Ford Motor Company [NYSE:F] Performance has released the third in a series of videos on the development of the revived Ford GT. Chapter one detailed Ford's decision to build this race car/supercar. Chapter two examined the challenges and advantages involved in engineering a road car and race car simultaneously. And now chapter three takes a look at the shakedown testing of the race car and its first race in the Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Watch the video and you will see that Ford was pleased with the results of the GT's first shakedown session, but the first race brought disappointment as transmission failures for both Ford GTs took them out of the race far too long to contend for the win. The GT is racing under the Ford Chip Ganassi Racing team banner.
CHECK OUT: How The Ford GT Race Car Differs From The Road Car
Ford worked with the Canadian firm Multimatic Motorsports to develop the reborn GT for the street and the track. Ford decided to build the car with the goal of competing in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, 50 years after the GT40 won the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans with a 1-2-3 finish.
In the third of Ford's five-part "The Return" documentary, this one titled "Let's Race," we hear from Ford executives Raj Nair, Bill Ford, Jr., Dave Pericak, and Henry Ford III, as well as the impressively coiffed Multimatic vice president Larry Holt and Chip Ganassi Racing's George Howard-Chappell. These men share their insights on what it takes to make a project like this happen and what exactly went wrong at Daytona.
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The video also shows some cool behind-the-scenes racing footage, and we get to hear the GT's 600-plus horsepower EcoBoost V-6 at full tilt.
Only two segments remain, and we are guessing that at least one of them will follow the GTs as they race at Le Mans. When it's all said and done, Ford will produce a final long-form documentary.
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