Slideshow: World's Fastest GT40 Does 293 MPH!
Eat your heart out Bugatti. The fastest car in the world is a Ford! Here’s how M2K Motorsport makes it all happen…
Horsepower
When it comes to top speed you need horsepower. Lots and lots of horsepower. Air has a real density at triple digits speeds and the higher up you go the harder it gets to fight your way through this invisible force. The weight of this vehicle isn’t known, but what is known is that it takes around 2,500hp to accomplish this feat. Of course, the engine runs on methanol as opposed to standard gasoline.
Bodywork
The second enemy of top speed is drag. Big wings and front splitters are not found on this vehicle. Everything is small…minimal. Because of this, the GT40 is allowed to cut through the air like a hot knife through butter. A very small and unaggressive looking rear diffuser can be found on the rear of the car which leads me to think it also has a “flat floor” design. This smooths airflow underneath the car adding stability without the drag you would get from a rear wing. Big horsepower and minimum drag are the main ingredients here!
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Wheels and Tires
What keeps all of this on the ground? A secret rubber compound made just for the GT? 15” wide Mickey Thompsons? Nope. None of that! Some good old-fashioned Hoosiers are all you’ll find here. Around back the car runs a 345mm wide tire on a 19” wheel and up front a substantially smaller 265mm wide tire on an 18” wheel. Everything is pretty straight-forward on this record runner.
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Stock Interior
Continuing with the strange things on this build we find what can more or less be described as a full interior. A cage, of course, wraps its way around the driver to cocoon him in safety in case of the word case scenario: a rollover at speed. Nothing you want to experience at 293mph and it can happen. Cars become incredibly sensitive to anything even slightly off at those speeds. The cage looks huge compared to others seen in fast cars.
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Slowing it all Down
Stopping this car is a hell of a task. What parts do you use to slow something that is almost approaching 440 feet per second? For starters a parachute system paired to trusted Brembo rotors. Drilled at the rear and slotted at the front. Ford knew what they were doing with the GT40 and the system (like the body) actually isn’t as modified as you’d think. It actually retains stock pads!
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2018: A Milestone
Texas Mile comes in this October and I have a hard time believing this car won’t crack the 300mph barrier and be the first car in history to do so. The car was still pulling on the 293mph pass like a freight train. Another few moments and it for sure would have done 300. Time for some nitrous M2K! Let’s see what she can do this year!
>>Join the conversation about this crazy Ford GT40 right here in the 6SpeedOnline Forum!