Ford GT coming to Bathurst 1000
Le Mans winning Ford Performance GT race car to take on Mount Panorama – with Ryan Briscoe behind the wheelThe aerodynamic, mid-engined, carbon-fibred Le Mans-winning Ford GT race car will make its Australian debut at the 2018 Bathurst 1000 race in October.
When Sydney-born IndyCar winner Ryan Briscoe blasts down Conrod Straight in the Ford Performance GT race car, its twin-turbo V6 banging off the rev-limiter, expect the Blue Oval army to be vocal.
Given that it will be the last Bathurst 1000 to feature the Aussie-built Ford Falcon the event will be bitter-sweet for the Ford faithful.
The Ford GT may not garner as much love as the Ford Mustang Supercar racer that will line-up for the 2019 Supercars Championship at the Adelaide 500 in March, but the mid-engine Ford GT racecar making its Mount Panorama debut certainly please a few fans. Ryan Briscoe among them.
"The Ford GT is an ultra-high-performance car, so I’m really excited and honoured to turn the Ford GT's first laps at Bathurst," he said.
"For me, Bathurst is one of the best, if not the best racing circuit in the world."
"Bathurst as a circuit demands the highest respect at all times. It has the intensity of a circuit like Indy, where it's very high speed and you just always need to be 100-per cent focused," explained the race driver.
The 3.5-litre twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 that sits at the heart of the low-slung race car is said to generate around 500hp and was co-developed alongside the 650hp (473kW) road car, and hence shares many parts.
The Ford GT road car has a top speed of 348km/h and the race car promises to achieve that sort of velocity along Conrod Straight, depending on how it's geared for Mount Panorama.
The Ford Performance IMSA GT Number 67 race car is being freighted to Australia especially for the Bathurst 1000 event – which David Reynolds and co-driver (and motoring.com.au regular) Luke Youlden will be defending in 2018 in their ZB Holden Commodore race car.
Although the Ford GT won't be racing in any capacity, Briscoe is still pumped to be the first to drive a Ford GT at full noise in Australia – and at the Mountain.
It's not clear if the lap time of the Ford GT race car will be officially recorded, and where it stacks up against the best laps of all time around the famous 6.213km circuit, but one thing's for sure, it'll be a moment to remember for the expat Australian race driver.
The 2018 Bathurst 1000 will run from October 3 to 6.
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