![]() ![]() ![]() Its stiffer and lower suspension means the car feels more planted around the bends compared to previous iterations, with its taut chassis hardly flinching even with a mid-corner bump thrown at it. The FG X XR8 is unquestionably the best Falcon to come out of Broadmeadows. Launching the car cleanly off the line takes practice and patience but once mastered, its acceleration is brutal.įind a piece of deserted piece of tarmac and the XR8 will reward your skills with a 0-100km/h dash in around 5 seconds, a few tenth’s quicker than our tested time for the SS-V manual. Its stubby gear lever is notchy while the clutch is relatively heavy, with an abrupt take up point. Our Victory Gold-finished test car is fitted with a DIY short-throw six-speed (a ZF auto is available as an option). In fact, the FG X XR8 is even more powerful than HSV’s more expensive Clubsport with 325kW/550Nm. More importantly, its prodigious output eclipses that of the Holden Commodore SS’s 6.0-litre V8, which churns out 260kW/517Nm in auto guise and 270kW/530Nm in manual. On full throttle, its menacing howl is enough to fill quiet streets with enough reverberation to rattle windows and send little children cowering under their beds. On the move, its soul-stirring soundtrack is enough to turn heads, even if its Mustang-grafted face fails to (which it won’t!). Delivering an impressive 335kW at 5,750rpm and 570Nm at 2,200-5,500rpm, it sounds glorious even at idle. Its highly-strung chassis is matched up with the XR8’s greatest asset its magnificent, locally developed 5.0-litre Harrop supercharged V8. The re-born XR8 is essentially a re-bodied version of the now defunct Ford Performance Vehicle GT R-Spec, inheriting its chassis set up, including upgraded suspension, high-performance Brembo brakes and wider 275-section rear tyres. What’s more, Ford Australia has brought back the V8-muscled XR8 to head up the extensively facelifted 2015 Falcon range, on their final leg into the history books of the Australian automotive landscape. Its survival to the latest generation FG X is almost a triumph worth celebrating on its own! But in the past decade, the car buying public’s change of tastes have seen sales of the Falcon plunging faster than the share market during the GFC. The big Ford sedan used to be the best-selling locally made car in Australia, with over 3,500,000 sold over seven generations. The one that Ford Australia hopes will send the Aussie flagship out with a big bang, taking with it the longest continuously surviving car nameplate in Australia. The GT will run the full Tudor and WEC schedules for 2016, meaning its first race appearance will be at the Rolex 24 at Daytona in January.This is it. Both teams will run at Le Mans in 2016, giving Ford a four-car squadron. So even though the GT is meant to continue the original car’s mission of taking Europe’s motorsport elite down a peg, there will be plenty of opportunities to see it on U.S. This engine has already seen plenty of track time in Tudor United SportsCar Championship Daytona Prototypes, racking up wins at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring.Ĭhip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates will manage two two-car GT teams, one for the U.S.-based Tudor series, and the other for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC). Just like the road-going GT, the racer will use a 3.5-liter turbocharged EcoBoost V6. That means it will trade paint with Chevrolet Corvettes, Aston Martin Vantages, Porsche 911s, and, yes, Ferrari 458 Italias. Instead, the GT will compete in GTE Pro, the top class for production-based cars. The racer will be based on the production car people can actually drive, meaning it won’t be in quite the same league as the multi-million-dollar hybrids from Audi, Porsche, Nissan, and Toyota. Unlike the original GT40, the new GT won’t be competing for an overall victory. Ferrari hasn’t earned an overall victory at Le Mans since. Ford developed the GT40, the car that inspired the modern-day GT.įord floundered at its first two attempts in 19, but dominated the race from 1966 to ’69. In response, Henry II vowed to humiliate Enzo on the biggest automotive stage there was. Aston Martin will put its Valkyrie hybrid hypercar to the ultimate testįord’s GT supercar goes on a carbon fiber diet to keep its performance edgeįirst Ford GT and Corvette ZR1 sell for big bucks at auctionĮnzo Ferrari had entertained selling his company to Ford, but backed out at the last minute.
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