variants by 2020 and they’ve got plenty of incentive to make it happen. Performance vehicle sales are growing around the world – with sales up 70% in the United States and 14% in Europe since 2009.
There are a lot of auto enthusiasts who want something fun to drive everyday and perhaps take to the track occasionally. In the past that meant Muscle cars in the U.S. but with numerous companies offering tweaked mainstream models, the market has changed. Now you can have a car that handles well on the street/track even if it doesn’t have gobs of power. This is good for consumers as well as car makers when the prices don’t get crazy.
I’m all for the auto makers racing what they sell more than building exotic race cars. The exotics are great for engineering development but I think many people also want to see the production hardware raced, not a silhouette of a production model that has been so modified as to only resemble the street car in looks, if that.
Let’s hope Ford and the rest get back to their roots.