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SPECIAL

Ford Territory

SPECIAL

Ford Territory

Australian International Motor Show: Ford GT Design: A Modern Reflection of History

Staff, Thursday October 7, 2004.

Page 1 of 1

The design of the Ford GT instantly stirs up images of the glorious Ford GT40 race cars from the 1960s.

Yet today's vehicle features all-new dimensions and a contemporary, striking interior ? as well as epic engineering stories of how high-tech methods helped preserve a classic form.

?Designing a modern interpretation of a classic is more difficult than designing from a clean sheet of paper,? said J Mays, Ford Motor Company Vice President of Design.

?We?ve had to strike a delicate balance in creating a slightly updated Ford GT that features new technology.?

Indeed, the first design proposal was a completely revolutionary design that interpreted cues from the past in a modern shape. The car used harder edges, abbreviated surfaces and short overhangs like a contemporary vehicle. Something about that design, which Mays called ?generically modern,? just didn?t seem right to the design team.

?The priorities were all inverted with that design. We had to start over from scratch to bring out the essence of the Ford GT race car. The key was to accept that a Ford GT should be a Ford GT and reject the idea of modernity for modernity?s sake,? Mays said

The second design, penned by Ford GT Chief Designer Camilo Pardo, paid homage to the Ford GT40 Mark II race car.

?Freeing ourselves of the fear of creating a car that looked too much like the original was a liberating experience for the team,? Pardo said.

?But staying true to the original themes in a clean, modern design made it the most difficult project I?ve ever been involved with.?

That is, until the concept car was approved for production, when Pardo's role changed from designer to protector.

As the engineering team transformed the concept ? which was only 5 per cent production-feasible ? into a production car, Pardo was tasked with preserving the essence of the concept's design. He consulted the engineering team on every aspect of the car, from the aerodynamic modifications to the finish of the supercharger casing.

Pardo?s counterpart on the engineering team, Design, Engineering and Launch Manager Fred Goodnow, explains the challenge:

?Usually a new vehicle is designed from the inside out, meaning that the chassis and suspension points are set before the exterior body is designed around those dimensions. In the case of the Ford GT, it was exactly opposite. We had to engineer within the given exterior parameters.?

As a result of close collaboration between design and engineering, the production Ford GT is remarkably similar to the concept car on which it is based.

Interior

?As a race car, the original Ford GT didn't have an interior design to speak of. It featured two seats, a steering wheel, a few toggle switches and a lot of bare metal,? Pardo said.

Consequently, the interior of the new Ford GT is the biggest deviation from the vintage cars.

The new interior conveys performance and modern craftsmanship, and offers a rare automotive pleasure ? a glimpse of the engine at work through the rear-view mirror.

?The passenger cabin of most modern cars is isolated from the engine, but in the Ford GT, the supercharger is just a few inches behind your ear. It creates an intimate relationship with the engine that's more like a motorcycle than a car,? Pardo said.

The centrepiece of the interior is a brushed magnesium tunnel, which contains the centre-mounted fuel tank. The tunnel is flanked by a pair of deep bucket seats featuring carbon-fibre shells and leather trim. To provide ventilation, the leather seat cushions are dotted with aluminum grommets similar to those used in the vintage endurance racers.

The tunnel supports a polished aluminium emergency brake handle, rotary climate controls and a six-speed manual shift lever topped with an aluminium knob. The centre console, with exposed magnesium supports, houses the AM/FM/CD audio system, starter button, air bag deactivation switch and auxiliary power point.

The instrument panel features a comprehensive array of analogue gauges with aluminium bezels, including a centre-mounted, oversized tachometer. In homage to the GT40 race cars, stylised toggle switches line the panel, controlling the headlights, foglights, dimmer switch, rear demister and hazard warning lights.

The matte black instrument panel, door panels and lower portions of the tunnel are crafted in Azdel SuperLite Composite. This is the auto industry's first application of Azdel throughout an interior. Azdel is approximately 30 per cent lighter than standard injection-moulded substrates, offers better wear resistance and is recyclable.

The door pulls are made of the same aluminium extrusion used for structural braces in the engine bay. On either side of the foot wells, sections of the extruded aluminium space frame are also visible.

To maximise passenger comfort, Pardo and the engineering team made extensive use of a virtual reality computer-modelling device called the Digital Occupant Buck. Best described as the ?virtual you in the digital vehicle?, the Digital Occupant Buck allowed the engineers to fine tune the interior for comfort and outward visibility.

