1995 Ford GT-90 - AllCarIndex

Official press release:

THE FORD GT90 - A CONCEPT CAR FOR THE ’90s RECALLS RACING GLORY OF THE ’60s

DEARBORN, Mich., Dec. 6 -- Ford Motor Company today unveiled the Ford GT90 — a concept supercar that combines futuristic technology with styling cues from the famed GT40 race car that was bom 30 years ago.

The two-passenger, mid-engine GT90 is powered by a quad-turbo V-12 aluminum engine and features an array of leading-edge technologies.

"This car is a real departure from what’s been done before in automotive design," said Jack Telnack, vice president, Design, Ford Automotive Operations. "This is what we call Edge Design — a total form that places shapes on top of shapes."

The Ford GT90 also bears a clear design link to the historic GT40, which dominated European road racing in the late 1960s, including four consecutive victories at Le Mans.

"This is our way of paying homage to the GT40’s racing spirit," said John Coletti, manager of Ford’s Special Vehicle Engineering group, which developed the GT90. "This car says that the enthusiast spirit is alive at Ford."

Although there are no current plans to build a production version of the GT90, the car serves a practical purpose as a test bed for technology, engineering and design concepts and driver-oriented features that eventually may be used in Ford production vehicles.

The GT90’s chief designer, Tom Scott, said the car has established a developmental blueprint that can serve Ford well.

"The extremely close working relationships between the team members and the work methods that were developed on this quick project easily can be transferred into our main car and truck programs," Scott said.

Once the project got the green light last spring, specialists from Ford’s electronics, engine, glass and climate control operations joined vehicle engineers and designers in forming the GT90 team. Key suppliers also signed on.

"We said, 'Let’s let the components start to form the car. The next decision was, 'Where do we go from there stylistically?’ We have a GT40 heritage that we wanted to honor, but we didn’t want a ’60s look, or any kind of a retro look," Scott said. 'We have an exciting future ahead of us at Ford — and we wanted the car to point in that direction.

"In the end, we made a shape that clothed our technology," Scott said. "It’s function wrapped in form."

'We wanted a supercar worthy of the 180 drivers who competed in our GT40s," said Jac Nasser, group vice president, Product Development, Ford Automotive Operations. 'We asked the question of ourselves, 'If these drivers were competing today, what kind of car would they like to have?’ "

The GT90 started with a reinforced aluminum monocoque body structure and a fully independent front and rear suspension.

Next came the engine -- a special all-aluminum 6.0-liter V-12 quad-turbo fitted amidships in the manner of the GT40. Rated at 720 horsepower, it is the latest embodiment of Ford’s modular engine technology and is derived from Ford’s current line of luxury-car engines. It was mated to a five-speed manual racing transmission.

The gleaming white skin is composite fiberglass and carbon fiber for strength and light weight. It was shaped — using advanced computer-design technology — to tightly enclose the mechanicals with little or no wasted space.

The cockpit is surrounded by a bubble of laminated blue-tinted glass stretched over a framework of steel ribs. The interior is trimmed in blue leather and accented by charcoal-gray carbon fiber that covers the inside of the roof structure, center console and rearview mirror.

The GT90 uses several lighting technologies in the headlights, taillights and on the dashboard: high-density discharge, ionized gas and fluorescent.

Also onboard is an infrared "blind spot" detection system. If a car pulls into the GT90’s "blind spot" on the highway, a red warning light flashes in the outside mirror.

GT90 engineers used tiles like those on the space shuttle to shield the exhaust outlets of the V-12 engine.

The exhaust is triangular, a theme that runs throughout the car from hood scoops and brake inlets to a triangular oil sump.

Treads of the specially designed tires spell out "GT90" so that this show car can leave a unique footprint in its wake.

Engine & performance:

Position: mid-engined

Type: V12, 48-valve, DOHC

Capacity: 5927 cc

Power: 720 hp @ 6600 rpm

Torque: 895 Nm @ 4750 rpm

Drive: RWD

Top speed: 378 km/h

0-96 km/h: 3.1 s