Whats The Specs?

[Ryan]

Whats the Specs on these things? I Haven't paid much attention since they are way outta my league. All I know is 5.4L S/C?? is it a 4v?

 

[LogiWorld123]

OVERVIEW: NEW FORD GT40 CONCEPT JOINS 'LIVING LEGENDS' CAR LINEUP

The GT40 - the legendary car brought to life by Henry Ford II to change performance car history - finds new life in a modern road car that re-ignites Ford's hallmarks of passion, performance and speed.

The new high-performance concept is inspired by the vehicle that roared into the hearts of car enthusiasts everywhere during the 1960s. The new GT40 joins Ford's "Living Legends" lineup of production and concept cars, including the Ford Thunderbird and Mustang, and the Forty-Nine concept.

"GT40 is the ultimate Living Legend," explains J Mays, Ford vice president of Design. "It's a true supercar with appeal equal to that of the greatest sports cars in the world, but with the addition of a heritage no one can match. Essential elements of the original - including the stunning low profile and mid-mounted American V-8 - continue in this latest interpretation of the classic."

While the new concept and the original both share the mystique of the GT40 name, they share not a single dimension. The concept is more than a foot and a half longer and stands nearly four inches taller. Its new lines draw upon and refine the best features of GT40 history and express the car's identity through modern proportion and surface development.


Design

The GT40 concept casts the familiar, sleek silhouette of its namesake, yet every dimension, every curve and every line on the car is a unique reinterpretation of the original. The GT40 features a long front overhang reminiscent of 1960s-era racecars. But its sweeping cowl, subtle accent lines and fiber-optic headlamps strike a distinctly contemporary pose.

The front fenders curve over 18-inch wheels and Goodyear white-lettered tires. In the tradition of championship racers, the doors cut into the roof. Prominent on the leading edge of the rear quarter panel are functional cooling scoops that channel fresh air to the engine. The rear wheel wells, filled with 19-inch Goodyear tires, define the rear of the car, while the accent line from the front cowl rejoins and finishes the car's profile at the integrated "ducktail" spoiler.

The interior design incorporates the novel "ventilated seats" and instrument layout of the original car, with straightforward analog gauges and large tachometer. Modern versions of the original car's toggle switches operate key systems.

"Like its namesake, the GT40 concept is not over-wrought with advanced technologies," Mays says. "While it represents the best of Ford design, engineering and expertise, it is a no-frills machine. You won't find voice-activated telematics here - not even power windows - just pure, refined performance."

Looking in through the backlight, one finds the essence of the sports car in the MOD 5.4-liter V-8 engine and its complex array of polished stainless-steel header pipes, braided stainless steel fuel lines with anodized aluminum fittings and supercharger with intercooler.

"The GT40 concept should do three things: go fast, handle exceptionally and look great," says Chris Theodore, Ford's vice president of North America Product Development. "To be true to its Ford heritage, we had to create a supercar that would be uniquely a Ford. Anyone can do technology showpieces, high-displacement engines and modernistic designs, but there's much more to a GT40. There's heritage and heart. We think this car remains true to the spirit of its predecessors."


Chassis

As on the historic car, the composite body panels are unstressed. Instead of steel or honeycomb-composite tubs used in the 1960s, Ford's SVT Engineering group developed an all-new aluminum spaceframe as the foundation for the GT40 concept. It features four-wheel independent suspension with unequal-length control arms and longitudinally mounted spring-damper units to allow for its low profile.

Braking is handled by six-piston aluminum Alcon calipers with cross-drilled and vented rotors at all four corners. When the rear canopy is opened, the rear suspension components and engine become the car's focal point. Precision-milled aluminum suspension components and attached 19-inch Goodyear tires - combined with the overwhelming presence of the V-8 powertrain - create a striking appearance and communicate the GT40 concept's performance credentials.


Powertrain

The powerplant is an all-American V-8 from Ford's modular engine family. The MOD 5.4-liter V-8 in the GT40 concept features aluminum four-valve heads, forged crankshaft, H-beam forged rods and aluminum pistons fed by a supercharger, all combining to make more than 500 horsepower and 500 foot-pounds of torque. These figures match or exceed those of the most powerful period GT40, a car that could handily top 200 mph on the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans. Because of the supercharger and high-revving, free-breathing valvetrain, the new car produces this astounding power from an efficient 5.4-liter V-8 engine. The power is put to the road through an RBT six-speed manual transmission.


