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Mustangs Win At Daytona


bifs66

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There's a lot of disappointment out there over the Ford GT's overall performance at the Rolex 24. Maybe it's a case of expectations versus reality. I listened to the IMSA broadcast; and the announcers hinted at a tad bit of arrogance in Ford's approach to the race. They kinda underestimated the competition; and undervalued the difference between actual racing and testing. Regardless, with Ganassi and the Ford brass looking down at the wounded GTs in the garage, there's sure to be a serious effort to fix the issues. On the positive side, they showed a lot of speed, looked great, and will probably not incur any further restrictions.

Edited by bifs66
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Why would they go this far and cheap out now. That makes no sense. And it doesn't necessarily cost a lot to fix some problems or processes.

 

Btw a former coworker hangs out with the corvette team and said they actually helped the ford team. Nice to hear. Of course I'm sure the fact they were dozens of laps down made a difference.

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“We certainly had our share of reliability issues, and that is not uncommon in a brand new car’s debut,” said Raj Nair, executive vice president, global product development, and chief technical officer, Ford Motor Company. “As we have said, the first time these two particular cars hit the road was literally at the Roar (Before the Rolex 24) test here a couple weeks ago. Aspects of our total testing program had gone very well, so I think we’re a little surprised at some of the reliability issues we have had. As we get into diagnosing the issues, some of them are very specific to what is going on in a race…coming in for a tire change and the wheel hitting a brake line and breaking it. Running three hours under our caution engine calibration (when the car is under yellow flag), and then finding out that is actually causing a problem. We’re still diagnosing some of the stuff that was happening. Maybe even the aspect of the way the in-car TV cameras were wired, which we obviously don’t run during testing, and that may have impacted some of our power feeds and noise in the system. Those kinds of things you aren’t going to find except in a race environment.

“The good thing about it all, and the thing we are pleased about, is the car is showing some pace, it is showing some opportunity, and overall we are happy that we have a fast car and we need to work on reliability. That’s a lot better than having a slow car that’s reliable, but you don’t know how to get speed out of it. Overall, this is racing and this is what can happen in racing. If we don’t win every race, we are disappointed, but at the same time we know how to fix our issues and we’ll be better the next time we come out.”

“I don’t think anyone should think of this race as a failure,” said Dave Pericak, global director, Ford Performance. “It’s not the Cinderella story we were hoping for, but this is racing. I’d rather work the bugs out now, then later. Our team has been doing an amazing job of staying laser-focused during this race, and not getting discouraged. I can’t even believe how hard they were working. We will re-group, we will fix it, and then we will go out at Sebring and show what we can do. That’s what this is all about.

“I think one of the great things is…that at its core…this is a race machine. Our drivers have confirmed it. Our results when we have been on track have confirmed it. Our engineering analysis has confirmed it. These nagging things are frustrating as hell, but at the end of the day, we have an amazing machine and that is a victory in itself. We will get it durable, and then we will race the hell out of it.”


Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/imsa/gearbox-issues-dog-ford-gt-debut-rolex-24-daytona#ixzz3yvutl96K

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Should have 4 I believe . . .

 

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/01/05/ganassi-ford-gt-le-mans-drivers/

 

 

 

The announcement of this accomplished lineup follows the roster revealed over a month ago for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. If everything goes according to plan, the American lineup will join the European one at Le Mansfor a four-car entry in the LM GTE class. Ford's return to the Circuit de La Sarthe half a century after its landmark win there in 1967.

 

Good race . . . wish the GTs and Ford DPs would have had better results. Stinks that DPs are done (I don't think they are racing at Sebring), always nice to have more Blue Ovals in the lineup.

 

And I'm still curious about a potential bump to GT3 specs for the GT350Rs . . . . but just wishful thinking at this point.

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Just got back from my first Rolex 24 and I can say that the Ford GT would win any beauty contest, hands down. They look amazing, even more so in person. If you haven't been to an IMSA race and done the Grid Walk prior to the race, you are really missing out, especially at Daytona. We went up the tri-oval and signed the wall for good luck, but it didn't work.

 

The GTs seem to have the legs on the high banks but looked to get out braked into turn one quite a lot. They have a most interesting sound when downshifting, sort of a Pah, Pah, Pah, that mimics the Ganassi Prototypes running the same engines, which makes sense, but seems much different than at Laguna Seca last year.

 

If you get a chance to go to a race, do it! IMSA knows how to put on a fun race and being able to see the cars and drivers on the grid and in the garage is very cool. Only the NHRA pits are better, but that has more to do with Nitro and warming the cars up 3 feet from your face, Awesome! Hoping for some better luck at Sebring, though one of the GTs lead a couple laps early, so the speed is definitely there.

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Just got back from my first Rolex 24 and I can say that the Ford GT would win any beauty contest, hands down. They look amazing, even more so in person. If you haven't been to an IMSA race and done the Grid Walk prior to the race, you are really missing out, especially at Daytona. We went up the tri-oval and signed the wall for good luck, but it didn't work.

 

The GTs seem to have the legs on the high banks but looked to get out braked into turn one quite a lot. They have a most interesting sound when downshifting, sort of a Pah, Pah, Pah, that mimics the Ganassi Prototypes running the same engines, which makes sense, but seems much different than at Laguna Seca last year.

 

If you get a chance to go to a race, do it! IMSA knows how to put on a fun race and being able to see the cars and drivers on the grid and in the garage is very cool. Only the NHRA pits are better, but that has more to do with Nitro and warming the cars up 3 feet from your face, Awesome! Hoping for some better luck at Sebring, though one of the GTs lead a couple laps early, so the speed is definitely there.

So do you think it's braking going into the corner or not enough torque coming out?

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They looked to be getting out braked slightly to me, but their straight line speeds (trap speeds) were probably tops in class. It could be the drivers, and the lack of time/laps in the car, or just not needing or wanting to push it. I noticed it in the first hour, before all the problems started. They were definitely more than holding their own on the track, only really losing time in the pit and garage.

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