Ford GT40 Concept 2015

History shows that  cars that have been built to spite enzo Ferrari have always turned out to be legendary. In fact, two of the most beautiful cars ever built were made to one-up enzo. Case in point, the Lamborghini Miura and the Ford GT40. Back in 1962, Ferrari wanted to sell his company and henry Ford was the front-runner to buy it. a few days away from the final transfer, Ferrari realised his years of labour would be unable to take on the sheer weight of the Ford’s global program and pulled the plug. henry Ford was enraged. he gathered his best guys together and ordered them to build a Ferrari-killer for Le Mans, just to prove they didn’t need the old ‘eye-talian’ company to build supercars. The Ford GT40 was born, a track-bred racecar, powered by an old school yankee V8, which went on to win the Le Mans 24 hours four times, in various drop-dead gorgeous guises.

Skip to present day, several (not-so-great) homage cars later, the Ford GT is back. and how! Just looking at it in its electric blue paint job at the Detroit Motor show, gives us the same tingling in our pants that we got when we first laid eyes on the GT40. Personally speaking, that’s half the battle won right there. Internet aficionados (stalwarts of informed commentary as they are) have already flooded forums cribbing about the fact that the supercharged V8 has been dropped. But we can't see the problem when the V8 gives way to a twin-turbo 3.5-litre ecoBoost V6, with 'more than 600bhp' (no hybrid here), tweaked and tuned by Ford’s more-than-capable motorsport wing. even though official reports aren't out yet, it’s safe to expect a sub 3-second 0-100kmph run, and a top speed north of 300kmph.

Ford have dropped the original Detroit blue-collar approach to building supercars altogether; the new GT is an amalgamation of old-school charm and top-of-the-line engineering. In english, this means the GT, like the McLaren 650s and P1, will have a full carbon passenger tub, not to mention carbon in large parts of the chassis components to bring weight down. Ford claims the GT will exhibit one of the best power-to-weight ratios of any production car in the world.

As for the styling, active aero is the new name of the game and here too, Ford is not only on the ball, but all over it. There's an active rear wing which adjusts height and angle based on speed and wind conditions. Think Ferrari 458. To add to the oomph, the GT gets scissor doors. styling and motor aside, the new GT will get racing-inspired push-rod suspension and adjustable ride height. The traditional metal-gate h-pattern shifter has been dropped for a 7-speed paddle shifter, not to mention the very euro-supercar-esque cabin. The fully customisable instrument display comes with a plethora of buttons, which we’re sure will do many things. we’re told the GT will go on sale late next year, in time for the 2016 Le Mans, with a trial run this year, maybe.

In the past, Ford has said that there would be a new GT at Le Mans in 2016, which brings a lot of things about this car into perspective. First off, the 3.5-litre motor slips under the 4-litre turbo-ban in Le Mans. second is the menagerie of race-grade engineering, which is oh so unlike the usual Fords. and with it being right hand drive, unlike the original or follow-up GTs, Ford could also bring it to India as a halo car, to mark 50 years of the GT40’s first win at Le Mans. One lives in hope.