More pictures and details have emerged from Ford about its new Shelby GR-1 concept since we looked at it in August (link to original story below); we also snapped it at the North American International Auto Show (link below).
The concept springs from a long line of Ford performance project cars and houses a 605bhp, 6.4-litre all-aluminium V10 engine, a road-tested version of the Ford GT suspension and a stunning new polished-aluminium body.
Powertrain
The heart of any supercar is its engine, and the Ford Shelby GR-1 concept's powerplant is adapted from Ford's MOD engine family. It delivers the rush of raw power from 605bhp and 501 lb-ft of torque that's associated with big 1960s V8 engines, all without the aid of forced induction.
This combination of brute force and thorough engineering has created what Ford calls "a rarity in the world of auto shows – a concept car that can actually do, rather than merely promise, 0-60 in under four seconds, and would easily exceed 200 mph if not electronically limited."
"After I drove last year's Cobra concept, I knew we had a winner in the 6.4-litre V10," said Carroll Shelby, racing driver and consultant on the Ford Shelby GR-1 concept. "We decided to transplant that engine directly into the GR-1 with practically no changes, right down to the rear-mounted transmission, which really helps the weight distribution."
For about three years, the Ford powertrain team has been working on the all-aluminium V10 targeted at ultimate, naturally aspirated performance. When they bolted this modern-day big-block into a Mustang chassis for evaluation, it only took one drive to confirm its potential.
"When we found out there was yet another concept car with the Shelby name on it, we knew it begged for this engine," said engineering director Graham Hoare. "Although it's not yet ready for production, we've reached a credible engineering level for such a serious concept car – and it has a modern soul that matches the Shelby mission."
While the Ford Shelby GR-1 concept shares a significant amount of technology with the Ford GT and the Shelby Cobra concept, the team met several unique engineering challenges head-on.
First, the six-speed manual transmission had to be packaged in a way that would not compromise the occupant footwells. "One of the unique solutions we delivered for the GR-1 concept was the design, engineering and development of a torque-tube driveline, which allows placement of the transmission in the rear of the car behind the occupant zones," said advanced product creation manager Manfred Rumpel.
It shares its rear axle assembly with the Ford GT, with an integral limited-slip differential to drive the rear wheels. Based on the engine's 7,500-rpm redline and the wide drive ratios, this Ford Shelby GR-1 concept has a theoretical top speed of around 200 mph, although it's electronically limited – for now.
The transaxle application was mandated by the desire to fit a large engine into a compact coupe while leaving enough room for the driver's legs and feet. According to Ford, with a conventional transmission mated to the back of the engine, the trade-off between hood length and passenger room often makes for a cramped footwell and dramatically offset pedals.
Mounting the transmission in the rear helped to more evenly distribute the vehicle's weight and increased the footwell area from 16.5 inches to 21.7 inches, resulting in almost three inches more legroom than in similar performance vehicles.
The legroom-saving torque-tube driveshaft runs at engine speed, considerably faster than typical driveshafts mounted to rear of the transmission. The spinning inner shaft is supported within a stationary outer tube that stabilises the engine and transmission in bending and in torsion. The inner shaft taps crankshaft torque via a twin-disc, small-diameter clutch mounted at the rear of the engine.
Computer-aided design was essential in helping the first prototype come together smoothly.
"Because they spin so much faster than driveshafts, these torque tubes can be a challenge to execute properly in terms of vibration," said Rumpel. "Using our electronic tools, we optimised the location of the driveshaft support bearings, and it ran smoothly on the very first try. This type of modern engineering tool gives us a development advantage that pioneers like Carroll Shelby could only dream about."
A double-wishbone suspension design with unequal-length aluminium control arms, coil-over monotube shocks and anti-roll bars is used front and rear. The upper control arms are identical at all four wheels and are made with an advanced rheo-cast process that allows the complexity of form associated with casting while retaining the strength of forging. The metal, heated to just below its melting point, is the consistency of butter when injected into a mould at high pressure. Pressure is maintained as the part cures, preventing porosity in the final product for exceptional strength.
