We mentioned last month that Ford was teasing an announcement for July 4th at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK. Today is the day, and Ford has given up the goods on what the teaser image showed off. We figured at the time that it wasn’t a race car and thought it might be a street car, and it turns out that what Ford has unveiled is not exactly either of those. It’s called the Ford GT Mk II, and it’s a limited-edition, track-only version of the glorious Ford GT that is meant to take well-heeled drivers to the maximum performance that a Ford GT can provide.
Ford will build only 45 units of the Ford GT Mk II, each with a starting MSRP of $1.2 million. The Ford GT Mk II packs a 700 horsepower 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine backed with the race-proven aerodynamics and competition-oriented handling of the race car. The 700 horsepower figure is 200 horsepower more than the race car produces. Ford Performance and Multimatic teamed to channel what they learned in the FIA World Endurance Championship and IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship into the Ford GT Mk II.
They then turned all that up a notch in creating the Ford GT Mk II, which is engineered independent of race series rules, regulations, and limitations. Among the enhancements to the Ford GT Mk II is the large dual-element rear wing that exceeds the downforce that the GT race car offers. GT Mk II also uses an all-new front racing spitter and diffuser with new fender, louvers and dive planes to balance out the extra rear downforce.
Ford says that the aero changes give the GT Mk II over 400 percent more downforce than the Ford GT street car. When the extra downforce is combined with the race-proven suspension and Michelin Pilot Sport racing tires, the Ford GT Mk II can pull more than 2Gs of lateral grip. Mk II is also 200 pounds lighter and more agile thanks to the removal of the adjustable ride height and drive modes of the street car. The 5-way adjustable DSSV shock absorbers are designed to work with the fixed, lowered ride height.
The Ford GT Mk II uses the same 7-speed dual-clutch transmission from the street Ford GT, but the gearbox is calibrated for the track-exclusive application. Ford also added improved cooling capability with engine cooling technology, such as a high capacity air-to-air outboard-mounted charge air cooler with water spray technology. The water spray can activate automatically at high temperatures to spray atomized water on the charge air cooler to allow consistent power levels at high temperatures.
The roof-mounted air intake feeds more air to the engine, clutch, and transmission coolers. Since the Ford Mk II has more power, it also gets the street car’s carbon-ceramic brakes with 15.5-inch front and 14.1-inch rear Brembo rotors. The car sits on a set of special 19-inch forged aluminum wheels, and the front fascia and hood are similar to the Ford GT street car, as are the headlights.
Inside the beast has a bespoke Sparco racing seat with a six-point racing harness. A passenger seat is optional. Full MoTeC data acquisition system is added, and its screen acts as a display for the rear camera.
We’d say that the Ford GT Mk II is a great way to spend $1.2 million… but only if one is planning on actually using it.
Comments
The liveries, scoop and overall stance are awesome. It would be great, if they could make a street legal version of this car. On a different subject, 200 more horsepower will more likely make the new GT an unbeatable contender in an endurance competition. But we should not forget that, in an effort to make all things even, IMSA regulations ( through BoP) may decide to either sandbag it or hampering all the extra power by limiting boost, which I anticipate it would be very sad…
The standard production car already makes more horsepower than the IMSA race car due to “competition equality”, or something like that. This isn’t racing…it is pit strategey, and waiting for yellow flags to bunch up the field after you are almost ready to lap a competitor they favor.
Agreed. It’s called Balance of Performance or BoP, by which the sandbag cars to add weight or limit boost to cars with force induction. It is my opinion that BoP is somewhat politicizing endurance race. I believe those who can control performance can also produce winners on demand…
I would sell most of my internal organs for this car! What a machine!!! It’s a flying machine without wings!
LOL! The car sells for $1.2M. So, good luck with that. The car debuted at Goofwood FoS, yet you can find it lapping around some track in YouTube. At 775hp, the sound and acceleration are simply mind bending! These guys from Multimatic did an amazing job this time!