Visit to GT40 NA Factory

[Mark Charlton]

Hey Jerry,

Was the red GTNA car the same one on eBay now? These things keep showing up, but I wonder if any actually change hands?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayIS...ssPageName=WDVW

 

Hi Mark, It is hard to tell from these pictures but it was red with a white Lamans stripes. The car that was at Auburn did not have pin drive wheels, for that price. The car did have a stereo system and A/C. It was equipt with VDO gages and I was told digital instruments were available.

 

[Alain Vanhollebeke]

My yellow car has the trailing arm type rear suspension,,,,NOT the corvette stuff with the goofy offset wheels(of the later cars),,,,,,

and I doubt any are changing hands since I still own mine and am asking 30-50k less than anyone else is for theirs.

 

[Chris Duncan]

You sound very enthusiastic Fernando, and all car lovers should give support to anyone who attempts to build GT40's. It's a very difficult task which not very many people are even capable of much less masochistic enough to want to pursue.

In this case I would like to present some constructive criticism hopefully to help GT NA in their endeavors, knowing I wouldn't want to attempt the awesome task of bringing a GT 40 to market. I'll admit up front this probably is armchair quarterbacking though.

The GT NA is a pretty nice car overall. I'm sure also that the high price reflects the price of components and quality of design and construction, I mean look at all that carbon fibre. It has top priced components and flawless construction. It falls flat in only a couple of key places in design and component choices which if corrected would make it a premier example among all the GT40 kits.

The first would be the 4 barrel carb, in this price range it should be 8 stack webers or 8 stack TWM induction with Motec style engine management.

Next would be the flat bottom steering wheel, totally out of character. Aren't these for formula cars with very quick steering ratios? From the pics it looks like this car has a Mustang II rack with the 4.0 very slow ratio.

The non crossover exhaust is another. Although this looks like a highly tuned system with equal length primaries, it just doesn't have the look or the sound.

Lastly and this may only matter to the purists among us, at 2500 lbs it's a little bit on the heavy side. Isn't all that carbon fibre supposed to make things lighter?

I was always struck by how perfect the GT40 is. I think that's one of it's major appeals. It was refined over a short period with a massive combined factory and race teams effort and there's not really much you can change on it that doesn't detract from that perfection. At this price range it should be as near perfect as possible.

Maybe though like Steve points out GT NA's target customers might not be technically savvy enough to notice the GT NA's departure from originality or are the type that are just not bothered by it.

Oh well, IMHO or course.

 

[Ron Earp]

It appears to me the cars are built well enough, but like some of the others that have posted before I'd guess that the average www.gt40s.com GT40 shopper is not that interested. There are plently of departures from GT40 essence that don't appeal to the pursits, IMHO. Stereos, "modern" gauges, race seats better suited for SCCA or NASA, showy dashes, etc. IT appears that each car is quite different, thus the company has not found the niche it wants, unless that niche is basically custom car producer that happens to have a GT40 shape.

But, I realize I'm one of those that is slightly on the "less is more" side and enjoy the GT40 as a very pure and very light form (see Malcolm, I did learn something, light makes right! As Colin used to say, "let's add some lightness...").

If they could bring the price down to a much more reasonable level I think they'd have a shot of it, but at $129 or even $90k they are steep.

Of course, all of these things are just my opinion which I suppose I express a little more than I should or used to.

R

 

[Fernando Gonzalez-Bunster]

Yes I would agree on some of the points you make that don't adhere to the purist of the marque. And certainly your points make lot's of sense. I guess we all aspire to satisfy the Walter Mitty in all of us. Personally when I saw the car I took it as modern interpretation of a classic.

Your comment on the weight puzzles me a bit. I had the opportunity of driving the CAV factory "mule" at the Killarney track in Cape Town, SA It weighed about 2500lbs and was powered by what was admitted to be a tired old Ford 302 with a single Holley. Horsepower around 325. IMHO it had incredible performance, Acceleration was awsome. It had an Audi Getrag transaxle. The GT40 NA car has 100 more hp and weighs the same, so its performance must be substancially greater, at least on paper,

 

[Chris Duncan]

"Personally when I saw the car I took it as modern interpretation of a classic."

Maybe I shouldn't be so hard after all every GT40 is at least a little bit different, and when you spend your money it's for what you want, not what someone else thinks you should have.

"Your comment on the weight puzzles me a bit."

The original car weighs around 2,200 lbs. and that was without carbon fibre. Race cars utilize carbon fibre for high priced weight savings. Why does this car weigh the same as it's overweight (2,500lbs.) counterparts when it employs so much expensive carbon fibre?

Extra weight not only affects acceleration but cornering and braking. More HP only helps acceleration. The best handling, braking, accelerating package will work even better with less weight.

 

[Ron Earp]

[ QUOTE ]
Your comment on the weight puzzles me a bit. I had the opportunity of driving the CAV factory "mule" at the Killarney track in Cape Town, SA It weighed about 2500lbs and was powered by what was admitted to be a tired old Ford 302 with a single Holley. Horsepower around 325. IMHO it had incredible performance, Acceleration was awsome. It had an Audi Getrag transaxle. The GT40 NA car has 100 more hp and weighs the same, so its performance must be substancially greater, at least on paper,

[/ QUOTE ]

You might want to spend some time around before deciding which ones have "the best" performance. There are some that weigh in at slightly over 2300lb with over 575 dyno proven hp. There are a lot in between that have much more than the one you've targeted, although that one looks to be mighty fast too. It seems harnessing the power is the biggest issue, not making it! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif