It would appear as though Ford VP of design Moray Callum wasn’t kidding when he told us at the GT supercar’s 2015 Detroit auto show reveal that “the styling is 95 percent complete.” Our spy photographers managed to track down the first 2017 Ford GT prototype as it left Ford’s Dearborn headquarters, and aside from tailpipe extensions for emissions-testing equipment, nipple-like placeholder taillights, and a conspicuous lack of paint, the sports car looks identical to the “concept” displayed at the auto show.
-Admittedly, the GT looks quite good in this matte primer job, and comparisons to a certain caped crusader’s nighttime ride are almost too easy. Of course, we’d dig the GT with even less cover-up, as all of its bodywork—which eventually will be assembled in Canada—is either composite or carbon-fiber, and seeing the bare materials would be the coolest. This prototype retains the concept car’s clever intercooler and engine intake setup, wherein air enters a vent ahead of each rear wheel, passes through the air-to-air intercooler (there is one on each side of the GT), and then flows out of the taillight. The charged air inside the intercooler piping (this air, remember, is separate from the air entering the vent) is then sent up through the wing-like flying buttresses that link the rear fenders to the car’s main fuselage, where it’s pumped into the engine. It’s sweet, and we’re happy to see this complex system make it to production.
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The GT test mule pictured here also is missing its rear diffuser, giving us a peek at the rear differential, as well as the neat high-center-exit exhaust setup. Just a short distance ahead of those components sits a twin-turbocharged, 3.5-liter V-6 that’s expected to push out around 700 horsepower. We know that Ford is debating between forged-aluminum wheel and carbon-fiber pieces like those on the Mustang Shelby GT350R, and that the decision on a center-lock or five-lug design is also up in the air; this prototype has five-lug rims that appear identical to those on the show car, which were forged aluminum pieces.
-While it might seem surprising to see such a complete-looking test car already on the streets, we’ve been promised the GT in about a year and a half, a super quick turnaround for a car that was only approved as a project roughly 16 months ago.
-from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1RKQvzC
via Agya
