How do you build a £450,000 Ford GT?
‘A race car with number plates’ is a line falsely pedaled by many car manufacturers’ marketing departments in the hope that it will conjure interest from hardcore enthusiasts. But when Ford says its stunningly handsome, new Ford GT is a race car for the road you can believe every word of it.
Ape Recommended Reading: Ape to Le Mans with Ford.
Headline Specifications
- 3.5 L EcoBoost V6 twin-turbo
- 7-speed Getrag PowerShift dual-clutch transmission
- 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds
- 216mph top speed
Ford GT x Multimatic
Initially designed to compete in the Le Mans 24hrs endurance race, Ford had to build road-going versions of the Ford GT in order for it to compete. So how do you build a racecar for the road? You get in touch with niche vehicle specialists Multimatic.
It’s a company based in Markham, Canada who operate out of a nondescript building, just on the outskirts of Toronto. You can think of Multimatic as the stuntmen in an action movie – the unsung heros who perhaps don’t get the credit they deserve. But the company has real pedigree; it built James Bond’s DB10 in Spectre and latterly created the Project 1 for Mercedes-AMG. Multimatic builds every Ford GT on behalf of Ford.
By Hand
The remarkable thing about Multimatic’s facility is what you can’t see, robots. Every single Ford GT that leaves the facility is painstakingly put together by hand. From start to finish each model takes around 25 days to complete and only one leaves the factory per day; Ford has promised to deliver 250 GTs per year for four years. For perspective around 1,500 Fiestas leave Ford’s factory in Cologne every day.
The Ford GT goes visits seven stations throughout its build process; each staffed with a team of engineers who scrutinize over the tiniest of details. If they’re not happy with the previous station’s work they can send it back to be revaluated.
Only 1,000 will ever be built
A challenge in creating something like the Ford GT, of which only 1,000 will ever be built, is attracting suppliers and parts. The steering wheel, for example, is a bespoke piece of design and engineering, which starts its life in Detroit, heads across the Atlantic to the UK to be trimmed, then on to Mexico and back up to Detroit to be fitted. The steering wheel alone may clock up more miles than some GTs will acquire in their lifetime.
