"TIL the design team for the Ford GT found the 458 Speciale to be best sports car in the world and"

Reddit user l0_0I posted the following in the Sub Reddit r/cars

Title:

TIL the design team for the Ford GT found the 458 Speciale to be best sports car in the world and then took aim at it.


Quote:

Found this post on on forum from one of the engineers

Calaboogie is a very tight and windy track. Lots of corners on top of one another. Plays to cars that have very good transient performance. (Which I built into the car design.)

Ford and MTC have used that track now for years. We had 10-12 cars of varying types (including a 458 Speciale, Corvette, GTR, Macca, etc, etc.). We had pro drivers run each around the track and get objective and subjective numbers on all the cars for comparo. We had Ford and MTC people drive all the cars on the back roads doing same thing. A huge database of competitor info was creted from all this and was used in making sure teh car would be better than it's rivals. The consensus-on track and off track was the 458 Speciale was the best car there and the best sports car in the world. So we set our sights and making a better car than that. Which I believe we did.

The weight of the car was driven up from what I would have wanted by the addition of the active aero and active suspension bits. It just all adds up, bit by bit. By as mentioned all the simulation work showed the car was faster with the added bits than without. So why they are there.

Besides, when has anybody taken a Ferrari published weight number (or any number) seriously? Ferrari is famous for creative numbers! Like giving out an L/D for the street 458 that was nowhere near reality. Like so far from reality that it was laughable. (What they did was take the lowest Cd number the car had-based on it's active aero bits set for low drag and then take the highest Cl number tha car had-based on it's active aero set for max downforce-and combined those two numbers for their L/D. Of course the fact that it was impossible to get both at same time was a minor detail.)

We weighed the 458 Speciale-and its weight "as delivered" as a street car is no where near the Ferrari published numbers. Go weigh one yourself...

As I have stated before -the big thing about the Ford GT is just how much effort was put into making the car's feedback as pure and linear and race like as possible. More so that any car out there. Add in the pure race car components the thing has and you have the purest race car to road car connection of any current production car.

That was a big, big goal for us. Make a car that could win LeMans, be superior to a 458 Speciale (It is) and have the best feedback possible for a street car. I think we hit that too.

For those people how have bought the car-congrats-it is not perfect-the NVH is not "Mercedes like", etc but it is a very special car. A huge amount of effort went into making sure of that ( every person at Ford and MTC who worked on the car-everyone's work was a bit brilliant) .

I wish I could afford one. But being the chief engineer on the program didn't pay well enough to let that happen....​

Also found this interesting tidbit.

The engine, I know, is not everyone's top choice. Hard to sell a "supercar" with a V6-even a twin turbo V6 at ~650 Hp.

The reasons for the TT V6 are simple:

1.) Ford wants to market/show off the EcoBoost engine family. It is their engine future.

2.) The TT V6 was the only engine Ford had that met the power requirements while still meeting Ford's internal reliability standards. 700 HP was too much. And Ford has no 700 hp engine that meets internal reliability standards. They could make one from scratch-but not for a 1000 car build run...And not at $400K for the car... Ford is not getting rich off of this car. Barely much profit at all.

3.) The FIA/ACO GT rules are moving towards benefiting a turbo more than an NA engine.

And it is a good engine. Aftermarket guys are going to have 1000hp kits for it a "month" after they hit the streets. Will void warranty but those buyers will not care.

Have not seen too many bolt in 1000 hp aftermarket kits for the 458...

​

https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/comments/5q99zi/til_the_design_team_for_the_ford_gt_found_the_458/

 

As a die-hard Ford fan, I cede that a 458 is a cooler, more desirable car. But yes, EcoBoost (and other turbos) is the future, for better and for worse. And it's impressive how much they put into designing the new GT, and what the achieved.

Would love to have the GT in AC. Does that really need to be said?

 

Calaboogie is my home track, I hope to see it one day in AC.

 

They've surely also found some inspiration on where to hide those gigantic sandbags from that Ferrari. Close competition on that aspect for sure.

 

I actually agree partly with the top comment in the Reddit post. I too feel the hype for the new Ford GT and the the new Honda NSX wears out pretty fast. I'm not a Ford fan, and it's hard for me to find something special and exciting in the new GT. My 2 cents though.

 

An interesting read. Is this car in the table to be included in AC for the future?

 

I want to see what the new GT can do in independent testing. That's all. Never been a fan of the company itself because of the founder though I respect the work of the people there and the cars that came from it in the past 50, 60 years. The BS they and Ferrari pulled at Le Mans last year didn't exactly help winning me over either. But from a technical standpoint the road car itself seems interesting, so I want to see what it can do. Though at that $400k price point we'll probably rarely ever get to see it being driven in anger. At that price point it's also more expensive than the MSRP of the 458 Speciale and 675LT.

 

So, essentially, ... should i win a life altering lottery ... Ford thoroughly recommends picking up a 458 Speciale. Wonderful.

TY Ford!

 

I think Ford have a excellent range of cars at the moment and the GT will be the cherry on top.

 

400k for the GT puts it right in the firing line of the 675 LT now doesn't it. Every journalist and their mom slobbers all over the LT saying it's the king of feedback and such. This car is heavier and has less power than the LT from what I hear, will be fun to see how this thing compares. I personally think it's just useless hype stemming from their brilliant marketing bollocks though, plus the way they want people to kiss Ford's butt in order in order to get in line to get a GT is pretty cringey considering they seem to be giving out the cars to absolute nobodies and the butt kissers go on the internet to moan about how they are being left out even after they put in all that effort. That said, I would indeed very much like to see it in AC one day.

 

You mean this one by what_a_cool_username?

 

Okay Kunos, ops, Digital Bros, bring to us the 458 Speciale and the new Ford GT.

 

Going to Calabogie end May for Round 1 of the T/A season :3