What's Next for GT40?

The GT40 concept was created to foretell and test the future of exciting Ford cars to come. As with other Living Legends concepts - including the 1999 Thunderbird concept and Forty-Nine concept - the GT40 was engineered from the beginning for production feasibility. Ford's SVT Engineering - which also created performance versions of the Focus, Mustang Cobra and F-Series Lightning - developed the chassis and powertrain. SVT Engineering worked closely with Living Legends designers to ensure the concept would live up to its performance heritage.

 

[tommylightning]

Construction

Aluminum spaceframe, unstressed composite body

Dimensions

Length: 181.6 in (4613 mm)

Width: 76.8 in (1950 mm)

Height: 43.5 in (1106 mm)

Wheelbase: 106.7 in (2710 mm)

Track width, front: 64.4 in (1636 mm)

Track width, rear: 65.0 in (1650 mm)

Engine

5.4-liter, DOHC 32-valve, supercharged and intercooled MOD V-8

Aluminum block and heads

Horsepower: 500 @ 5250 rpm

Torque: 500 lb-ft @ 3250 rpm

Bore: 3.55 in (90.2 mm)

Stroke: 4.17 in (105.8 mm)

Compression ratio: 8.5:1

Horsepower/liter: 88.9

Fuel requirement: 91 octane

Fuel capacity: 28.4 gallons

Transmission

RBT 6-speed transaxle

Ratios:

1st 2.86:1

2nd 2.06:1

3rd 1.47:1

4th 1.18:1

5th 0.958:1

6th 0.740:1

Reverse 2.86:1

Final drive ratio: 4.22:1, limited slip

Suspension

Front: Unequal-length control arm, push-rod/bell-crank system with longitudinal/horizontal spring-dampers

Rear: Unequal-length control arm, push-rod/bell-crank system with longitudinal/horizontal spring-dampers

Brakes

Alcon 6-piston monoblock calipers

Ceramic-based "Ceratec" friction material, 11.5 in2 (74 cm2) per pad

Cross-drilled Alcon discs, 15.0-in (380 mm) diameter, 1.5-in (32 mm) width; 48 curved-vane design for enhanced cooling, lightweight aluminum hats

Wheels and Tires

Front Rear

Wheels: 18" x 8" 19" x 10"

Tires: 245/45R18 285/45R19

# # #

Construction

Aluminum spaceframe, unstressed composite body

Dimensions

Length: 181.6 in (4613 mm)

Width: 76.8 in (1950 mm)

Height: 43.5 in (1106 mm)

Wheelbase: 106.7 in (2710 mm)

Track width, front: 64.4 in (1636 mm)

Track width, rear: 65.0 in (1650 mm)

Engine

5.4-liter, DOHC 32-valve, supercharged and intercooled MOD V-8

Aluminum block and heads

Horsepower: 500 @ 5250 rpm

Torque: 500 lb-ft @ 3250 rpm

Bore: 3.55 in (90.2 mm)

Stroke: 4.17 in (105.8 mm)

Compression ratio: 8.5:1

Horsepower/liter: 88.9

Fuel requirement: 91 octane

Fuel capacity: 28.4 gallons

Transmission

RBT 6-speed transaxle

Ratios:

1st 2.86:1

2nd 2.06:1

3rd 1.47:1

4th 1.18:1

5th 0.958:1

6th 0.740:1

Reverse 2.86:1

Final drive ratio: 4.22:1, limited slip

Suspension

Front: Unequal-length control arm, push-rod/bell-crank system with longitudinal/horizontal spring-dampers

Rear: Unequal-length control arm, push-rod/bell-crank system with longitudinal/horizontal spring-dampers

Brakes

Alcon 6-piston monoblock calipers

Ceramic-based "Ceratec" friction material, 11.5 in2 (74 cm2) per pad

Cross-drilled Alcon discs, 15.0-in (380 mm) diameter, 1.5-in (32 mm) width; 48 curved-vane design for enhanced cooling, lightweight aluminum hats

Wheels and Tires

Front Rear

Wheels: 18" x 8" 19" x 10"

Tires: 245/45R18 285/45R19

 

[LogiWorld123]

DESIGN: FORD MELDS PAST, FUTURE TO CREATE NEW GT40 CONCEPT CAR


The GT40 took the Le Mans competition and the world by storm with its racing prowess in the late 1960s. But perhaps the most surprising thing about the original GT40 racecars was their striking styling.

