M2K Motorsports 280 mph Ford GT

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The pedals are stock Ford GT.
The black button on the stock Ford GT steering wheel is the push to talk switch for the radio.  The red button is the upshift button for the experimental air shifted transmission that was not being run for this event.

The current transmission configuration is the stock Ricardo 6 speed transaxle.  The fact that the Ford GT comes stock with a Ricardo transmission is pretty cool as Ricardo is the supplier of choice for many high end race teams providing transmissions for venues like F1, Prototypes and Factory works GT cars! 

A Spec twin disc clutch replaces the stock clutch.  The stock gear type limited slip is retained. A dog gear, air shifted, ECU controlled version of the Ricardo transmission is currently being developed.  It was not fully debugged in time for this event so it was removed and the conventional transmission refitted.

 

The Ford GT's styling emulates the shape of the Ford GT40 race cars from the 60's.  These cars were known to have aerodynamic stability issues on high speed courses like LeMans. In the modern tribute to the GT40 Ford added a lot of aerodynamic details to the car to keep it stable at high speeds.  The car has not taken off at 80 mph past its designed top speed so the design must be working.

The first detail to improve the car's aerodynamics is this splitter.  It is subtitle and made of black plastic making it easy to miss at first glance. It makes a huge difference in keeping the 'nose planted on the ground.

 

Here is the side view of the factory splitter.  It is designed to take a hit from dips and driveways and you can see that this one has.  We wish that more manufacturers would add details like this to their car's undertrays. 
This side splitter helps keep air from curling under the car creating lift and has a slight pressure recovery function as well.  This detail looks subtle like the front splitter but they were designed via CFD and verified in a wind tunnel by Ford. 
This Gurney flap on the stock rear spoiler greatly improves its effectiveness with little drag penalty.  A Gurney flap should only be about 1.5% of the chord length to get the best downforce to drag ratio so they don't have to be big. 

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