The steering rack is also borrowed from the Ford GT, with a few modifications. The steering, like the GT's, draws on the Focus' steering column, featuring light efforts, low friction and high stiffness. Braces between the front shock towers and below the isolated engine mounts improve torsional rigidity and aid steering response.
The team set braking distance targets comparable with today's best supercars and turned to the Ford GT braking system for suitable components. Brembo monobloc aluminium brake calipers with four pistons each grab cross-drilled, vented discs at all four wheels. The discs are a massive 14 inches (355mm) in front and 13.2 inches (335mm) at the rear. Brake balance is biased slightly to the front wheels to aid stability.
For packaging reasons, the team devised a novel offset actuation linkage for the brake booster and master cylinder, so the brake pedal can be placed in a normal position even though its hardware is off to the side of the engine bay. The kinematic linkage concept for the remote booster actuation was an idea borrowed from the European Ford Mondeo.
"The unique remote booster had to be just right so you can slow the car in a linear and proportional way," said Rumpel. "This means the pedal effort and travel are proportional to the vehicle deceleration rate, which is especially important in high-performance sports cars."
The one-piece, 12-spoke BBS wheels are wrapped by Goodyear Z-rated racing slicks, size 275/40R-19 in front and 345/35R-19 in the rear.
A "reality-based" concept
Much like the original Ford GT and last year's Shelby Cobra concept vehicles, the Shelby GR-1 is intended to be a fully engineered, production-feasible road-going, drivable project vehicle.
"With the Ford GT and Ford Shelby Cobra concept, we have a tremendous amount of experience quickly building high-performance cars, like the Shelby GR-1, with world-class performance," said product creation boss Phil Martens. "Our goal this time around was not to create the ultimate top-speed, high-performance sports car. Really, we intended to strike a better balance of design, capability and usability that might appeal to someone considering a Ferrari 575M Maranello."
The Shelby GR-1 starts with a modified version of the aluminium chassis from the rear-engine Ford GT. The bulk of the rear structure is made from slightly modified Ford GT components, including the massive trellis-like, cast-aluminium suspension nodes, the rear rails and bumper beam, a major cross-member and the brackets used to mount the transmission.
The centre portion of the spaceframe also borrows liberally from the Ford GT as major aluminium extrusions are based heavily on existing pieces. At the front of the coupe, the team incorporated extruded main rails, a steering rack cross-member, crash-management sections and the bumper beam from the Ford GT.
"Building a concept car with this level of sophistication is much easier when you start with a world-class supercar like the Ford GT," said Martens. "This commonality and re-use goes hand-in-hand with our speed and cost efficiency, promising the Ford GT's bang-for-the-buck equation if the Shelby GR-1 goes to production."
Overall, the Ford Shelby GR-1 concept is more than two feet shorter than the Ford GT, with a wheelbase nearly seven inches shorter. The track width has been reduced by more than an inch. Ford reckons that the concept car and the GT share any parts at all is a testimony to the flexibility of the space frame design and the creativity of the chassis team.
Ford said that "the Shelby GR-1 concept's name pays tribute to both a performance great and group racing. This uniquely emotional American sports car design represents Ford's continued desire to include a high-end, limited-production specialist supercar in its line-up. Initially unveiled as a design exercise at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August, the Ford Shelby GR-1 concept is a sports car salute to performance art."
"A perfect body with smooth, shimmering aluminium skin, the new Ford Shelby GR-1 concept is a rolling sculpture whose beautiful, flowing lines belie the raw, beastly V-10 wedged under the hood," said Ford design boss J Mays. "This concept shifts gears and takes Ford's performance car future into a new direction."
The front of the Shelby GR-1 concept is dominated by an air-intake aperture and airflow splitter, directing cool air into the engine bay and wheel wells, while air vents on the upper surface of the hood exhaust hot air from the radiator. Additional intakes and vents perforate the body side to ensure cooling throughout.
The front corners of the Shelby GR-1 are dominated by substantial front wheel wells housing 19-inch wheels and tires and trapezoidal High Intensity Solid State (HISS) headlamps that float above the wheel arches. This highly technical lighting package provides powerful illumination in a compact package, allowing freedom of design without sacrificing night time driving visibility.
