Ford GT Mk IV Storms the Nürburgring as America’s Quickest Fuel-Powered Observe Weapon : Automotive Addicts
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Ford has one other main bragging proper to hold within the efficiency corridor of fame. The 800-plus-horsepower Ford GT Mk IV has formally carved out a spot among the many quickest machines ever to lap the Nürburgring Nordschleife, laying down a shocking 6:15.977 with manufacturing facility driver Frédéric Vervisch on the wheel. On a monitor the place each tenth issues and reputations are made the arduous method, that run now places the limited-production GT Mk IV in third place total, which is critical firm regardless of the way you slice it.
That headline quantity turns into much more spectacular when you think about what the Ford simply beat. The GT Mk IV turned a lap greater than 14 seconds faster than the Mercedes-AMG One’s 2024 production-car file run, which got here in at 6:29.090. Sure, there is a vital distinction right here as a result of the Ford is a track-only machine and never a street-legal manufacturing automotive in the identical sense because the AMG. Nonetheless, no one goes to shrug off a spot that enormous on the Inexperienced Hell, particularly when the GT Mk IV is representing an American badge on one of many world’s hardest proving grounds.
The larger story for fanatics could also be what this lap says concerning the automotive itself. The GT Mk IV was by no means meant to be a well mannered farewell version. It was constructed as essentially the most excessive model of the fashionable Ford GT, with a stretched wheelbase, revised aerodynamics, race-bred gearbox, and a closely reworked twin-turbo EcoBoost V6 making greater than 800 horsepower. The result’s a machine that feels much less like a collector’s showpiece and extra like a no-compromise weapon constructed to chase lap instances and make a press release whereas doing it.
It additionally earns a singular sort of respect within the present efficiency panorama. The 2 vehicles forward of it on the all-time Nordschleife leaderboard are the Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo and the Volkswagen ID.R, each purpose-built file hunters with electrified help of their formulation. That makes the Ford GT Mk IV the quickest gas-only automotive to ever lap the Nürburgring, which is an achievement purists will admire. In an period when electrification is rewriting the pace chart, there’s nonetheless one thing undeniably particular a few combustion-powered automotive muscling its method this far up the order.
In fact, exclusivity has at all times been a part of the GT story, and the Mk IV takes that to a different stage. Ford restricted manufacturing to simply 67 examples, with each priced north of $1.7 million. Which means only a few folks will ever see one in individual, not to mention drive one at pace. However that’s a part of what makes this Nürburgring consequence really feel so memorable. The GT Mk IV is not only one other quick automotive posting one other quick quantity. It’s a uncommon, purpose-built Ford that went to considered one of motorsport’s most unforgiving levels and left with a time the entire trade has to respect.
Darryl Taylor Dowe is a seasoned automotive skilled with a confirmed monitor file of main profitable ventures and offering strategic session throughout the automotive trade. With years of hands-on expertise in each enterprise operations and market improvement, Darryl has performed a key function in serving to automotive manufacturers develop and adapt in a quickly evolving panorama. His perception and management have earned him recognition as a trusted knowledgeable, and his contributions to Automotive Addicts replicate his deep information and fervour for the enterprise aspect of the automotive world.