Surprising because the cars were engineered to do one thing: win Le Mans. That they did, and in uniquely American style. The mechanicals came first, aerodynamics and air-management came second, and the design followed. But the cars struck a dynamic pose with curves and scoops and wheel wells wrapped around the mechanicals.

When the Living Legends Studio began work on the GT40 concept, virtually every model was examined. But, in the end, the design that resonated with designers was the Mark II for its simultaneous statements of two seemingly diametrically opposed concepts - elegance and power.

"Designing a modern interpretation of a classic is more difficult than designing from a clean sheet of paper," says J Mays, Ford Motor Company vice president of Design. "Much like designing a reissue of a TAG Heuer Monaco watch, we've had to strike a delicate balance in creating a slightly updated GT40 that features modern technology."


Designing a Legend

When Ford designers began to conceptualize the GT40 concept, they knew they could go one of two ways. They could do a completely revolutionary design that drew on cues of the past, but interpreted them in a modern surface language. Or they could do a more honest-to-the-original, literal interpretation with modern dimensions. Both were modeled. The latter won.

"We felt it was important to build upon the great heritage of this nameplate," says Doug Gaffka, director of Ford's Living Legends Studio. "It would have been much easier to pull off a radical design because lines and proportions are not as pre-defined. But the bottom line is, if you're doing a GT40, it had better look like a GT40."

And so began the design process. Gaffka chose Camilo Pardo to be chief designer of the GT40. Pardo was a natural choice given that he had been painting classic GT40s in his downtown Detroit studio for years. Two of his GT40 paintings have been hanging in the executive offices of Ford Motor Company World Headquarters for three years.

Pardo's first attempt at the GT40 concept was what Mays calls "generically modern." The first clay was paraded throughout design ranks and test-marketed in front of outside focus groups. The car used harder edges in place of curves. The surfaces, even the proportions, were abbreviated. The nose was "sawed-off" to create the necessary short overhang of a modern car. Something about it just didn't seem right to the design team.

"The priorities were all inverted with that design," says Mays. "We had to start over from scratch to bring out the essence of GT40. The key was to accept that a GT40 should be a GT40 and that we should reject the idea of modernity for modernity's sake."


A New Approach to a Classic

Pardo's team began by borrowing a vintage car and rolling it into the studio for inspiration. GT40 number 1030, a sky blue Mark I owned by a collector in Massachusetts, became a fixture in the studio. The owner took Pardo and team on hot-laps at Ford's Dearborn Proving Grounds, across the street from the studio, to give them the full GT40 experience.

It was around this time that Pardo began his ritual of screening the 1966 film "Grand Prix" and other period car racing films in his office each day. The team took a "deep dive" into the culture of the period filling the studio with images they felt reflected the "mod" theme of the era.

"Freeing ourselves of the fear of creating a car that looked too much like the original was a liberating experience for the team," says Pardo. "But staying true to the original themes in a clean, modern design made this the most difficult project I've ever been involved with."


Exterior

The GT40 concept is an "organic and geometric" design achieved by creating smooth, natural intersecting surfaces accented by simple, subtle lines that appear and then seem to disappear depending on one's viewing angle and available light sources. There is no beginning and no end to the car. It is designed around its wheelhouses, from the center outward.

Every intersection of surfaces was a carefully thought-out design challenge; from the way the front fenders sweep into the nose to the way the C-pillars land on the rear deck. An accent line that surrounds the design serves to bring all the elements together.

"A casual observer might not notice it," says Pardo. "But without it, the effect would be entirely different, sort of incomplete."

A key to moving the design forward was coming to grips with breaking one of the tenets of modern design - the short overhang.

Once the power of the design was put back into the nose of the car, other constraining design paradigms began to fall. The effect was the creation of a '60s racecar theme with a modern attitude delivered through precision lines and materials.