In the rear, a distinctive Kamm tail tapers to improve wind drag and features integrated transmission cooler outlets and a ground-effects venturi. It is further defined by a strong concave section and bold vertical tail lamps.
The Shelby GR-1 concept sits on 19-inch, 12-spoke milled aluminium wheels.
The Shelby GR-1 concept's butterfly doors have distinctive teardrop-shaped side-glass graphics and slide upwards to lead into the race-inspired interior, that features seats with carbon shells and fixed backs. The carbon shells are connected directly to the sill and tunnel via lightweight aluminium spaceframe attachments and can be adjusted fore and aft by way of an accessible pull ring on the seat cushions' leading edge. The seats incorporate removable Alcantara comfort inserts that are individually tailored to the occupants' body type.
The interior door panels feature air-vent apertures and integrated "door close" pockets. The door release employs a pull-ring themed design with quick-release slide action and an illuminated door lock/unlock indicator. The exposed rear bulkhead cross-car structure braces to the roll hoop and features a snorkel air-register outlet that controls the ambient cabin climate.
Interior cabin technology focuses on driver comfort, enjoyment and entertainment. The instrument panel sports a full complement of analogue gauges, including a combination analogue tachometer with floating watch-like elements and digital speedometer. The tachometer housing has integrated air registers and an additional Noise Reduction Technology (NRT) output speaker.
The centrally mounted "Tire IQ" display is a driver's aid designed to inform, warn and even entertain. The system provides the driver and passenger with an animation of vital tyre temperature and pressure statistics (via sensors in the tyre), along with other key vehicle dynamics such as cornering G forces (via an onboard accelerometer).
The centre console features integrated toggles that control the fuel pump, ignition, windows, hood and rear-glass release. The race-inspired push-button starter and "baseball grip" gear knob are situated ahead of the parking brake, which has been incorporated into the tunnel armrest. The quick-release steering wheel has integrated headlamp, wiper and direction indicator controls.
Ford says that special attention has been paid to noise reduction on the interior. The rear hatch stowage compartment features a removable MP3/Amp and NRT console, while audio input, output and recording speakers are integrated into the headrest protection wings on each seat. The speakers can provide a combination of the following:
- Noise-reducing sound waves (NRT) for improved highway cruising noise levels
- Play or record (for playback) pace notes
- MP3 Audio
The MP3/AMP/NRT functions can be accessed through the Tire IQ display through a joystick controller.
Throughout the interior, the leather trim is in slate grey, with colour-matched perforated Alcantara leather featured on touch zones such as the gear knob, parking brake, steering wheel, door inserts, and instrument/Tire IQ binnacles. Functional zones such as dials, door release and centre console switchgear have been finished in a combination of anodised gunmetal finishes.
Ambient cabin lighting is packaged behind the central headlining panel; an indirect blue glow appears around the periphery offset of the panel. The headliner and upper doorframes are trimmed with a woven aluminium-metallised fabric. The dark gunmetal-grey flooring also is trimmed in the hard-wearing metallised fabric.
From the outset, the Shelby GR-1 concept team intended the concept to perform at supercar levels but with a more "mature" feel biased a little more toward driver comfort than the Ford GT – widely noted for its balance of dynamics and road manners – and last year's Ford Shelby Cobra concept.
"The biggest difference between the GR-1 concept and our past efforts is the emphasis on overall driver comfort," said Rumpel. "That extends all the way to the compliant yet high-performing capability we built into the suspension."
Additional improvements from the Ford Shelby Cobra concept include new, twin fuel fillers exiting the bodywork just aft of each side view window and mid-way up the rear quarter panel bodywork. These racing-inspired devices feed two individual 10-gallon (US) capacity fuel tanks that reside inside the structural chassis directly behind the passenger compartment.
The battery was also relocated to the rear of the vehicle, deep inside the luggage compartment, further aiding vehicle weight distribution and better shielding the battery package from the intense heat of the engine compartment. A new cooling system, evolved from the Shelby Cobra concept, includes a unique hood with twin portals to feed air into the engine compartment.
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