The current Ford GT...is it a "real" Ford?

[derek0609]

Well, it's amazing the previous Ford GT was made at a regular Ford plant, the now torn down and leveled Ford Wixom plant in Wixom MI, I wonder what changed as I'm sure it could've been built in another plant....or no

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The Wixom site is now partially occupied by retail space. I live 10 minutes away.





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[Desertnate]

I'd look at as a joint venture, I'm sure experts were needed with the substructure both forming and metallurgy. I'm sure Ford as done this before with aluminum experts making the aluminum panels feasible and profitable with the F-150. No different than any building site in Chicago, the general contractors name is on the building but there could be various carpenter subcontractors doing framing,doors/hardware,cabinets,trim etc.

A joint venture is probably the best way to think about it and the level of effort by all parties depends on the project. In the case of the Ford GT, we can see what appears to be Ford employees building the cars. However in racing it gets WAY more complicated. In the case of the Mazda DPi car, Mazda funds the project, Joest Racing (of Audi Le Mans fame) runs the whole program to include employing all the race team personnel, and Multimatic actually builds/sets up the car based on pieces supplied by or purchased by Mazda or Joest. Multimatic will also have their own staff in the pits on race day sitting right with the Joest race engineers. Non-factory teams will vary based on the level of support they've hired Mulimatic to perform.

Just to get an idea how far Multimatic's fingers reach into racing, look up the company's technical director Larry Holt. The guy is very easy to recognize. Then, watch races for series like IMSA, WEC and others and you'll probably see him in the background of multiple pit garages as he looks in on customers on race day. In the early days of the Ford GT race program, you'd see him spend a lot of time in the WEC Ford team's garage and he'd be on a headset right next to the team principal.

Well, it's amazing the previous Ford GT was made at a regular Ford plant, the now torn down and leveled Ford Wixom plant in Wixom MI, I wonder what changed as I'm sure it could've been built in another plant....or no

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The 50th Anniversary of Ford beating Ferrari at Le Mans in 2016.

One of the biggest driving forces in the new Ford GT was running a GT race car to not only commemorate that victory, but to win it again (which they did). This lead to the whole effort really starting with the race car as the primary focus and the street vehicle as something they had to do in order to comply with the rules of GT-class racing. Most other efforts try to turn a street car into a race car. Ford was committed to winning at Le Mans, Daytona and Sebring, so they did it backwards. That is why there is very little difference between the race cars and the street versions mechanically. If you want to ensure you win on race day, Multimatic is one of the best engineering companies out there to make sure that happens.

I think the low production numbers also had something to do with not tooling up one of their other plants. The car was only originally to be produced for two years and raced for one or two. They ended up extending production and racing by a year.

If you really want to see a cool documentary about the development of the current Ford GT watch, "The Return" on Amazon Prime Video. Fascinating stuff.