Test drive Ford GT LMGTE PRO / GTLM: honorable tour

Last honors tour before retiring

From 1966 to 1969, Ford won four consecutive GT40 victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. From 2016 to 2019, the current GT celebrated its return to endurance racing. Today he makes his last honorable round before retirement.

Bad corners, relentless hill jumps, unimaginable finishing turns - the little sister on the Nurburgring North is called VIR, she is a pure American, whose home is the town of Alton, Virginia, with a population of 2000 people. Welcome to the déjà vu atmosphere on the North Route with the Ford GT of Virginia International Raceway.

In 2016, Ford celebrated an impressive return to endurance racing, which now ends four years later. In addition to participating with the factory team in the North American IMSA GTLM series and the FIA ​​WEC World Endurance Championship (LMGTE Pro class), Ford's return with the victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMGTE Pro class was the biggest sensation. in 2016

From 2016 to 2019, the Ford factory team entered the classic French race not only with the legendary number 67, but also with three other GT cars – a tribute to four Le Mans Grand Prix victories where the GT40 won four years in a row. (1966–1969) on a high-speed route to the Sarthe river.

The Battle of the Giants

It was the culmination of the legendary rivalry between car giants Enzo Ferrari and Henry Ford II. The American tycoon wanted to buy the Italian sports and racing car company Ferrari in order to quickly find success in motorsport. There was a scandal. After initial hesitation, Enzo Ferrari refused to sell his company. Then Ford created the GT40. The rest is history.

Not only the red and white GT with start number 67, but three other factory GTs appeared at the farewell launch after the company's end of competition and farewell to Le Mans in 2019 in the retro colors of the historic 1960s winners. Retired from racing before starting number 67, he now has the opportunity to drive a few more honorary laps in Virginia.

“Never play with the accelerator on S-curves. Either at full throttle or at half throttle – just never let off abruptly on that part of the track,” said Billy Johnson, Ford rider. He clearly understands these things, because for the last four years he started with GT at Le Mans.

Those who do not want to listen will feel it. Fourth, fifth, sixth gear. Optimistically, we drive at full speed for four consecutive turns at high speed. The beginning of this section is aptly named "The Snake". But when the snake "bites" you, you don't feel the painful forces of lateral acceleration - your ego will suffer the most when you hear the laughter of engineers from the control center.

One of the first laps of honor ends with a turn at high speed and a subsequent rollover in the forest onto the track. The GT becomes an Allroad, a low, wide car battling through the bushes. Fortunately, in the virtual world, man and machine remain unscathed.

Prior to the organizers' permission to pilot the Le Mans legend, the program includes a two-hour dry workout in a Ford Performance Technical Center simulator and a car ride on an authentic Virginia International Raceway. One racing car in Concord, North Carolina is home to 2D and 3D simulations from 22am to 365pm, almost XNUMX days a year.

Today, in front of a 180-degree cinema screen, the original GT cab moves back and forth on hydraulic struts. Not only at Ford, simulator operations are now an integral part of racing car design, car tuning and race preparation.

Training on a racing simulator

“We can change the weather, play with different traction conditions, or simulate darkness. That's how we prepared our drivers for two and a half hours of nighttime piloting at the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” says Mark Rushbrook, Ford Performance Head of Sports.

True to the smallest detail, the graphics of a high-tech simulator, which depicts a virtual track even in the side mirrors, is really charming. Heavy rain or even snow at a racetrack in Virginia? No problem - three engineers who monitor the simulator on ten monitors take on the role of St. Peter at the touch of a button.

Although the graphics give the impression of reality, the simulator cannot even approximate the lateral and longitudinal forces that will act on your body later in the race car. Moreover, the sensation of pressing the brake pedal in the simulator is perceived as too artificial.

Finding the right pedal pressure is just as difficult as finding the right stopping point. Not only does the spatial vision, which helps you estimate the distance to the turn, only conditionally works in the world of the virtual track, but the intense fear when you stop too late and a terrible rollover will soon follow does not show up in the simulator. Virtual accidents often happen to professional pilots.

