The mid-engined GT90 is a spiritual successor to the Ford GT40, taking from it some styling cues, such as doors that cut into the roofline, but little else. In regard to angles and glass, the Ford GT90 was the first Ford to display the company's "New Edge" design philosophy. The GT90 was built around a honeycomb-section aluminummonocoque and its body panels were molded from carbon fiber.
Performance Data
The GT90's 48-valve V12 is constructed on an aluminium block and head, displaces 5.9-litres, and produces an estimated and of torque. It has a redline of 6,300 rpm. It is equipped with a forced induction system that uses four Garrett T2 turbochargers. The engine architecture was based on the 90-degree Ford Modular engine family utilizing a layout similar to that of a paired set of 4.6-litre V8 engines, of which each had 2 cylinders removed. This yielded a 90-degree V12, with a bore and a stroke with the cylinders arranged in two banks in a single casting. The power produced by the engine is delivered to the rear-wheels through a 5-speed manual transmission developed jointly by FF Developments and Ricardo. The exhaust of the GT90 gets so hot that it would be enough to damage the body panels, and thus ceramic tiles, similar to those on the Space Shuttle, are used to keep the car from melting. The suspension is a double wishbone variant. The steering is a power-assisted rack-and-pinion. The brakes are ventilated discs. The GT90, according to Ford, was capable of accelerating from in 3.1 seconds, in 6.2 seconds, and had a quarter mile time of 10.9 seconds at. Top speed was listed as.
Development
The GT90 was built as a secret project by a small engineering team in just over six months. It shared many components including the transmission and chassis from the Jaguar XJ220, as Jaguar was also owned by Ford at the time. The V12 engine, unique to the GT90, was developed by using a Lincoln Town Car as a test mule, in which they put the prototype engine in order to refine it. The GT90 was originally going to be the successor to the Ford GT40 and Ford GT70, and the predecessor to the Ford GT, but after the plan for production was cancelled, the chronology was changed, making the Ford GT the new successor to the GT40 and GT70.
