About two years and a half ago, Ford swept us off our feet in Detroit by showing its intention to once again one-up Ferrari at Le Mans, fifty years after its infamous GT40 hat-trick on the Circuit de la Sarthe. And while the concept for the new GT was present in Detroit, we've had to wait until now to get a taste of the Blue Oval's new halo car. Fortunately, all the daydreaming (and some night time dreaming, too) we've done meanwhile was worth it.
Henry Ford may no longer be around, but it's obvious that the carmaker is still led by the same ambition that allowed the great man to crush Ferrari at Le Mans after Enzo took a last-minute decision to cancel an acquisition deal that would've seen the Prancing Horse being taken over by the Americans.
For one thing, the Blue Oval used the rule book as a bit of a toy when coming up with the 2017 Ford GT. While most GT racers start out in life as road cars, the American supercar was created the other way around. Ford came up with a racecar that was designed to wipe out Maranello once again and the thing defeated the 488 racer well before getting disguised as a road car and entering production late last year.
All the background info explains the behavior confirmed in the just-landed 2017 Ford GT reviews - we've added a Carfection video talking about the missile at the bottom of the page.
From the carbon tub that has an integrated roll cage to the hydraulic pump feeding goodies such as the steering and the F1-like dampers, everything about the 2017 GT screams "racecar".
So, as you'd expect, the fuselage-gifted machine is a stunning performer on the circuit. Just as predictably, it's the kind of supercar that won't lure you into taking it for a non-stop roadtrip across the country.
And that's brilliant. In a world where digitalisation and emission standards risk diluting our supercars with each new generation, a hardcore animal such as the 2017 Ford GT is a breath of fresh air gas aroma.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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