"We call it a fist-in-a-velvet-glove effect," says Pardo.

The geometric reorganization of the prominent GT40 headlamps adds the modern effect. The headlamps symbolize the car's heritage as a 24-hour endurance runner, but are key in creating the car's contemporary image through the use of a combination of fiber optics and HID projection beams.

At 182 inches long, 77 inches wide, and 44 inches tall, the GT40 concept makes an aggressive visual statement from every angle. The original car received the numeric part of its name from its actual overall height. Achieving 40 inches for the concept was never desired. The GT40 concept was designed as a modern road car that would provide the presence of the racer and the comfort of a grand touring sportscar. Proportionally bigger than its predecessor in every dimension, the challenge was to increase the size without sacrificing the overall effect.

The front cowl is a microcosm of the designer's challenges throughout the car. The cowl is an exercise in complex surface development that flows from the sweeping, bulging curves of the fenders to the deep-cut, angular cooling vents. As in the original, the cowl is front-hinged and opens to reveal a small storage area and a stadium view of the polished front suspension components.

The wide windscreen stretches from front corner to front corner at the A-pillar base and tapers slightly toward the roof creating a wide, Mark I-style tumblehome. The windscreen is dramatically raked back from the leading edge to the roofline.

The doors cut into the roof of the vehicle just as they did in the original, which was necessitated by the vintage car's outboard fuel cells and need for the drivers to step into the vehicle during the famed Le Mans running starts.

The GT40 concept offers excellent ingress and egress with the wide-opening doors and two center-mounted fuel cells that allow the driver and passenger seat positions to be moved outward, closer to the sides and shallow sills. The two racing fuel cells, sourced from ITW, run longitudinally down the center tunnel and are filled by polished fuel caps at the base of the windshield.

Along the sides, just behind the doors, are the vents and scoops that allow the mid-mounted engine to cool and breathe. Again, the vents and scoops are a study in design continuity. All the air collectors on the vehicle's perimeter are scooped, protruding out like jet fighter intakes. All the intakes on top surfaces, the front and rear cowls and C-pillar, are vented, diving down into the body.

"There's a pure rhythm to the design from the headlamps to air intakes to the ducktail finish," says Pardo. "It's a holistic approach that creates a design around the functional components. Everything seems shrink-wrapped around the mechanicals."

The two-piece rear canopy is hinged at the rear, as on the original. While most vehicles are designed to look great with all the access panels shut, the effect resulting from opening all the doors and cowls on a GT40 is part of the design in and of itself.

Opening the rear canopy gives a visceral pleasure to the automotive enthusiast, exposing the heart and soul of the car, its MOD 5.4 V-8 engine. The 500-horsepower engine is fitted with twisted lengths of stainless steel header pipes, a polished aluminum supercharger, braided stainless steel fuel and cooling lines with anodized aluminum fittings, and capped with beefy valve covers that proudly read "Powered By Ford."

The GT40 concept features one-of-a-kind six-spoke aluminum wheels with a modern interpretation of the original car's "knock-off" center caps that were a staple of racing in the era. The GT40 name is etched into the center of each of the chrome "knock-offs." The front tires are 18-inch Goodyears, while the rears are 19 inches to exaggerate the rear-end rake.

The car is finished in a high-gloss medium sunset yellow lacquer and several coats of clear lacquer, polished to a deep gloss. The bold double black racing stripes reminiscent of those that were on the GT40s of the 1960s sweep over the hood, roof and tail. Two more stripes streak along the rocker panel and announce the famous GT40 name in what Pardo calls a "mod" font.


Interior

On the GT40 concept, the cockpit seating, surrounding controls and instrumentation are redefined with modern precision and comfort added to the mix. Yet strapped into the GT40 concept's driver seat with a five-point safety harness and reaching for the wheel, one gets an instant surge of adrenalin in appreciation for what it must have been like to barrel down the Mulsanne straight at 200 mph.

 

[LogiWorld123]

The new GT40 is a left-hand-drive two-seater featuring leather-wrapped, custom Recaro bucket seats. Aluminum grommets that allow occupants more ventilation are embedded into the stitching. For easy access, the adjustable handle to control seat position is located on the front of the seat, rather than below.

