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here’s a long-standing tradi-
tion along the Eastern coast of
Central Florida each year in
January. That’s the time that road rac-
ers from across the globe trek to Day-
tona to fire up the racing season at the
“Rolex 24.” This race would be the first
event at the track following a three-
year, four hundred million dollar ren-
ovation (they called it “Daytona
Rising”) of the facility.
Yes, Virginia, there
IS
a Santa
Claus, and Ford
IS
going back to Le-
Mans with the Ford GT! Daytona
would be the very first race for the all-
new 2017 Ford GT, and Ford GT own-
ers and enthusiasts materialized from
all over the world to watch the first
outing of their new darling under real
racing conditions. A few weeks before
the “Rolex 24” is an event at Daytona
they call the “Roar Before the 24” – a
three day testing session where cars
that plan to run the “Rolex 24” get
time to do some serious on-track test-
ing.
Chip Ganassi Racing brought two
new Ford GTs for the GTLM class and
two of their old Riley Daytona Proto-
type cars (Ford powered) for the Pro-
totype class. The engine in these
prototypes won the prototype class in
the 2015 “Rolex 24” and it is essen-
tially the same twin-turbo 3.5L V6
that powers Ford’s swoopy new Ford
GT.
Although conditions were wet and
miserable for most of the “Roar’s” test
sessions, the new Ford GTs proved
themselves to be incredibly fast and
looked to be pretty reliable. Although
a number of Ford GT enthusiasts have
complained about the new model
sporting a turbo-charged V6 instead of
a V8, many of them were impressed
with the sound of the new cars in race
trim at speed on the track. Not quite
as thunderous as those plastic cars out
of Bowling Green, but nowhere near
as wimpy and annoying as the sewing
machine whine of those tiny little V-
12s from across the pond.
Ford Motor Company really rolled
out the red carpet for Ford GT owners
at Daytona. A special parking corral
for Ford GTs was set up just outside
the track, along with a huge hospital-
ity tent where meals were served and
tech talks were provided for registered
participants. The package included
race tickets, corral parking, pit access,
and infield grandstand seating. At var-
ious times Ford execs and race-car
drivers would give talks about the
Ford GTs and their preparation for the
race in the hospitality tent. I only
caught one of these sessions, where
Dave Pericak (Director, Ford Perform-
ance) and Raj Nair (Executive Vice
President, Global Product Develop-
ment) talked about the cars and their
dreams of going back to LeMans later
in the year. Enthusiasts in the room
kept trying to get them to reveal some
secrets about the new car and other
upcoming offerings from Ford. “
What
colors will the new GT be offered in?
”
or, “
When will you make a new Light-
ning truck?
” Ford execs stuck to the
corporate playbook: “
Sorry, we cannot
discuss future product plans.
” You re-
ally couldn’t really expect them to spill
the beans, especially with Henry Ford
III sitting in the audience, could you?
I thought it was quite prophetic
when Raj Nair said, “
You know, before
this weekend is over, I’m SURE I’m
going to hear at least one of my engi-
neers say, ‘Gee, it never did THAT in
testing.’
” Everyone laughed but, un-
The SHELBY AMERICAN
Spring 2016 36
When a company like Ford debuts a new long-distance
endurance racer they do not keep it a secret.
T
Text and Photos by Jeff Burgy