Is there an official Nürburgring time for the second generation (‘17-‘22) Ford GT?
Posted by sashagof@reddit | Autos | View on Reddit | 23 comments
After the Mustang GTD ran a sub 7 minute lap I was wondering how that compares to Ford’s last halo car but I can’t find any official or reliable Ford GT lap times.
behildeer@reddit
now there is
sashagof@reddit (OP)
I was thinking about this post today!! Wow
Trollygag@reddit
That's because Ford never put a professional driver into a track set up Ford GT to set lap times.
Nurburgring lap time is cool, but it's not the benchmark every car is tested against. Importantly, most American car makers don't ship cars to Germany with a whole support team to do Nurburgring attemps like Porsche and Mercedes do.
If you see an American car lap time in the records list, it was almost always privately funded - just some dude doing it or sponsored by a magazine, not a factory team/factory support.
Joker1721@reddit
Ford Mustang GT Nurburgring time - 7:40
Porsche 718 Cayman Nurburgring time - 7:46
We really should stop underestimating American cars when it comes to cornering lol
LMF868@reddit
Sorry to burrst your bubble but the nurburgring is the best benchmark for high powered street and race cars. It's kinda like the half mile and mile long of drags - 1/8 and quarter miles have been played out by power to weight cars that to truly test the aero and power of 1k+ hp cars, they need longer strips.
12CylindersSoundBest@reddit
Which makes the Viper's success on the 'Ring all the more impressive IMHO.
OKIEColt45@reddit
Especially for being in 2017....with a manual....and rigid aero unlike the fancy supercars. Also admit a fault of using kumhos which failed on a heater lap because its a good question why fiat didnt use Michelin pilot sport cups like everyone else.
KangarooNo8144@reddit
👆 yikes, this didn't age well...
CaptainDrool@reddit
super late! BUT Fords other competitors(Dodge and Chevy) both put their High performance super cars(the Gen V Viper ACR and the C7 ZR1) on the nurburgring
glazeddonut58@reddit
Wasn't expecting to find you outside of the LR subreddit lol
Dotabjj@reddit
Narrator: nurburgring is the most important benchmark for performance cars.
On another note, american car fans celebrating the mustang gtd breaking 7 mins.
LMF868@reddit
I look forward to see this along with its similarly spec'd competitors
296 New NSX McLaren Altura and probably a better spec'd Emira
I wonder how these MR cars would fair against a similarly 6 piston powered rear engined 911 benchmark.
Prestigious_Case9023@reddit
After asking Chat GPT it gave me this answer:
“The second-generation Ford GT (2017-2022) recorded an unofficial Nürburgring Nordschleife lap time of 7:04.00. This time was achieved during testing by Ford but was not officially published or verified, as Ford did not aim for a formal record at the track.”
This seams reasonable because the ford gt got a 1:23.69 on Willow Springs and the closest car would be the Porsche 918 Spyder with a 1:23.54 and a 6:57 on the Nürburgring. One reason I could imagine would be that Ford wanted the GTD to be the first American sub 7min car. But I don’t think that the GT would be faster than the GTD since the official time wasn’t done in optimal conditions.
OKIEColt45@reddit
Makes you wonder what the acr could of done if fiat had used Michelins stock like everyone else. Id read in various places the Michelins had turned 2 seconds on average faster times on 3min circuits when compared to the outdated kumho the acr used stock at the time. Considering the acr went 1:21 at willow and over a second faster at laguna where it was said to favor the 918. With a 7:01 early in its lap heaters at the ring i honestly think it was possible if hadn't held it back I assume in favor to hold the beloved ferrari they owned at the time high on its pedestal.
SPLICER21@reddit
I feel obligated to inform the public, at this point, that there absolutely was a point in time when 'Ring times were becoming a problem for some. Right around when the Mk2 GT (that feels so wrong to say lol) was being unveiled (I think, sorry).
The GT was also a very, very big surprise for everyone. Ford had said after Mk1 "never again," and considering how amazing first gen was I would have kinda agreed. For those that don't know, the GT40 was 40 inches tall. The 2002 concept, and all the hard top production cars I know of were 43 inches tall (unless my brainrot changed the number, sorry).
Mk1 was a street-legal "homologation homage," as I like to call it. Mk2 was designed specifically to win Le Mans, and/or collect data to make flipping EcoBoosts worth a damn. Ford won Le Mans that year, marking 50 since the OG's first win. They almost surely sandbagged the cars for the 2016 season, too, specifically to win Le Mans without giving the competition a chance to match pace. All that together hopefully paints the reasoning for them not posting "fastest times" specifically for Mk2.
-source is my own knowledge of my favorite damn car since 2002
sashagof@reddit (OP)
What do you mean by sandbagging the cars? I’m not familiar with that term.
SPLICER21@reddit
Can be literal or figurative. Literal, weighing down the car is an example. Figurative, having the drivers not drive as hard for part of the season. The reason for: when a particular car is THAT MUCH faster, it has to be "corrected a bit." Regulators try to keep it fair, and especially with a brand new car....they tend to watch them closely.
For Ford, I'd imagine the goal was Le Mans and literally nothing else. For the 50 year, didn't necessarily care about record setting. And actually, I wonder if the GT could even get into race mode on the Nür. Too low? Can't prove any of that myself, but I remember the talk from the time lol. Cheers
Supra1JZed@reddit
That's a completely fair thought. The GT was an exceptionally clever car that was very clearly made for LeMans and LeMans alone. It's aero was extremely slick and actually part of why it had side a large surface area (make up some downforce). It was INSANELY good at cutting through air and would REALLY capitalize on the draft. The real ace up its sleeves? It didn't return the favor worth a shit. If you look at the car, the cockpit and engine bay are shaped into quite a decent "tear drop". This gives two huge benefits. It's the most aerodynamic shape so drag is amazing. BUT it also fucks the guy behind with the way they made it work. A car behind is basically trying to draft a couple of motorcycles, in a sense. A huge percentage of the air the GT cuts through is getting dumped directly behind it and in the face of a car that may be trying to draft. The rear tires are more in like nacelles than quarter panels. There was a thing and I can't even remember who, TV or YouTube, etc that I watched that was super nerdy behind the scenes on the car. It had some clever as hell engineering and I could certainly believe they had to sand bag prior to LeMans because it was brutal there. Favorite thing of it all...it started as a "Ya know what we haven't done in a while? That thing over there with the Frenchy people...let's go win that again. Sounds like fun, right?". And outta left fucking field, Ferrari relived their nightmare yet again. All because of a "ya know what would be fun...." errant thought. I'm not even a domestic car fan specifically but I am a car enthusiast. I love awesome cars, neat stories, etc. Like how Chevy kept the C8 so insanely secretive and made an absolute fool out of every car paparazzi/magazine entity out there. Look up Project Blackwing for another hilarious one...they half ass fabbed up a Holden bastardized ute to it and paraded that around for testing. lmao
FrontBench5406@reddit
If you want to see one blasting around the ring at speed - not a pro driver but a guy who knows the car and the track decent enough - Shmee150 takes his around the ring in today's video.
https://youtu.be/66H4nVGLveg?t=856
14:17 incase it doesnt just jump there.
deleted_by_reddit@reddit
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Puzzled_Dependent_98@reddit
That time was on the combined circuit.
FocusFlukeGyro@reddit
It would seem that the Mark I (V8) Ford GT ran a 7:52 Nurburgring lap, per fastestlaps dot com. However, given the times that both vehicles have done on the same track, it would seem the Mark II (V6) version is faster around a track.
https://fastestlaps.com/models/ford-gt
vs
https://fastestlaps.com/models/ford-gt-2017