Ford's Secret Supercar Challenger
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AMERICAN AUTOPARTS Insight News and chewing gum for the eyes March 2015 Compiled by Mike Lintern, with graphics and tech work by Wojtek Samoszuk Race reports and Still Ramblin’ words and pix from Mike Collins, including personal views that are not necessarily those of the company… but are a must read! ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Detroit Auto Show surprise Ford’s secret supercar challenger “They didn’t see it coming!” Until its arrival on stand at the Detroit Auto Show’s January 12 Press day, nobody outside of the Blue Oval Empire had wind of the existence of a 2017 Ford GT supercar. “We had it developed literally in a secret location in the basement of the company,” revealed CEO Mark Fields in an ABC News interview at the show. This “third generation” Ford supercar, evolved from the late sixties GT40 Le Mans winners, will go into production next year and is expected to compete competitively price-wise with the likes of the McLaren 650S, Ferrari 458 and Lamborghini Aventador in the $200,000-plus bracket. And it will be sold in the UK. But will it run at Le Mans? The GT’s mid-mounted 3.5-litre, twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 produces more than 600 horsepower, with some 500-lb/ft of Above, the Ford GT at Detroit, and below, the 350GTR torque, a seven-speed auto box and features a body and frame of carbon fibre and aluminum. Sharing the stand at Detroit was a new “racetrack ready” stripped-down variant of the Shelby GT350 Mustang, the R. The GT350R packs the most powerful naturally-aspirated engine Ford has ever produced – a 5.2-litre DOHC V8 putting out 500hp and 400-lb/ft of torque matched to a six-speed gearbox. Avenir: Buick’s beautiful concept Revealed just before the Detroit Show, this is the Buick Avenir (French for future), a beautifully-sculptured long-hood short-deck, concept four-seat sedan. Riding on 21-inch wheels, the Avenir is equipped with a V6 motor offering fuel-saving cylinder deactivation and stop/start technology, a nine-speed automatic with paddle shifter and driver-selectable variable suspension. The stylish interior gets leather trim, with a touch of real wood. GM says the Avenir, which was actually designed by GM’s Holden design bureau in Australia, “re-affirms Buick as an international brand attracting new customers in the United States and China.” China has for some time been the brand’s biggest market. Meantime, three Buicks currently on sale in the United States – the Verano, Regal and Encore – plus the marque’s newly- announced Cascada, are all essentially re-badged Opels. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ EVEN MIGHTIER RAPTOR The incredible twin-turbo EcoBoost 3.5-litre V6 has found its way into the mightiest-yet Ford F150 – the 2017 SVT Raptor 4x4 pickup unwrapped at the Detroit show. Ford has yet to give exact performance figures, but claims the EcoBoost will deliver even more punch than the 411bhp and 434-lb/ft of torque of its predecessor, a 6.2-litre V8. The 2017 is six-inches wider than the stock F150, yet thanks to an aluminum body and bed, is 500lb lighter than the current version. It will come with a paddle-shift 10-speed automatic box and a Terrain Management System to “optimize driving dynamics to environmental conditions.” The V6 Raptor goes on sale from the fall of next year. Fiat Chrysler’s “bambino” Renegade Now available in Europe and the Americas is Fiat Chrysler’s 2015 Jeep Renegade compact SUV. Built at the massive Melfi factory in Italy, the baby Renegade has been developed from the Fiat 500 platform, so can trace its ancestry all the way back to the 1937 Topolino (Mouse) saloon as well as the US Army’s WWII MB Jeep (spot the Jerrycan images incorporated in the rear lights and elsewhere, as well as the iconic seven-bar grille). European Renegades come with a variety of Fiat engines, including a 1.4-litre turbo petrol and a 2-litre diesel. The transverse power units are hooked-up to six-speed manual or nine-speed autos and come in front-wheel-drive and 4WD forms – plenty of powertrain options. UK prices from £17,000 on the road. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Granatelli jet cars fail to sell at auction Think of Indianapolis, think of jet turbines and think of STP. Put those thoughts together and you should come up with the late Andy “Mr 500” Granatelli, who together with Lotus boss Colin Chapman created the number 70 Indy 500 racecar that Britain’s Graham Hill drove to a initially-record-qualifying speed of 171.208mph for the 1968 race. Team- mate Joe Leonard, in another STP turbine Lotus, later gained pole position at 171.559mph and led for most of the race, though both he and third STP turbine driver Art Pollard went out on lap 191 with snapped fuel pump drive shafts – letting Al Unser take the win with a piston-powered Offenhauser piston-engined car. Hill, in the meantime, had crashed on lap 110 after losing a wheel and