“I also don't really like the brake in the simulator, because it seems unnatural. However, testing there is important because, for example, we can model different tire combinations faster,” says Ryan Briscoe.

Former F1 test driver Briscoe also raced Chip Ganassi Racing's Ford GT in races from IMSA, WEC and Le Mans. “When you shift into twelfth gear, you are driving without BoP. Then you will have about 100 hp. more,” the Australian professional racer smiles, pointing to a rotary switch on his steering wheel that has a bright red label that says “Boost” above it. For anyone who is not a fan of motorsport: BoP stands for "Performance Balance". Behind this is a technical regulation to bring various racing cars to approximately the same power.

The scissored carbon door slides noisily into the lock. We press the start button. The race-ready 220-litre V3,5 twin-turbo engine from Roush Yates Engines, Ford's racing engine partner, roars aggressively. We pull the right steering wheel, click - and Ricardo's sequential six-speed transmission rattles in first gear.

We start, accelerate to leave the pit lane, then press the yellow button on the steering wheel with the “turtle” symbol. This includes the Pit Limiter, which prevents the GT from exceeding the maximum allowed 60 km/h in the pit lane. We press the button - and the turtle turns into a racehorse. It starts!

BoP: more than 600 hp

„515 hp with the IMSA BoP,” Kevin Groot, Ford IMSA/WEC program manager, told us ahead of the start about the engine power allowance. It's less than half a lap away, and on the right hand is reaching for the aforementioned Boost knob. Now the car with a central engine develops more than 600 hp. “According to the IMSA BoP, the weight without a pilot and without fuel is 1285 kilograms,” says Groot.

GT impresses not only with the linear power distribution of its powerful biturbo unit, but also with the level of mechanical traction. The first part of the route is characterized by sharper turns. You turn the steering wheel to the millimeter to enter, you accelerate out of the way with good traction – with the GT you can find the perfect line exactly. The XNUMX-speed variable traction control makes the GT surprisingly easy to drive.

Horse Shoe, NASCAR Bend, Left Hook - the names of the first corners are as unfamiliar as the fact that there are no emergency exit zones at Virginia International Raceway. In other words, if on modern racetracks the exit from the track is provided with wide asphalt areas, then the old American track is more like a high-speed golf course. Near the asphalt road, a freshly mowed meadow begins everywhere. It looks elegant, but when leaving the track it will stop no less than ice in winter.

GT loves fast corners

Let's not think about it, but concentrate on the "snake". Ford GT calmly cuts corners through yellow-and-blue curbs - a cloud of dust appears on the rear-view camera display. A long-distance racing car no longer has a rear-view mirror. This is followed by high-speed S-bends.

Program manager

Another detail that the simulator cannot convey even approximately is the hilly terrain of the 5,26-kilometer runway with ups and downs. GT made its honorary tour on the "Full Course" variant, the same one it ran in the IMSA series in Virginia.

Not only on fast S-curves, the Virginia International Raceway is very similar to the North Circuit. After the GT reaches a top speed of almost 260 km / h on the long reverse straight, it descends through a downward combination of left and right corners.

As before in the S-curves, the GT is impressively different. Not only mechanical, but also aerodynamic thrust at altitude. Compared to the relatively close-to-production Mustang GT4 racing model, the GT's aerodynamic pressure is more than double.

The faster you go, the more the air pressure increases and the more stable the GT becomes on the track. Centrifugal forces repulse the body, which is tied with straps to the shell saddle, and mainly shake the muscles of the neck. But, of course, even the modern Le Mans legend cannot nullify the laws of physics. At some point, the border is reached here.

Price? Three million dollars

How does braking without ABS actually feel? If in the simulator almost every stop with the wheels locked causes white smoke from under the wings, then in real life the wheel rarely stops motionless when the speed decreases before turning. The Brembo racing braking system is very well dosed. This is why the GT shines with excellent braking performance.

If everything that has been said so far has awakened your passion for owning the legendary Ford GT, there is no problem as long as you have saved up enough funds. In addition to the class winner at Le Mans 2016, which will be admired by visitors to the Ford Museum, the remaining eight race cars produced are selling for $ XNUMX million each.