First look: GT enters car war

FORD revealed its new generation GT Falcon at the Sydney motor show today, but the car does not take Aussie V8 sports sedan power bragging rights away from Holden Special Vehicles.

The GT, which goes on sale in the first quarter of 2003, is powered by a 290kW (at 5500rpm) version of the new quad cam 32-valve "Boss" V8 engine, falling 10kW short of the 300kW (at 6000rpm) figure HSV boasts for its top-spec GTS sedan and coupe.

But the 5.4-litre "Boss 290" does outdo the HSV C4B V8 for torque, producing 520Nm at 4500rpm compared to the Reeves Callaway-tuned Chevrolet's 510Nm at 4800rpm.

The Boss 290 will also power the rest of the BA-Falcon based Ford Performance Vehicles range at launch - the Pursuit Ute which also debuted in Sydney and the forthcoming GT-P. It is being built on a new assembly line at FPV's Melbourne headquarters alongside the "Boss 260" V8 which powers the Falcon XR8.

Production of the two engines began this week. The XR8 also goes on sale in the early stages of 2003.

This is not only a new beginning for the GT, which was last sold as a full-time member of the Falcon range back in 1973, but also for FPV, which is fundamentally the old Tickford Vehicle Engineering renamed, rejigged and given more resources to take on HSV after the failure of T-Series to make an impression.

While Ford revealed the exterior of the GT and the Pursuit Ute in Sydney, it did not reveal interior trim or prices. They are tipped to emerge in November. No performance figures were claimed for the FPV range either.

But the power issue will be the big talking point for a while, with some hardcore Ford fans bound to be disappointed by Ford's decision not to at least match HSV's peak power output.

By not doing that, however, Ford and FPV avoid further talk of a power war and leave space above the current range for the return of the legendary GTHO.

But FPV managing director David Flint denied either of those issues were important when the GT's engine was under development.

"There is no hidden agenda in terms of 290kW," he said.

"What we were looking for was performance and driveability - and when we designed the engine to give us that what we got was 290kW.

"That was shown to be repeatable and real and so that was what we went with. We are not in a power war. We are in a car war, a marketing war." Mr Flint said it was "quite likely in the future" that GTHO would reappear, but the performance and specification levels would be established only after extensive consultation with customers.

The other major discussion point for GT is bound to be styling, which perhaps is not as wild as some would have expected.

It is designed to link it in clearly as part of a family evolution that sits it between the XR8 and the new V8 Supercar which Dick Johnson drove in some display laps at Bathurst last weekend.

Standard GT gear includes 18-inch Globe alloy wheels (the GT-P will get seven-spoke Minilite-look wheels), and of course the power bulge that all Boss V8-powered Falcons share.

Unique styling features include a large front lower intake with a front spoiler apeing the race car's splitter design and rear styling based on the race car's diffuser, as well as a rear wing. Designers Peter Elliott and Nick Hogios also worked to shorten the front-end overhang compared to the XR models.

Neat details include a rear grille in the side skirt which provides airflow to the rear brake area and a visual link to the race car which has its exhaust outlets in this area. Auxiliary lights in the front spoiler echo the 1968 GT.

"It (GT) has a strong Ford DNA performance signature, with the trapezoidal grille at the top and the large inverted grille below it," said Ford Australia design director Simon Butterworth.

"We have achieved this through increasing the volume and widening the lower regions, which are actually much wider than other BA Falcon models.

"This extra width reinforces that look of strength and width by taking the eye out to the corners of the front and rear section." The Supercab-based Pursuit Ute shares much of the GT's front styling theme, but obviously differs in the rear where a hard tonneau is standard along with an extended rear skirt and rear wing.

Mechanically speaking

BOTH versions of the Boss engine are built by FPV on a new $1.5 million assembly track from bare blocks and heads imported from the US. The Boss 290 has a series of detail changes from the Boss 260 to eke out the extra 30kW and 20Nm and do it reliably, including: * Higher compression ratio of 10.5:1 (260 has 9.52:1) courtesy of dome-topped pistons
* Special balancing of the crank
* Tri-metal main and big-end bearings
* Cobra R profile inlet camshafts that increase inlet valve lift from 10 to 13 degrees
* Cobra R profile exhaust camshafts that increase exhaust valve lift from 10mm to 12mm
* Longer valve stems and springs
* Hi-comp head gasket
* Special high-tensile head bolts
* Unique Boss 290 engine management system Of course the development has gone beyond the engine with work also devoted to further developing the XR8 sedan's double wishbone front and control blade rear suspension, as well as the Brembo brake package expected to be standard on XR8.

The Ute has also had specific development work applied to its "constant track" beam axle rear suspension.