• Home
  • Contact

HorsePowerSports

Horsepower Classic Cars and High Performance

Ford GT and Mustangs and F Series Pickups – Siblings Under the Skin

By Paul Crowe

The Ford GT served as a test bed for materials, engine technologies and aerodynamics
The Ford GT served as a test bed for materials, engine technologies and aerodynamics, ... and for winning races, too, of course.

When Ford set out to build the new Ford GT, it was a multipurpose project, designed to win races, of course, but also to develop new engine technologies, stretch the company's understanding of aerodynamics and push the boundaries of advanced materials usage, all for eventual use in other models across the Ford lineup.

In developing the engine, there was a lot of spillover to the Ford F-150 Raptor:

Ford GT’s 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine is the company’s most powerful EcoBoost ever, delivering 647 horsepower. It was developed alongside the GT race engine and the 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine used in the F-150 Raptor high-performance off-road pickup, which shares almost 60 percent of its parts with GT’s engine.

For instance, during racing, the test engine’s crankshafts in the Daytona Prototype were cracking under grueling conditions. With little time to get ready for the Sebring endurance race that year, the team made a key decision to substitute the Daytona prototype’s race crankshaft with a pre-production F-150 Raptor crankshaft. The Daytona prototype won its first race at Sebring that year.

Like the glass cockpit in airplanes and race cars, the all-new Ford GT features an all-digital instrument display in the car’s dashboard that quickly and easily presents information to the driver, based on five special driving modes.

The digital dash technology is appearing already:

GT’s role as a technology test bed is evident throughout the supercar, with some innovations, ... hitting showrooms soon. For example, all-digital dashboard technology, similar to that in the supercar’s, is available in the 2018 Mustang, and is coming to additional new Ford vehicles.

The company’s push into customized driving modes that help customers fit a vehicle’s performance to specific conditions is expanding rapidly in Mustang and other performance models. The hydraulic suspension can change ride height and compliance with the turn of a knob when selecting driving modes, Wet, Normal, Sport, Track and the guaranteed to get you a ticket, V-Max, designed strictly for track use and maximum straight line speed.

Overall, this had to be a great project to work on and some Ford engineers probably still grin every day as a result. It's also indicative of how today's street cars and trucks are more closely related than one might think to high tech supercars like the Ford GT and quickly benefit from advances developed for the track. This is a great time for automotive technology.

Ford Motor Company

Posted on May 12, 2017 Filed Under: Auto Design Tagged With: advanced materials, aerodynamics, engine technologies, Ford




« Auto Mechanics in Short Supply Create a Massive Opportunity
Jaguar E Type Zero – a Different Kind of Electric Car »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to HorsePowerSports

Get an email alert when something's new!

Don’t miss!

Another Look at ICEngineWorks Exhaust Header Modeling Blocks

Another Look at ICEngineWorks Exhaust Header Modeling Blocks

Slot Mods Slot Car Tracks – the Kind You Used to Dream About

Slot Mods Slot Car Tracks – the Kind You Used to Dream About

Copyright © 2018 · HorsePowerSports · Website by Crowe Computer Services
This website proudly Made in the USA!
Made in the USA