In the Pipe line....

[Mark]

Just come across this on the web, follow the link and see what you think!
It's all quite plausable so let's see what happens....

Is Ford Working On A New GT?

Also I had a run across to see Andy Waters at GTSupercars near Lincoln (UK) to look at the CAV GT40. The cars where in various stages of build and it was great to see the "bones" of them and in particular he had a GTR with a chevy engine in which he has been developing and hopes to race this year....time permitting. Andy seems a really great guy and certainly knows his cars and wish him the best of luck.
I know which one I want now!!!

Cheers
Mark

 

[Keith]

Just come across this on the web, follow the link and see what you think!
It's all quite plausable so let's see what happens....



Also I had a run across to see Andy Waters at GTSupercars near Lincoln (UK) to look at the CAV GT40. The cars where in various stages of build and it was great to see the "bones" of them and in particular he had a GTR with a chevy engine.

Cheers
Mark

Is Ford Working On A New GT?

Quite possibly, but at least it will have a proper engine...

 

[Ron Earp]

Typical Jalopnik bias:

"even if tuners have proven there's a lot of performance capability in Ford's truck-axled muscle car."

The same truck axled car that makes 388 rwhp, stock, and recently put the smack down on BMW's M3 on a road course comparison as driven by SCCA and Wolrd Challenge Champion Randy Pobst.

Happens in Car and Driver and other moto rags. They can drive the Mustang, pronounce it fantastic but then to nitpik they trounce the solid axle. If the car was a black box and they couldn't look underneath it they'd never know. Most people never know.

 

[Damian]

Ron that will all change when Ford phases in the IRS supposedly in 2012.

 

[Ron Earp]

Ron that will all change when Ford phases in the IRS supposedly in 2012.

Already had it once.....nobody liked it and many people who actually tracked their cars removed it and replaced it with the "truck axle".

 

[Rick Muck- Mark IV]

In 1963/64 Klaus Arning and Bob Negsted, two Ford engineers (who would later design the 427 Cobra chassis amoungst others) developed an IRS system for the upcoming 1965 Mustang. It was a clever design that bolted the subframe to the existing leaf spring mounts. it used the halfshafts as the upper control arm a la Jaguar, Lotus and others. It was even listed as a forthcoming option in the Ford dealer pre-order specification guide (I have mine somewhere) and was touted in some pre-release press releases.

How many IRS 1965 Mustnags have you ever seen? Exactly none.....and why? Well, one of the IRS prototypes was given to a certain C. Shelby to evaluate for use in the upcoming GT350. Carroll had the car tested at Riverside side by side with a "truck axle" Mustang by some limey driver named Miles. And guess what???? The "truck" lapped Riverside as fast and faster than the IRS car. Why? Well, on a smooth track the IRS really doesn't grant any real advantage. Now, had the test been on some potholed streets in New York the result may have been different, but Miles drove 'em both and Shelby couldn't see the benefit of the extra cost so Bye Bye IRS. And there was never an IRS Mustang untill 1999 and the SVT Cobra.

And that's the rest of the story.................

 

[Dalton Veitch]

That is an interesting bit of history, Rick. Thanks.

 

[Randy V]

Already had it once.....nobody liked it and many people who actually tracked their cars removed it and replaced it with the "truck axle".

This is quite true.. I have a complete IRS that I was going to install in one of our Mustangs for an SCCA STO car (and even successfully lobbied to get the rules opened up to allow them) - but scrapped the plans when I realized what sort of problems we were having with the 2010 Camaro American Iron car and it's IRS.

From my own perspective - a couple of the issues which are difficult to deal with are;
1) While unsprung weight is lower than a solid axle car, the overall increase in weight far exceeds the value of the tune-ability of the IRS.
2) IRS' setups typically do not allow for the dampening of driveline shock and torque loading. Therefore controlling the onset of torque when getting on the throttle hard is a lot more difficult. You can control this to a far greater degree with a solid axle and various length / mounting points for your control arms. Not so easy with IRS. The more HP you have, the more difficult the challenge.

 

[michael sundler]

Mark,
I have had dealings with Andy Waters for a couple of years now - I bought my CAV GT 40 from him - and cannot recomend him and his team highly enough. Helpful, friendly, high standards of engineering and nothing is too much trouble.

 

[Mark]

Micheal, great to hear it, hopefully he'll be building me one soon, it's not if it's when! How long have you had yours? Spec, colour, is it raced or for pleasure and track days?

Cheers
Mark

 

[Rich Roy]

Remember Bog Negstad's last project was with Peter Brock on the Superformance Daytona Coupe (then the Brock Coupe) he did all the IRS design like they wanted to do in the mid sixties but had no support/time/money from Ford Or Shelby due to the GT40 program over lapping it. Bob passed away just 3 weeks after the Coupe's suspension was sorted out. never got to actualy drive it......

 

[michael sundler]

Mark, my car is fitted with a 348 Ford Racing Crate engine which runs 48 IDA carbs and a ZFQ transaxle and a few other bits and pieces. All spec worked out with Andy who did all of the fitting from a car built by the CAV factory. The colour is silver grey with two white racing stripes. I am still learning to drive it and hopefully later this year I will be brave enough to try a track day

 

[Mark]

Thank you Michael, good luck with it all.