Ford roars into Goodwood with a 700-hp GT for the track

Ford has rolled into this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed looking to flex some performance muscle with a special edition GT supercar built exclusively for the track. Free of rules and restrictions, the Ford GT Mk II travels a little lighter and lower than its street-going sibling, and also packs considerably more punch for a life off the leash.

"The true off-the-hook performance capability of the GT hasn't yet been fully showcased," reckons Larry Holt, Chief Technical Officer at Multimac who co-developed the Mk II with Ford. "The road car is obviously limited by the many global homologation requirements that it must comply with, and the race car suffers from the restriction of the dreaded Balance of Performance, resulting in it being 150 horsepower down to the road car. The Mk II answers the regularly asked question of how would the car perform with all the limitations lifted: the answer is spectacularly."

The GT Mk II runs on a 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine outputting 700 hp, a decent bump on the street-legal GT's 647 hp and 200 more than the GT race car. This is coupled with the standard seven-speed dual clutch transmission that is tuned specifically for the track. Ford has also added a new cooling technology to keep the engine stable when running at high temperatures, fed by a racing-inspired rooftop air intake.

And that's not the only eye-catching feature to sprout from the top of the limited edition track car, with a jumbo-sized dual element wing bringing up the rear. This works with a new racing splitter and diffuser, fender louvres and dive planes to produce over 400 percent more downforce than the standard GT.

Rather than the adjustable ride height and drive modes available on the production version, Ford has opted for five-way adjustable shock absorbers for better handling and more than 200 lb (91 kg) in weight savings. Down below, Ford has fitted the GT Mk II with 19-inch forged aluminum wheels and Michelin Pilot Sport GT tires. These are brought to a stop by carbon ceramic Brembo brakes.

On the inside, meanwhile, Ford has added a bespoke Sparco racing seat and six-point harness, while there's enough room for an optional passenger seat if owners want to take someone along for the ride.

Pricing for the Ford GT Mk II starts at US$1.2 million and it is available now, though production will be limited to 45 cars. For the rest of us, there are plenty of images in the gallery.

Source: Ford