Supercar that bytes back

More than 50 sensors are tapped into Ford's new GT to monitor the supercar’s every action and twitching reaction. Nothing the car or driver does goes unmeasured by one or more sensors.

Temperature sensors, pressure sensors, speed sensors and pitch and yaw sensors – these sensors alone generate more than 100 gigabytes of data per hour and feed data to 28 microprocessors on the new 2016 Ford GT.

Jamal Hameedi, Chief Engineer at Ford Performance, puts the car’s sensory complexity into perspective with other high-speed winged transportation: “These 28 microprocessors have about 10 million lines of code. An F22 fighter jet has about two million lines of code, and the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner has just over six million lines of code.

"So there is a lot of software and it is all mission critical and there is quite a bit of engineering that goes into making sure all these systems interact with each other seamlessly.”

These microprocessors control everything from anti-lock brakes and yaw control to powertrain control and even something as simple as a door latch.

It amounts to an incredible support system for a supercar capable of easily stretching its legs beyond 320km/h. Ford is yet to released top speed figures as well as the carbonfibre-intensive GT’s kerb mass, but Hameedi does claim “I think we’ll be on the cutting edge of power-to-weight ratio".

And he’s comparing the GT with its supercar competitors from Porsche and Ferrari.

Are we talking superbike power-to-weight? “No, nothing that extreme,” he says. “But the GT will be very light.”

Ford is talking a neat 600hp (447kW) from a highly developed variant of its 3.5-litre aluminium petrol V6 using unique twin turbos and an upgraded valvetrain, connecting rods and pistons. The crankshaft is about the only moving internal component not upgraded from the family sedan.

These are the makings of a potentially sensational road car and an exciting track car.

“A very pure track car,” says Hameedi, one of the few who has turned a wheel in a prototype GT.

Only 250 will be built each year – all in left-hand drive -- with the first few to be publically released late next year. Most will be sold in the US, with Europe, China and Japan (which allows LHD sales) taking a handful each year.

Ford claims the reason it will not produce the GT in RHD is directly due to budget. Technically, Hameedi says “There’s nothing too challenging about flipping it to right-hand drive.”

He added that the GT’s lightweight and throttle-responsive power will be at the sharp end of its performance talents, but where the GT differs from other exotic supercars is its design and active aerodynamics.

“The attribute that everyone was leaving on the table was advanced aerodynamics,” says Hameedi.

The GT was designed by Ford's Asia-Pacific design chief, Tasmanian Todd Willing, under the guidance of Ford's global design chief, Scotsman Moray Callum.

Several design concepts were developed, but the final exterior design of the GT was dictated by wind tunnel tuning. Listen to Hameedi and Callum and they both talk about managing air flow over a body that’s no taller than waist height.

Their goal wasn’t to achieve a low coefficient of drag but to guide air flow to where it is needed, specifically for air-con and engine cooling as well as through the air-to-air intercoolers and across the large disc brakes.

Callum admits to playing with a roof-mounted air intake on an early design concept.

You’ll notice the GT’s central body tapers radically and for a very good reason. According to Hameedi, the reason is to retain a clean airflow to the rear wing which is controlled by several of those 50 sensors and microprocessors. The rear wing tips through three settings dependent of speed and braking input.

Those setting are NORMAL (set for minimal drag) used at low vehicle speeds and top speed driving; DEPLOYED, which is automatically calculated to generate increased downforce when needed; AIR BRAKE, which goes to a very vertical angle of attack to help slow the vehicle.

While the 2005 GT celebrated Ford’s 100th anniversary, the all-new 2016 GT will be released in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford's first outright win at LeMans.