The 23rd annual Knott’s Berry Farm all Ford show was held a couple weeks ago, here are some of the best cars I spotted at the show, I’ll be adding more pics throughout the week to my Flickr account as well.
The engine specs have been known for a long time, but today Ford gave us some more detailed information, and I want one even more, unfortunately many of the shady dealers out there are already charging well over a hundred grand for them with mark-ups. sadly it will be just another toy for the rich, anyways, check out some of the specs Ford released.
“The development team spent countless hours designing a car that pays homage to the 1968 “King of the Road,” but this thoroughbred is more than just a pretty face. The GT500KR is inspired by Ford Racing’s experience on the race track and finessed with the trademark SVT engineering and Shelby Automobiles’ proven delivery of balanced performance production for the street. Its chassis incorporates unique suspension components developed especially for the KR.
The suspension’s stiffness has been enhanced with wheel rates 17 percent higher in the front and 7 percent higher in the rear. Every other element of the chassis system – such as sway bars and shock absorbers – has been tuned especially to improve King of the Road’s handling.
The new suspension was tuned to work with the Goodyear high-performance, P255/45Z18 front and P285/40ZR18 rear tires, developed specifically for the KR, with a compound that is exclusive to North America. The stickier tires help the short 3.73:1 rear gear (compared to the GT500’s 3.31:1 rear gear) send maximum horsepower to the road and are an important component in the overall handling balance.
“The KR is much more than just a great straight-line performer. It’s the complete package ? handling, power and performance,” said Jamal Hameedi, chief program engineer at Ford SVT. “The team put the GT500KR through rigorous testing and have witnessed slalom runs with sustained lateral acceleration of 1.0g on the skidpad. Those are world-class numbers.”
The GT500KR doesn’t just go better, it stops better. The new tires work with a recalibrated anti-lock braking system (ABS) that results in improved stopping distances 6 feet shorter from 60 to 0 than the stock GT500. The ABS system has been tuned to be unobtrusive during spirited driving. Similar honing was undertaken with the vehicle’s traction-control system to optimize acceleration”
Those stats are pretty impressive, the regular GT500 is already an incredible performer, sustained 1.0g lateral acceleration numbers are up there with the best sports cars on the planet, it will be interesting to see how it performs on the track once in the hands of owners.
“For example, a new front splitter and revised rear spoiler aid in aerodynamic improvements, adding downforce over the front axle and moving the center of aero pressure forward in the vehicle to improve high-speed balance and stable, predictable braking character. The ride height has been lowered to the optimum setting for on-the-limit handling, lowering the front by 20 mm and the rear by 15 mm.
“The KR is more responsive and has more body control,” said Gary Davis, vice president of production for Shelby Automobiles. “It delivers even more racing feel than a stock GT500. Yet it’s still extremely comfortable and doesn’t beat you up like some performance cars. We’ve been able to increase handling substantially without giving up a lot in ride comfort.”
Nice to hear they paid attention to details like aero, braking, and high speed stability. More info is available here www.ford.com/about-ford/news-announcements/press-releases/press-releases-detail/pr-ford-shelby-gt500kr-worldclass-28123
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I snapped this the other day while driving down PCH in Orange County, one of the good things about living in So Cal!
I was quite surprised to see a picture of this car so soon, not sure if I like it, sort of has a plain look to it, but then, it is a low quality grainy picture. I’m sure it’ll look better in a darker color and in high resolution. The car is rumored to be on an updated platform along with an all new interior, the current 3.5L V6 is supposed to be pretty much carry over, and there will be an optional twin turbo version of the 3.5 with direct injection making around 350 horsepower, with AWD to plant the power.
Exact specs aren’t available yet, it’s interesting to see this picture though and speculate what changes have been made that we can’t see.
Definitely the best looking B-car out there, this coming here for the 2010 model year as of latest reports, it was recently shown at the Detroit auto show and in Geneva last month. The interior is on par with cars costing 3 times as much. No real set in stone specs on the powertrains for the U.S. Some think it will get a version of the Rocam engine, but I’m thinking it’s more likely to get a 1.4-1.6L version of the Duratec 4 cylinder maybe with a ecoboost version, we’ll see.
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