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Fastest ever

Ford says its blistering new GT will beat McLaren and Ferrari around a racetrack

The all-new Ford GT achieves top speed of 347km/h – the highest for any Ford production vehicle to date.

THE ALL-NEW Ford GT is the fastest production vehicle that Ford has ever made having reached a top speed of 347km/h (216mph).

Ford’s new supercar has an advanced active suspension system and fully active dynamic systems to provide optimum downforce, drag and balance to help the car reach such blistering speeds on the track.

The GT is equipped with a new high-output 3.5-litre twin-turbo V6 engine that produces the highest horsepower of any EcoBoost engine ever. This engine makes 647hp and 745Nm of torque, with the engine’s wide powerband producing 90 per cent of its peak torque from 3,500rpm.

The engine was tested and developed through the Daytona Prototype race car that ran in the US for two seasons, last season racing with Ford GT.

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The Ford GT has a dry curb weight of 1,385kg, which places the supercar between its two primary competitors, the McLaren 675LT (1,230kg) and Ferrari 488 Speciale (1,475kg).

Last year at Calabogie Motorsports Park in Canada, Ford put the GT to the test up against these two rivals. With all contenders track-prepped with new fluids, fresh tyres and optimal suspension settings, in identical conditions and with the same driver behind the wheel, Ford’s GT apparently outperformed both other cars.

The Ford managed a time of 2:09.8, the McLaren managed 2:10.88 and the Ferrari managed 2:12.9.

Ford managed to make a lot of weight savings with its carbon fibre monocoque and aluminium structure, however, after testing Ford decided that it was worth adding in some heavier active aero and suspension systems in order to achieve the faster lap times.

Speaking about this, Raj Nair, Ford executive vice president, global product development and chief technical officer, said:

The Ford GT is all about performance. We achieved considerable weight savings with the carbon fibre architecture. We then reinvested some of that savings into where it counts most – performance, specifically, the active dynamics. The result is an even faster car.

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