Enthusiasts What You Learn After Driving the Ford GT

© Kevin McCauley What You Learn After Driving the Ford GT

The Ford GT debuted in January, 2015. That's more than two years ago. In that time, a racing version of the GT was developed and won the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, both substantial accomplishments for such a short period of time. But that road car we first saw? Nobody has driven it.

Until now.

R&T's Editor-in-Chief Kim Wolfkill just spent some time with the roadgoing GT at Utah's Miller Motorsports Park. Here are a few of his quick thoughts on Ford's new supercar. Look for a deeper dive into the GT soon and get our impressions of the interior, looks, and sounds in our ridealong. - Ed.

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Yes, we've finally driven the Ford GT . Here's what it's like after you get behind the wheel. From Road & Track. The Ford GT debuted in January, 2015. That's more than two years ago.

2017 Ford GT First Drive : The Right Stuff (Motor Trend). Ford 's All News GT Brings SOme of Racing's Best Practices to the Street (Automobile). Ford GT First Drive : Hoo Baby! (Autoweek). What You Learn After Driving the Ford GT (Road and Track).

1. Tight fit. We've covered the interior before, but not from the driver's seat. It's still tight like a Lotus Elise–larger people will rub shoulders, I'm 6'2" and my hair grazes the headliner–but it's not unpleasant. Everything looks and feels like it should on a car that costs as much as a GT does. But here's a quirk: the pedals are adjustable, but it's manual, no electric motors here. You pull a fabric tab to move the pedals. But you don't care about a fabric pull to move the pedals. You care about how it drives.

2. Sound doesn't matter. Power delivery is linear in the 3.5 liter, 647-horsepower twin-turbo V6 with a clean pull from around 3000 rpm all the way to redline. But the exhaust note doesn't significantly change as it runs up the tach, not even when it delivers a slight boost in power from 5000 rpm onward. And the V6 isn't an exotic sounding powerplant to begin with, so you have to be excited about the racing pedigree behind the engine. But Turbo lag is pretty much non-existent, part of that is because it has anti-lag (Anti-lag. In a road car.) that keeps the turbo spooled to 20,000 rpm in Sport and Track mode.

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<p>The Mustang was built so early on that some of the sheetmetal is stamped preproduction.</p>The 1965 Mustang was powered by a 170 cubic inch inline-6 cylinder paired to a 3-speed manual transmission. Although the Mustang may have not made a lot of power at first, Ford was using groundbreaking styling cues and the car sold like gangbusters, 9 million and counting to be exact. It is unclear on how much the 1965 Ford Mustang will go for but we can safely assume the car will go for significantly more than any Mustang currently in production.

This makes the 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT 350 a magical car and a very rare type of beast. Here are 10 things I learned while driving it I was lucky enough to be driving a Maserati Quattroporte after the Shelby GT 350, but I missed the Mustang so much, that all week, my attitude towards the

So before I drove the Ford GT , I had to learn to drive stick from scratch. In a 526-horsepower Mustang GT 350. The Ford GT wouldn’t look as badass with a bigger engine. Either way, the GT can attack a track like mad. After all, the car was literally made for the track.

© Kevin McCauley

3. The 7-speed dual-clutch Getrag transmission is outstanding. Upshifts are lightning fast, the downshift blips perfectly and the gearing appropriate for everything from in-town driving to track days. 7th gear feels a bit like an overdrive in normal conditions, but clearly serves a higher purpose when helping propel the GT to its 216 mph top speed.

4. The experience and looks are mismatched in the best way possible. The GT looks really high tech (and it is), but it doesn't act like it's some sort of wundercar that c. It's refreshing to drive something this fast and this capable that relies less on digital wizardry and more on good old-fashioned race car engineering.

5. Hydraulic steering. The GT has hydraulic steering, a dying technology that is still better than electric steering. As you'd hope, it does an excellent job of reminding the driver what the road is doing and how the car is responding to the road. The wheel moves around in your hands on uneven surfaces, but not nervously, it's communicative.

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<p>According to reports, the Shelby GT350's transmission and rear differential can overheat in as little as 15 minutes.</p>A lawsuit filed on March 22, 2017 at the U.S. District Court for the southern district of Florida stated the 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 is at risk of having its transmission and rear differential overheat in as little as 15 minutes. Since the vehicle was marketed as a track-ready muscle car with years of racing heritage engrained into its DNA, both law firms are filing a class action lawsuit against Ford for fraud and breach of warranty claims.

Finally, the Ford GT is ready for the road, and it's Dearborn's most audacious car, ever. By Kim Wolfkill. Aug 7, 2017. First Drive : 2017 Chevrolet Bolt. What You Learn After Driving the Ford GT .

First Drive Ford Mustang Gt Hot Rod Network. We drive the Mustang GT and the new EcoBoost Stang.. What You Learn After Driving the Ford GT . Yes, we’ve finally driven the Ford GT .

© Kevin McCauley

6. A moron can drive it, but the GT won't flatter you. Excellent mechanical grip and genuine levels of downforce make the GT nearly unflappable on public roads. Its limits are so high that only severely bad driving can unsettle it. At the track, the GT behaves the way any good race car should, race car being the key word there. It's forgiving to a point, but also expects you to know what you're doing. It responds naturally to inputs, but works best when those inputs are smooth, measured and flow from one to the next.

7. You have to drive it like you mean it. The chassis generates the most grip and cornering force when it's appropriately loaded, whether it be trail braking into a corner or accelerating out. It doesn't take well to hesitation or trepidation, you need to be assertive. As low as the GT is, it transitions from side to side quickly and predictably with no noticeable body roll or hesitation.

8. Braking is insane. Braking from high speeds requires you to recalibrate your brain. That's because of just how powerful the brakes are and how the downforce helps with initial braking grip. Additionally, the rear airbrake helps keep the car balanced and stable under hard braking.

Ford Mustang Named Best-Selling Sports Car on Earth

<p>Ford has built more than 395,000 current-generations Mustangs since 2015.</p>In 2016, Ford recorded a growth in global Mustang sales of 6 percent from the prior year. Currently, the Mustang is sold in 140 countries and six more are also in the process of being added. Since 2015, Ford has sold 98,000 Mustangs to buyers outside of America. In total, Ford managed to sell more than 150,000 Mustangs globally.

MORE: The New Ford GT : What You Need to Know. Ford wants the cars driven in public, to create interest in the brand for folks more likely to spring for a Fiesta or Focus ST, or a Mustang, after seeing the high point of Ford ’s motorsport evolution thus far.

Example of modern car without: 8200-rpm Ford GT 350, where it feels like someone with a hand down your pants.) Seen outside the car, the engine and its accessories look ominous, a hulking suitcase of doom. What You Learn After Driving the Porsche Panamera.

© Kevin McCauley

9. Looking like a race car doesn't make it a bad road car. For a car that shares so much with a pure-bred race car, I was expecting the on-road manners to suffer at the expense of superior track performance. Not the case. Thanks to already good suspension tuning that can be further softened via Multimatic's adjustable spool valve shocks, the GT delivers a compliant ride that's far from punishing. Admittedly, a carbon tub, performance suspension and sticky, stiff sidewalled tires will never be luxury car smooth, but the GT certainly gives up nothing to other supercars and is noticeably less jarring than many track-focused production cars (GT2 RS, M3 GTS, ZL1 1LE, etc.).

Related Video: Reviewing the Ford GT, America's fastest supercar

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Reviewing the Ford GT, America's fastest supercar

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