A console runs the entire length of the GT40 passenger compartment. It houses the six-speed, short-throw shifter, CD player, and a leather-wrapped armrest to store "extras" that can't be allowed to clutter the cockpit.

The interior color theme is two-toned: black and silver. The console, sill plate, handbrake lever, shifter, safety belt buckles, and pedals are aluminum.

The comprehensive array of analog gauges on the instrument panel include: tachometer, speedometer, oil temperature, oil pressure, ammeter, water temperature and fore and aft tank fuel level. In addition, toggle switches to control vehicle systems line the instrument panel. All are strategically and intuitively placed, as they were in the original, so the driver doesn't have to take his eyes off the road for an extended period.

Looking through the rearview mirror, the driver has a clear sightline of the road behind the car. The interior backlight is mounted horizontally to the bulkhead and serves as a sound barrier between the cockpit and the powertrain. From inside, peering through the bulkhead window, or from outside looking in through the backlight, one can admire the powertrain display, an integral part of the GT40 concept design.

"There is no luggage space behind the seats and no room for a set of golf clubs anywhere in this car," says Mays. "It's a car designed for the driver who carves asphalt in his spare time."

 

[LogiWorld123]

ENGINEERING: GT40 PERFORMANCE HARDWARE SHOWS POTENTIAL FOR FUTURE LEGENDS


A supercharged MOD 5.4-liter V-8 engine, an aluminum spaceframe and a competition-tuned suspension provide the performance credentials of Ford's GT40 concept.

More than a styling exercise, the mechanical execution of the GT40 concept is as much a part of the car's essence as is its design. And, while much of the hardware has been custom-fabricated for the show car, one can only imagine how easily it could be brought into production, either in GT40 form or on another Ford Living Legend.

To ensure that the vehicle's mechanicals met with the expectations that would be required of a vehicle bearing the GT40 name, Ford turned to Special Vehicle Team Engineering. SVT engineering chief John Coletti and vehicle engineering manager Fred Goodnow led the project from its inception.


The Performance Vision

Ford SVT Engineering took its lead from Ford North America Product Development Vice President Chris Theodore's vision of three essential GT40 attributes - that it go fast, handle exceptionally and look great.

The GT40 concept is intended to be a world-class road-going car, with a refined interpretation of American performance.

As the original GT40 proved, a well-engineered but relatively uncomplicated vehicle could and can still compete with the best vehicles in the world, can do so more reliably, and can provide a more entertaining driving experience. To that end, some advanced performance technologies were deliberately left off the GT40, with the primary emphasis on the traits that best capture the spirit of the Le Mans champion.


Supercharged MOD 5.4L V-8

More than three decades ago, when the European competition was busy building complicated, high-strung V-12s, Ford proved that a simpler, more traditional V-8 approach could provide competitive power, a tremendous torque advantage, and the reliability needed for endurance racing.

Today's MOD 5.4-liter V-8 builds on that heritage. In this application, the largest V-8 in Ford's modular engine family produces 500 horsepower at 5250 rpm and 500 foot-pounds of torque at 3250 rpm. Both figures are comparable to those of the 7-liter engine that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966 and 1967.

"The Ford MOD engines are great performance engines that allow so much versatility for us as engineers and for our customers who love to modify their cars," says Coletti. "This application really demonstrates its awesome potential."

The all-aluminum MOD V-8 has been fitted with high-flow, four-valve cylinder heads and dual overhead camshafts. To bear the stresses necessary to produce 500 horsepower, Coletti used a forged steel crankshaft, shot-peened H-beam connecting rods from Manley, and forged aluminum pistons from Karl Schmidt Unisia. The engine uses a modified Roots-type supercharger from Eaton with an intercooled intake.

Behind the 9-inch heavy-duty McLeod clutch, the SVT team installed a special transaxle to accommodate the mid-engine layout. Sourced from RBT, the close-ratio six-speed uses internal components from transmission manufacturer ZF. It is fully synchronized and features an integral limited-slip differential.


All-New Aluminum Chassis

Rather than modifying an existing platform for the GT40 concept, SVT chassis engineers created an all-new aluminum spaceframe. Constructed of extruded sections and aluminum panels, the spaceframe provides a rigid foundation for the engine and driveline while permitting the use of the specially fabricated composite body panels. The spaceframe consists of a central cabin section, a front suspension sub-section, and a rear powertrain-chassis cradle, bolted together for rigidity.