Using data from this tool, the team maximised the seat travel, increased the rake of the firewall, adjusted the pedal and steering wheel placement and even modified the angle of the shift lever for improved ergonomics.

Exterior

Interior comfort considerations had two effects on the exterior styling of the Ford GT.

To increase passenger headroom, the engineering team wanted to raise the roof height, but the design team felt the low profile was an essential aspect of the Ford GT design.

The engineers and design team debated the issue strongly before finally agreeing to raise the roof 17mm above that of the concept car. To compensate for the added height, Pardo returned to the studio and scaled up the entire profile, preserving the overall proportions of the design.

Secondly, Pardo designed the concept car with flush-mounted windows to recreate the smooth, fuselage shape of the original Ford GT. The execution of this design proved difficult since fixed windows would not be acceptable in a modern supercar and drop-down windows created packaging problems.

A series of elaborate apertures were considered and rejected, until the team sectioned the window and Pardo pushed the bottom edge of the window inboard. The solution preserves the continuity of design and allows the window glass to drop completely into the door, snaking between the hidden side-impact beam and the concave exterior door panel.

The cantilevered doors created yet another production challenge. Due to their size and shape, the exterior panels were too complex for traditional stamping. So the team shaped the panels using super-plastic forming, which uses air pressure to force heated aluminium panels into a one-sided die.

This process also enabled the team to reproduce the sweeping curves and intersecting shapes throughout the rest of the exterior. Pardo calls the design, from the dramatic sweep of the front fenders into the nose to the transition from the C-pillars into the rear deck, ?organic and geometric.?

Pardo's design also contained functional heat extractors and air intakes reminiscent of the race cars. Wind tunnel testing, done on a fibreglass replica of the show car, proved the design had remarkably good internal airflow, but rather alarming amounts of high-speed lift.

To preserve the silhouette of the show car, the engineering team limited aerodynamic changes primarily to the underside of the vehicle. As a result, a subtle rear spoiler extension, front and side splitters and dramatic venturi tunnels wrapped under the rear clip are the only visible changes.

?By concentrating on the underbody, the engineering team was able to optimize the aerodynamic stability without altering the classic silhouette of the design,? Pardo said.

That classic shape also required Pardo to break one of the tenets of modern design ? the short overhang. The result imbued the concept car with the powerful design of the original.

It also allowed engineers to integrate the front bumper ? necessary for safety regulations ? without modifying the exterior design of the production car. The long overhang also allowed for prominent light enclosures incorporating the turn signal and bi-xenon headlamps. An enclosed fog lamp completes the front end.

The ducktailed rear clip was just as essential to the car?s profile, but not as accommodating of current safety regulations. To overcome the problem, designers crafted a floating bumper ? punctuated by massive dual exhausts pipes ? that is separate from the rear clip.

The result passes bumper requirements without altering the tapered rear end. The rear is finished with two large, round tail lights with indirect LED brake lamps and centred reversing lights.

Engine

Mechanical appearance was also an integral part of the Ford GT design.

?First, the engine is visible to the driver through the rear-view mirror. Second, the engine is under glass and on display to all passers-by, and third, the rear clamshell opens to expose the beauty of the engine, frame, and suspension components,? Pardo said.

Thus, the design team took the unusual step of consulting the engineering team on the finish, location and design of every visible surface in the engine bay. The engineers simplified the wiring harnesses, tucked ignition cables under a polished aluminium cover and added "Ford Blue" cam covers, each featuring aluminium coil covers imprinted with the words ?Powered by Ford.?

Even the shape and finish of the space frame was considered.

?We didn't want the Ford GT to look like a stock car, with off-the-shelf tubes welded together. Instead, we worked to make sure the shape of every extrusion had a structural and aesthetic purpose, like the exposed frame of a motorcycle,? Pardo said.

Through unprecedented cooperation between design and engineering, the production Ford GT is remarkably faithful to the concept car's design.

?There were some pretty heated discussions and times when both teams dug their feet into the ground,? Pardo said.

?But the engineers really outdid themselves. Although we changed every surface of the Ford GT, we kept 98 per cent of the original design.?

For further information, please contact:
Ford Australia Public Affairs
Phone: 03-9359 8491
Fax: 03-9359 8900

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