Or if the GT was in the right gear. At 40mph, 1st gear has about 22mph left in it. Starting at 40 in 2nd puts you at ~2700rpm instead of ~4100 in 1st. I was looking at the SAE paper from Roush, which is really good btw, and max torque is developed at about 4300. Starting in the right gear is more important than the speed.
In my car (pullied) starting in 2nd in that situation would be fine. At 3000rpm its close to 600rwtq. 60mph would come up too quickly to react and shift if you started in 1st IMO
