Regardless of my feelings, the Detroit Auto Show less than one month out, and more and more rumors are gaining traction regarding what will be revealed by Ford, especially since its announcement of Ford Performance.
Along with a U.S.-bound Focus RS, secretive whisperings suggest a successor to the Ford GT supercar could be unveiled in Motor City. Delightfully, carscoops has a couple tantalizing crumbs of information that may shed a little light on the new Le Mans-inspired tarmac terror.
Sources suggest that the pending halo vehicle shown won’t be a concept and that Ford will be pulling the sheet off of a limited-production model, with around 1,200 units planned for production. What’s more, at the heart of the sports car will be a six-cylinder EcoBoost engine.
Yup, no Mustang-sourced 5.0-liter eight-cylinder engine here. The powerplant is supposed to get more than the usual turbo that the regular EcoBoost receives. Exactly how Ford engineers plan to squeeze such power from the motor isn’t clear. The result is allegedly over 600 horsepower, so that should be balm to the burn anyone felt when they read “EcoBoost.” Note also that Ford’s already supplied a V6 EcoBoost for a Daytona Prototype racer, which should further un-furrow a few brows.
So what about the rest? Well, like any good rumor, there’s very little fact and loads of speculation. Ford’s thought to be considering a return to Le Mans, the 24-hour endurance race where the GT40 won in 1966, making the folks at Ferrari redder than their cars. If it ends up to be true, a new GTE-class car from the auto manufacturer needs a production car to be based on, as per the regulations, and that may very well be what we see at the show.
This wasn’t the case for the GT from 2005, which was more of a love letter for its prestigious motorsport past, but the vehicle did see some time throughout a few racing series as the car for a number of customer teams.
Does anyone else want it to be January already?
