With a curved wing that looks like an angry scorpion’s tail from the side and a splitter that could be used to grate Paul Bunyan’s cheese, every single detail of the insanely buttressed Ford GT race car just looks right. Especially in person.
Ford unveiled the new GT race car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans today in a crowded portable that was unable to handle all of the media who needed (yes, needed) to see it in one go. I ran there with a couple of potatoes to capture Ford’s new GT machine and fortunately, photographer Rajan Jangda showed up as well with significantly better equipment.
We all love side exhausts. Double side exhausts are even better, particularly if these shoot flames out the side of the car as it enters the Porsche Curves.
The big buttresses and cleverly hidden vents on this car are amazing as well, suggesting that every shape on the crazy racer has a purpose.
There are so many fascinating caverns, folds, canards and crevices on the side of this car to guide air through and around it that just looking at this thing makes you proud to be an American. (Shh, “Canada and England had a part” guy. We’ll share tea and Timbits later.)
If this was kept as it is on the road car, these trick taillights direct heat from the turbo through the center of the light itself.
One of my favorite parts about nearly every diffuser-reared race car is the ability to see up into its bum to see everything that makes it work. Who needs form when naked function looks so great?
The portable was the very definition of standing room only. Not only was it well known that a Ford GT race car was on the way, there were strong indications that it would show up to Le Mans well ahead of its debut.
Ford spoke far and wide of a “special announcement” this week, but when everyone covering it from Le Mans saw not only the Ford vs. Ferrari tent full of historic racers, but staff manning Ford’s portable building in “GT”-branded merch, we knew exactly what was up.
We can’t wait to see this on the track where it belongs. The little building wouldn’t even hold everyone who wanted to see it, much less the glorious noise that comes from the Ford GT’s exhaust.
Blast the Lee Greenwood, everybody. This just feels right.
Photo credits: Rajan Jangda (all watermarked), self (all non-watermarked)
Contact the author at stef.schrader@jalopnik.com.