[Les Quam]

I love a good trash talk and to talk smack about cars as well as the next guy especially with Sports Car Market Magazines new golden boy columnist Colin Cramer but at some point we need to keep it real and filter out the opinions not supported by any tangible data. I am quite frankly astonished that the juggernaut is so uninformed about the current state of late model supercars. Perhaps once something other than muscle cars is discussed you are like a little boy who has lost his mommy??? LOL

Let's keep it real and talk exculsively about factual data. The current third generation Viper has finished in the top three in the SCCA world Challenge series for the past several years. I think they have even won the Manufacturers championship a couple of times as well? The Dodge Viper competiton coupe used in the World Challenge series has the exact same chassis and brakes as sold on the street Viper. The only thing that is changed from a Comp coupe to a street Viper are the wheels and tires and safety equipment is added and interior deleted.

More importantly all the Viper Comp Coupes are PRIVATELY raced with little or no factory support. Yet they are able to defeat the factory World Challenge teams of Porsche, Cadillac, BMW, and Audi. LETS NOT UNDERSTATE THAT FACT AND HOW HARD IT IS FOR PRIVATEERS TO BEAT FACTORY BACKED RACING TEAMS!!! Yet the Viper consistently does this and unlike the factory teams the Viper Comp Coupe is amazingly close to the car sold on the street. The current Viper and the second generation 450HP vipers have a clear race proven history and are well sorted out cars as is the Z06 Corvette.
I don't need to remaind the juggernaut about the second generation Vipers championships at Le Mans and Daytona by team Oreca.

As far as I know the current Ford GT has won nothing and races nowhere I would appreciate it if the juggernaut could direct me to where I might find some actual data about the current Ford GTs racing history? I would also love to see some information on the Competition version of the Ford GT if one exists??

Therefore to describe the current Ford GT as a road racer on par with the Viper, Z06 Vette, and Ferrari 360 challenge car is simply ridiculous and not supported by any data I am aware of? It is unreasonable to claim that a Ford GT because it ran a quicker lap time than a 360 Ferrari on one day is therefore in the same league as the Ferrari.That Ford GT was a pre production 600 HP Ford GT that tested against a 400HP Ferrari 360 Challenge car. The 360 has 400HP and is down at least 150HP to a production version Ford GT and was down at least 200HP to the pre production Ford GT used in all the magazine tests.

Ford has copied the GT from the earlier 1960s era car and through marketing claims it is a road racer. However when the production Ford GT was finally sold to the public it had to be recalled immediately and owners were told to NOT EVEN DRIVE THEIR cars to the dealership because the control arms were failing under hard street use. All the Ford GTs had to be towed back to Ford.

Thats right boys and girls the car Colin claims is equal to the Ferrari, Viper and Vette had to be towed back to every dealership to have all the control arms replaced because the original ones were cracking under hard STREET driving conditions. Whew that is some road racer juggernaut?

Then after the 2005 Ford GT owners finally got their cars back months later from the dealership they had to bring them back again under yet another recall. This time the rear main seals were failing and spewing more oil than the Exxon Valdez again from hard street use!!! The Production Ford GT never even made it to the track before the control arms failed and the rear main seals blew up. Yet Ford and it's army of marketing guru's have somehow convinced the public the Ford GT is a race proven supercar the equal to a Ferrari or Viper or Vette????

Now the juggernaut showed us a video of a Ford GT at the drag strip with "minor mods" of 18 PSI boost turning an
11.1 at 134 MPH. In order to turn that 11.1 that GT had to have a new exhaust, the computer reprogrammed the boost increased to 18PSI by use of a pulley and probably some cold air induction work.

But I am confused? When the Ford GT was brought to the automotive writers for road testing it turned in the mid 11s in the quarter mile yet the April 2006 issue of Road and Track lists the Ford GT as running a 12.2 at 121.6 MPH. What happened to all that power? Why aren't the current production Ford GTs running mid 11s like the test cars??
Road and Track lists the Viper at 12.1 at 119 MPH and the viper is giving up 50HP if you believe Fords claim that the GT is a 550 HP car in production trim?

The Ford GT MSRP is 149,900 the Viper 81,496 the Z06 vette 65,000 and the Vette also turns 12.2 yet gives up 50HP to the vaunted Ford GT. But wait there is more! The December 2005 Motor Trend magazine also tested the Ford GT against the 2006 Viper and 06 Z06 and what did their tests reveal???

The Ford GT turned a blistering 11.5 second quarter mile pass to the pathetic Vipers 12.0 second pass in the quarter and yet when tested on a 1.6 mile road course the Viper was a full THREE SECONDS quicker around the track then the Ford GT. The Vette was a second faster than than Viper around the track.

IMHO the Ford GT was created for Ford marketing purposes and is more show than go in production form. It has no race history in it's current form and Ford has no plans to race the car or produce a comp version. If the juggernaut wants to call it a drag racer because he can't plausibly call it a real road car it is still no faster in production trim then a stock Viper or Vette for double the price.

As to the juggernauts driving skills I have no idea? But what I say to every bench racing trash talking internet forum speed racer is lets meet at a track in identically prepared cars under supervision and let the race speak for itself. It just so happens that the Barber Dodge race series will be in Vegas at the end of March when the juggernaut will be in Vegas for Mopars at the strip. Barber Dodge offers identically prepared race cars and safe racing. I haven't raced in the series in five years nor I have driven the new outside track they are having the races on. Seems fair to me?

As they say at Barber Dodge arrive ,drive and shut up because when the flag drops the BS stops. If we are going to be assigned the same race group we need to sign up NOW.