The first day of the Second Annual Ford GT Owner's Rally included timed laps through a road course set up at the El Toro military base. The course was too tight to generate much speed, but that was probably by design. One sure-fire killjoy at any car event is to let a vehicle, or person, suffer serious damage. Two timed runs were made in our long-term GT with no cone casualties...
However, even with the tame course design there was a certain level of vehicle damage occuring on a good chunk of participants' cars. The GT has a notoriously high first gear to allow zero-to-60 runs with no shifting (great for those enthusiast publication spec charts). But it also means you have to be pretty skilled with your launch technique to avoid frying the clutch. I'd like to report on all the tire-smoking launches made during the timed laps...but it was rarely the tires I saw (or smelled) smoking...
To paraphrase Mr. Ferrari: "Not every Ford GT owner is a Ford GT driver."
Karl Brauer, Editor in Chief, Edmunds.com @ 10,225 miles
SubyTrojan says:
06:47 PM, 08/ 2/07
Was it more like an autocross course that was setup? :( That's like relegating a champion thoroughbred to the kids' pony ride!
It still looks/sounds like a lot of fun though! :o)
vodka says:
07:40 PM, 08/ 2/07
That was fun and cool...
stingray454 says:
09:02 AM, 08/ 3/07
Man, I love that car. The more I see it, the more I want one BAD.