Developing the Ford GT with science, psychology and secrecy

Blue Oval stays tight-lipped on Le Mans effort

The Ford GT was introduced five months ago at the Detroit auto show. We can’t remember any car that received more attention in the following weeks. Ford is trying to keep that momentum high until it goes sale next year, lest we have an Acura NSX situation where we see the car dozens of times before getting behind the wheel. To keep our attention, Ford invited a group of journalists out to its headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., for a better look at the science, engineering and design behind the Ford GT.

The GT has 50 sensors for things like traction control, throttle position, wheel angle and brake application. Photo by Ford

The GT has 50 different sensors to gather data about the performance of the car, the driver position and the environment. It has six CANs (controller area networks); which process 300 megabytes of data per second using 10 million lines of code. To put that into perspective, a passenger jet has about 2 million lines, an F-35 only 8 million. And according to Ford “they’re all mission critical.” We’ve haven’t decided yet if that’s good or bad, we've emailed Ford for clarity.

Everything in the Ford GT interior was made to help keep driver's eyes on the road. Photo by Ford

The Blue Oval did a ton of work understanding the psychology of the driver during the development of the GT and found that driving performance follows a bell curve that relates to distractions. It makes sense, too. If your brain’s workload is too low you can get bored and/or fatigued. If the workload is too high, performance drops as well. That’s why Ford wanted to keep visual demand low, so drivers keep their eyes on the road. One part of that is voice control, which Ford seems to think it has figured out with its Sync system.

Ford engineers also aimed to minimize the task interruption penalty. An example is when you’re trying to look for a song on the music screen, then have to navigate a tricky section of road. If the screen times out and sends you back to home, that increases the task interruption penalty, which keeps your eyes off the road for longer. The GT’s system won’t time out.

Car News Gallery: Ford GT exterior design

As for design, Ford brought us into the famous basement where the GT was secretly developed. The room was full of Styrofoam and clay models, drawings and milling tools used to craft the sleek, flying-buttressed body. We’ve made a gallery of early designs above. Ford wanted three things from designers: that the car be instantly recognizable as a GT; that it evoke performance and efficiency; and that it have a modern but seductive look. We have to say they succeeded on all accounts.

It was the EcoBoost’s V6’s small packaging that made the shape work. Ford kept putting the car through the virtual wind tunnel and found that the narrower the rear greenhouse got, the better the aerodynamics turned out to be, hence the buttresses. There are no low-pressure zones, says Ford, so air sticks to the body as it flows around it.

Ford was a bit coy when a reporter asked about a Le Mans effort, saying that the company hasn’t officially said anything about the 24-hour race, forcing sideways glances from journalists who expect the car to appear at the 50th anniversary of Ford’s famous win.

Production starts at the end of 2016, Ford says, but hopefully we’ll see a version of this supercar on the track before that … say sometime next June?

Posted in: Developing, psychology, science, secrecy