Ford GT Testing in Birmingham, AL
#1
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Joined: January 29, 2004
Posts: 9,887
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From: Vestavia Hills, Ala.
How did I miss this?! :bang:
<center>Ford's Better Idea: Take GT to Barber</center>
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer
02/28/04
Ford Motor Co.'s new GT sports car may be built in Michigan, but it's getting its workout in Birmingham.
Nine engineers are spending three days at the Barber Motorsports Park road track testing a prototype of the GT to tweak the design and engineering before sending the car into production in June.
"This is still a development car," said Tom Reichenbach, vehicle engineer manager with Ford. "We will validate any design changes we've made."
Reichenbach said the car running at Barber is actually the third prototype of the new GT, which is a re-creation of the famous GT-40 race car Ford ran in the 1960s. He said a fourth prototype will be built with the final improvements before production.
Putting the car on a road course allows for greater testing of particular elements of the car, according to Gene Martindale, chassis design engineer.
"It was too cold in Michigan to run these kinds of tests," he said. "We could get the track time we needed down in the South where it's warmer."
Martindale said he was surprised to see what the Barber track was like when the crew arrived Thursday. "When we first drove up here, we thought, `We're not at a racetrack, we're at a golf course."
The crew has 10 more hours of track time today to run the prototype car on the course.
George Barber, whose foundation developed and operates the track, said having Ford test its hottest new product is just the sort of thing he envisioned when he built the $55.5 million facility on 700 acres in Birmingham near Leeds.
"The fun thing about it is to have people like this in Birmingham," Barber said. "Then they leave having nothing but positive things to say about Birmingham."
General Motors, Lotus and Porsche are among the companies that have reserved the track this year.
Ford projects that the GT, which made its national debut in commercials during the Super Bowl, will sell up to 4,500 vehicles over the next three years. Pre-orders almost fill the first year of production, the company said.
The cars carry a price tag of $139,000. The 500-horsepower car in testing has surpassed 200 mph.
<center>Ford's Better Idea: Take GT to Barber</center>
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer
02/28/04
Ford Motor Co.'s new GT sports car may be built in Michigan, but it's getting its workout in Birmingham.
Nine engineers are spending three days at the Barber Motorsports Park road track testing a prototype of the GT to tweak the design and engineering before sending the car into production in June.
"This is still a development car," said Tom Reichenbach, vehicle engineer manager with Ford. "We will validate any design changes we've made."
Reichenbach said the car running at Barber is actually the third prototype of the new GT, which is a re-creation of the famous GT-40 race car Ford ran in the 1960s. He said a fourth prototype will be built with the final improvements before production.
Putting the car on a road course allows for greater testing of particular elements of the car, according to Gene Martindale, chassis design engineer.
"It was too cold in Michigan to run these kinds of tests," he said. "We could get the track time we needed down in the South where it's warmer."
Martindale said he was surprised to see what the Barber track was like when the crew arrived Thursday. "When we first drove up here, we thought, `We're not at a racetrack, we're at a golf course."
The crew has 10 more hours of track time today to run the prototype car on the course.
George Barber, whose foundation developed and operates the track, said having Ford test its hottest new product is just the sort of thing he envisioned when he built the $55.5 million facility on 700 acres in Birmingham near Leeds.
"The fun thing about it is to have people like this in Birmingham," Barber said. "Then they leave having nothing but positive things to say about Birmingham."
General Motors, Lotus and Porsche are among the companies that have reserved the track this year.
Ford projects that the GT, which made its national debut in commercials during the Super Bowl, will sell up to 4,500 vehicles over the next three years. Pre-orders almost fill the first year of production, the company said.
The cars carry a price tag of $139,000. The 500-horsepower car in testing has surpassed 200 mph.
#3
Brad, Ford had all three prototypes at the track last weekend...only two went back to michigan in good shape. A buddy of mine is the head landscaper at the track. He told me about the cars and the crash wish i could have been there to get pics for the site... :bang:
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