A Twist of Le Mans: 2005 Ford GT
Despite being the heaviest (3468 pounds) and, even with 550 horsepower, the least-potent car in the trio, on the nearby vehicle dynamics area the GT left our test equipment gasping to keep up. It blitzed from 0 to 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds, the lavish torque, superb clutch, and positive shifter making the GT the easiest car of the three to launch from a standstill. The quarter mile was a stunner: 11.2 seconds at 131.2 mph (for comparison, the last Dodge Viper we tested (January 2004) ran the quarter in 11.8 seconds at 123.6 mph).
The GT's aluminum control-arm suspension is a worthy complement to the rippling V-8. Flying through the cones at 71.8 mph, the GT notched a second-place score (ahead of the Enzo) in our slalom test, the chassis responding with the same inspiring, predictable feel we've experienced in sports cars like the Corvette Z06. You can slide the GT and rein it back in without ever feeling like it's about to bite you, a real achievement for such a high-performance mid-engined machine. Brakes are third-best but still outstanding, the GT stopping from 60 mph in just 110 feet.
By the way, did we mention that we think the GT is one of the most beautiful sports cars we've ever seen?
Compared with the Ferrari and the Porsche, the Ford feels a bit old-school. And, indeed, it doesn't use carbon fiber and lacks computerized stability control and exotic brakes. Yet the GT's track numbers speak for themselves: It's just a whisker shy of the Porsche in top speed and runs just a tick behind the two Europeans on the dragstrip. Add in the GT's beauty and exceptional poise, and the $150K sticker begins to look like it belongs on a discount rack in Filene's Basement.
Concealed below the Ford GT's retro-racing bodywork are two aerodynamic elements--a front "splitter" to resist nose lift and rear venturi tunnels to lower under-body pressure--that would have substantially benefitted the original GT40.
This particular GT was due in Dallas for another event the day after our test. Did Ford swathe its baby in Bubble Wrap and roll it onto a trailer full of lab coats for the ride? Nope. At day's end, the car's handler simply topped off the tank, tossed the keys to a driver, and told him to have a nice trip. Just like that, Ford's white-striped, 200-mph Le Mans-inspired masterpiece rumbled out of the APG gates and back into the real world of left-lane bandits, instant-on radar, and bad road food.
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