July 12: Local hero

The Goodwood Festival of Speed is what happens, when you combine one very wealthy British royal with a love of cars and a huge estate. Simple formula. This big deal, fun event was started about 25 years ago and has evolved into a must be there venue for all the hot car manufacturers. A time to show off the past greatest and very latest, along with race cars of all types  -  dragsters, F1, Le Mans, NASCAR, etc.

The unique and changed annually car sculpture (highlighting the year's featured marque), that welcomes one and all to the Earl of March's estate........

So, no surprise that Ford chose this occasion to announce and introduce a new version of their $450,000 US hero car, the Ford GT, built here in good old Toronto. The car is the Ford GT Mark II, same as the "normal" GT, but with a more race bred suspension set up, about 700 hp and a slightly more eye watering price of $1.2 million US.......

 A part of the festival is the timed run up the earl's very long driveway, open to all cars, but the limited edition GT Mark II was entered in the Supercar Shootout. So how did it do? A picture is worth a few words.........

Some local interest........my workout "buddy", Scott Maxwell, did all the preliminary track testing of the GT, long before it hit the streets, so it came as no surprise, that he was tagged to have the honour of running this new supercar up the driveway. When he mentioned that he would be doing this, he told me that he was, ".......going to take it easy, as he didn't want to embarrass himself." Nice going, Scott, we should all take it so easy.

See the run for yourself........... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLw5YcR-1xo

Scott is no stranger to the UK, as he and his Multimatic team are running a new Mustang in the British GT series and they go up against some impressive machinery....... 

So, how do they fare? Once again a picture will tell it all...........

A couple of wins to date, some other good finishes and they are leading the points. Pretty good stuff, but if you've followed Maxwell's career, from his Le Mans win a few years back, to his North American championships, it is no surprise he and his team are doing so well.

These results make those every two week flights to Britain worth the jet lag. Of course, the aero plan points help. No wonder he works out so hard in the gym.

Our local hero and team celebrate their win at Le Mans.........

 
Now back to that wild GT Mk II. Interested? Of course, you are, but act fast as there will only be a very limited number and Drake has probably already put his order in.

Until next time.......