Ford has adamantly stayed away from pushing its performance machines around race circuits for lap-time bragging rights. And that sentiment hasn't changed to this day. That's despite a recent diagnostic visit to Virginia International Raceway where the Ford GT monstered every single production car lap record with a 2:38.62. But, Ford isn't planning on making that time (or any other) official.
The Drive reported on Tuesday that the automaker won't take the GT on a record-breaking spree at race courses. Ford Performance acknowledged the supercar's achievement in Virginia but said, "We have no plans to go for any lap records at VIR or other circuits going forward." Sorry Nürburgring fans, but Ford isn't going there.
Yet, just to rub it in—if only a bit—a Ford Performance spokesperson added the GT recorded its VIR time with a small support crew, far from ideal track conditions, and racing driver Billy Johnson, who'd never lapped VIR before. Sounds like Ford wanted to brag just a smidge while keeping its corporate mantra intact.
The mindset if far different from Ford's crosstown rival, Chevrolet. Lead Camaro engineer Al Oppenheiser recently said in an interview that he'd like to see a sub-7:00 lap time at the 'Ring. That's a tall order considering the closest his team has gotten is a 7:16.04 with the Camaro ZL1 1LE. But even if the Camaro never breaks the 7-minute barrier, we think Chevrolet may have something that could: a mid-engine Corvette.