While the original GT40s owed their chassis stiffness to a pair of beefy sills that doubled as fuel reservoirs, the new concept relies on a single center tunnel for its backbone. While greatly improving entry and exit, it has the added benefit of providing a structurally secure location for the fuel supply.

The concept's suspension has been fabricated almost entirely from scratch. The layout, front and rear, uses unequal-length control arms and a push-rod/bell-crank system to interface with the horizontally mounted spring-damper units. Mounting the spring-damper units horizontally allowed the designers to achieve the characteristic low-slung GT40 profile.

At the wheels, engineers chose Alcon 6-piston monoblock calipers and dinner-plate-sized cross-drilled discs for excellent stopping power from high speeds.

The wheels themselves - 18 inches at the front and 19 inches at the rear - were custom-fabricated for the concept car and are wrapped by substantial Goodyear raised-white-letter tires. In an age when concept-car tires have been likened to giant black rubber bands, the GT40 concept is proud to have a relatively tall 45-series sidewall - a throwback to the original car.

"We could build a 200-mph supercar and fill it with a range of cutting-edge technologies, but it wouldn't be Ford GT40," says Coletti. "But rest assured: If this car meets an Italian exotic on a winding road or finds itself at a stoplight next to an American muscle car, it will have no trouble defending its honor."

 

[LogiWorld123]

GT40 CONCEPT TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS


Construction

Aluminum spaceframe, unstressed composite body

Dimensions

Length: 181.6 in (4613 mm)
Width: 76.8 in (1950 mm)
Height: 43.5 in (1106 mm)
Wheelbase: 106.7 in (2710 mm)
Track width, front: 64.4 in (1636 mm)
Track width, rear: 65.0 in (1650 mm)


Engine

5.4-liter, DOHC 32-valve, supercharged and intercooled MOD V-8
Aluminum block and heads

Horsepower: 500 @ 5250 rpm
Torque: 500 lb-ft @ 3250 rpm

Bore: 3.55 in (90.2 mm)
Stroke: 4.17 in (105.8 mm)
Compression ratio: 8.5:1

Horsepower/liter: 88.9
Fuel requirement: 91 octane
Fuel capacity: 28.4 gallons


Transmission

RBT 6-speed transaxle

Ratios:

1st 2.86:1
2nd 2.06:1
3rd 1.47:1
4th 1.18:1
5th 0.958:1
6th 0.740:1
Reverse 2.86:1

Final drive ratio: 4.22:1, limited slip


Suspension

Front: Unequal-length control arm, push-rod/bell-crank system with longitudinal/horizontal spring-dampers

Rear: Unequal-length control arm, push-rod/bell-crank system with longitudinal/horizontal spring-dampers


Brakes

Alcon 6-piston monoblock calipers
Ceramic-based "Ceratec" friction material, 11.5 in2 (74 cm2) per pad

Cross-drilled Alcon discs, 15.0-in (380 mm) diameter, 1.5-in (32 mm) width; 48 curved-vane design for enhanced cooling, lightweight aluminum hats


Wheels and Tires

Front Rear
Wheels: 18" x 8" 19" x 10"
Tires: 245/45R18 285/45R19

 

[Ryan]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much readin Matt, Need to be like Tommy and break it down Potatoe Head style..

 

[sohowcome]

Originally posted by RTStabler51
Waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much readin Matt, Need to be like Tommy and break it down Potatoe Head style..

:lol: :lol: :lol:

He only understands copy and paste, not copy edit and paste........

 

[AV8R]

Can't wait to get ahold of a set of those heads for my car. Can you say Port/Polish baby.

 

[PFA]

For the engine....I heard that there will be a 75mm twin bore TB on it.

 

[SVTnv]

Originally posted by PFA
For the engine....I heard that there will be a 75mm twin bore TB on it.

ZZZOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!! heheh

 

[SnkEyes]

I have heard that the 500HP is RWHP! Also, I have heard rumors in mags and such that a limited edition GTR with a V10 or V12 will be available later on. Those numbers will look similar to the GT90 concept car. Come on Power Ball!