contacting a wall. Today, Hill’s number 70 car has been restored back to race-day condition and was put up for sale at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction on January 17. Bidding reached $1,320,000, but failed to reach the reserve price. The Pratt & Whitney ST6B jet turbine of the number 70 Lotus and (right) Graham Hill prior to the race in 1968 Also presented at the auction but attracting “only” a best bid of $220,000 and failing to meet its reserve price, was a very special 1978 Corvette, created that year by Andy’s son Vince and employing an essentially-similar Pratt & Whitney ST6B turbine. The “Jet- Vette” was the quickest street legal Corvette in the world at the time, recording a zero-to-60 time of 3.2 seconds, and reputedly once clocking a zero-to-60 of 2.5 seconds, according to its creator. To handle the 880 horsepower of the jet, Vince modified the chassis with a sub-frame structure, a fortified driveshaft and NASCAR- style oversize disc brakes. Using a reduction gearbox and 3.03-to-1 rear axle reduced the engine’s 35,500rpm figure down to 6,230rpm. A Pratt & Whitney ST6B is shoehorned into the ’78 Vette, but externally the car is virtually stock _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ BAUER MILLETT CLOSES AFTER 40 YEARS Central Manchester’s long-established American and high-end car dealership, Bauer Millett, closed suddenly with the loss of 20 jobs at the dawn of the New Year after 40 years in business. Directors decided the company could no longer sustain itself, having not traded profitably for the last five years as a consequence of high city centre overheads coupled with insufficient vehicle sales. Bauer Millett had a GM franchise for Cadillac and Chevrolet, plus, until recently Chrysler and Jeep. It was the country’s first official supplier of Hummers and also sold up-market European makes. The business was started in nearby Blackley Village by Lawrence Millett and Chris Bauer, selling secondhand models. When it closed it had showrooms in Albion Street, Manchester, and a parts and service centre in Dark Lane, Ardwick. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ MSD buys Mr Gasket and family MSDP Group LLC – known for their MSD hi-energy ignition and tuning systems – has purchased for an undisclosed sum the Accel Performance Group, a family of established muscle car and hot rod parts manufacturers consisting of Accel (ignition parts), Mr Gasket (primarily dress-up goodies), Mallory (ignition parts), Lakewood (bellhousings and scattershields), Hays (clutches) and Quick Time (suspension components). The Accel Group grew from the Mr Gasket business established by drag racer Joe Hrudka in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1964. Coming Events (With thanks to Classic American and Custom Car Magazines, from where most dates have been taken) “For Britain and the Hell of It,” a major exhibition of British Land Speed Record cars, is running at The National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, Brockenhurst, Hants SO42 7ZN until March 2015 (01590 612345 or www.beaulieu.co.uk) March 1 NSRA Southern Swap Meet, Arena Essex Raceway, Purfleet / Thurrock, RM19 1AE (0845 301 6772 or www.nsra.org.uk) April 3 American, Hot Rod and Custom Car and Bike Show, Horndean Showground, Five Heads Road, Horndean, Hants PO8 9NZ (www.route-a3.co.uk) April 3-5 Festival of Power, Santa Pod Raceway, near Wellingborough, Northants NN29 7XA (01234 782828 or www.santapod.com) ”There aren’t any American cars on the roads today, really…” Keith Bartlett Santa Pod CEO aka The Kaiser on SantaPodTV (see page 23 - or somewhere close to that!) Well Keith, this is the daily driver (when the weathers fine), of our resident octogenarian who‟s been driving American cars during the six decades I‟ve known him. Better yet, at the time of the photo, his Lil‟ red Corvette C6 was being hustled around Goodwood by a professional driver to a lap time of 1.29 with an average speed close to 97mph – the fifth fastest of any road legal car ever driven round that glorious circuit! ************************************************************** Those two little weirdoes really messed things up with last month’s Insight. After their boss found out what they’d done he freaked ‘em out by saying there’d be no more nitro racing for them! But when they gave him the Haynes Alien book he lightened up, cos now he knows how to sneak through our defences! It shouldn’t happen again honest, and they said they’re sorry, but were thrilled we managed to get the awesome Arizona race in! (see page 20) St ill Ramblin’ SWordts anid plhotlos R amblin’ Words and photos Mike Collins This my friends was pure bliss, filling my frame with in y‟face, 100% unadulterated NitroFire as a pair of fuelers thundered into a Saturday night at Pomona, California – and I‟d driven across the USA to get there in my own car! Larry Minor‟s Miller American car, driven by Dick LaHaie got the jump on fuel coupe legend Gene Snow at the 1987 Winston World Finals.