Ford GT90

The Ford GT90 wis a concept caur manufactured bi the Ford Motor Company. It wis unveiled in Januar 1995 at the Detroit Auto Show as "the warld's mightiest supercaur". Claimed performance includit a tap speed 235 mph (378 km/h) frae a 720 hp (537 kW;730 PS) quad-turbochairged V12 ingine DOHC, the exhaust o which wis claimed tae be het enough tae damage the body panels, requirin ceramic tiles seemilar tae those on the space shuttle tae prevent this.

The mid-ingined caur wis a spiritual successor tae the Ford GT40, takin frae it some stylin cues, sic as doors that cut intae the roofline, but little else. Aw angles an gless, the Ford GT90 wis the first Ford tae display the company's "New Edge" design philosophy. The GT90 wis biggit aroond a honeycomb-section aluminum monocoque an its body panels war moulded frae carbon fiber.

The GT90 wis biggit bi a smaw team in juist ower sax month an, as a result, borrowed mony components frae anither hie profile stablemate—the Jaguar XJ220. The aw-roond double wishbone suspension an the five-speed manual gearbox came frae the Jaguar, while the ingine wis a siamesed  4.6L DOHC V8 block (frae the Lincoln Mark VIII) wi 2 cylinders cut aff.

The GT90's 48-valve V12 wis a sax-litre ingine which, if Ford haed iver produced it in volume, might hae produced up tae 720 hp (537 kW), thanks tae fower Garrett AiResearch T2 turbochairgers.  The ingine wis based on the Ford Modular ingine.  Twa Lincoln V8 ingines each haed portions removed, namely the last pair o cylinders frae the rear o ane ingine an the first pair o cylinders frae the front o the ither ingine an the cut doun ingines wur weldit thegither. In tot, this yieldit a 90-degree V12, wi 90.2 mm bore an 77.3 mm stroke.

Jacques Nasser, then a Ford executive an eventually CEO, wis vera proud o the caur, an kept a model o it on his desk, as seen in a documentary on the U.K. telly netwirk Channel 4 on the Firestone tire incidents.

In the Top Gear episode first broadcast on October 26, 2003, Jeremy Clarkson statit "I actually drove this an it wis horrid. It haed a top speed o 40 (mph) an it handled like it wis in a cartoon".

References
 John McCormick "No White Elephant" AUTOCAR, 9 August 1995.
 Top Gear -  Series 3 Episode 1 aired 26 October 2003
 Ford GT90 offeecial U.S. Press Release - 4 December 1994

External links
 Ford GT90 Concept 

GT90