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FORD SHELBY GR-1
CONCEPT
The Ford Shelby GR-1 concept
springs from a long line of Ford performance
project cars and quickly establishes itself at
the Shanghai International Motor Show as one of
the most contemporary and dramatic front-engine,
two-seat, fastback supercars. This running
prototype reaches closer to reality with a
605-horsepower, 390-cubic-inch all-aluminum V-10
engine, a road-tested version of the Ford GT
suspension and a stunning new polished-aluminum
body.
The Shelby GR-1 concept's name pays tribute to
both a performance great and "Group Racing."
This uniquely emotional sports car design
represents Ford's continued desire to include a
high-end, limited-production specialist supercar
in its lineup.
The Shelby GR-1 concept combines modern
sculptured surfaces and a sleek muscular
fastback design. All of the sophisticated
mechanicals of this extraordinary coupe are
wrapped in a sleek, muscular aluminum skin left
bare and polished bright. The result is a
forward-looking supercar with attention-grabbing
Ford presence and Carroll Shelby inspiration.
A REALITY-BASED CONCEPT
The Shelby GR-1 is a fully engineered,
production-feasible roadgoing, drivable project
vehicle. The Shelby GR-1 starts with a modified
version of the aluminum chassis from the
rear-engine Ford GT. The bulk of the rear
structure is made from slightly modified Ford GT
components, including the massive trellis-like,
cast-aluminum suspension nodes, the rear rails
and bumper beam, a major cross-member and the
brackets used to mount the transmission.
SHAPELY EXTERIOR
The Ford Shelby GR-1 is a sinewy, athletic
design with a long hood that blends seamlessly
into the teardrop-shaped cabin with a fastback
roofline and falling upper fender line. The car
looks as if it is in motion, even when it is
standing still. The optimized wheel
arches and
compact overhangs define the striking stance
while the strong shoulder line and smooth, taut
surfaces express the car's graceful yet athletic
nature. The polished aluminum body panels
further express the highly sculptured surfaces
and define the emotional proportions in dramatic
fashion.
The front of the Shelby GR-1 concept is
dominated by an air-intake aperture and airflow
splitter, directing cool air into the engine bay
and wheel wells, while air vents on the upper
surface of the hood exhaust hot air from the
radiator. Additional intakes and vents perforate
the body side to ensure cooling throughout.
The front corners of the Shelby GR-1 are
dominated by substantial front wheel wells
housing 19-inch wheels and tires and trapezoidal
High Intensity Solid State (HISS) headlamps that
float above the wheel arches. This highly
technical lighting package provides powerful
illumination in a very compact package, allowing
freedom of design without sacrificing nighttime
driving visibility.
RACING-INSPIRED INTERIOR
The Shelby GR-1 concept's butterfly doors have
distinctive teardrop-shaped side-glass graphics
that create an elongated appearance, blending
seamlessly into integrated door-release handles.
The graceful upward glide of the doors leads
into the race-inspired interior that features
seats with carbon shells and fixed backs. The
carbon shells are connected directly to the sill
and tunnel via lightweight aluminum spaceframe
attachments and can be adjusted fore and aft by
way of an accessible pull ring on the seat
cushions' leading edge. The seats incorporate
removable Alcantara comfort inserts that are
individually tailored to the occupants' body
type.
PROVEN CHASSIS COMPONENTS
From the outset, the Shelby GR-1 concept team
intended the concept to perform at supercar
levels but with a more "mature" feel biased a
little more toward driver comfort than the Ford
GT.
They started by attaching massive 19-inch wheels
and tires using the Ford GT suspension system
with a few modifications to accommodate the
increased weight of a front-engine setup.
DESIGNED-IN SUSPENSION COMPLIANCE
A double-wishbone suspension design with
unequal-length aluminum control arms, coil-over
monotube shocks and stabilizer bars is used
front and rear. The upper control arms are
identical at all four wheels and are made with
an advanced rheo-cast process that allows the
complexity of form associated with casting while
retaining the strength of forging. The metal,
heated to just below its melting point, is the
consistency of butter when it is injected into a
mold at high pressure. Pressure is maintained as
the part cures, preventing porosity in the final
product for exceptional strength.
BIG, POWERFUL BRAKES
With more than 600 horsepower available at the
throttle, the brake pedal had to be equally
powerful. The team set braking distance targets
comparable with today's best supercars and
turned to the Ford GT braking system for
suitable components.
Brembo "monoblock" one-piece aluminum brake
calipers with four pistons each grab
cross-drilled, vented discs at all four wheels.
The discs are a massive 14 inches in front and
13.2 inches in the rear, for fade-free stopping
power.
For packaging reasons, the team devised a novel
offset actuation linkage for the brake booster
and master cylinder, so the brake pedal can be
placed in a normal position even though its
hardware is off to the side of the engine bay.
The kinematic linkage concept for the remote
booster actuation was an idea borrowed from the
European Ford Mondeo.
SUPERCAR POWERTRAIN
The heart of any supercar is its engine, and the
Ford Shelby GR-1 concept does not disappoint.
Inspired by the biggest, baddest engine of them
all – the renowned 427 – Ford engineers created
a new aluminum-block V-10 to power last year's
Ford Shelby Cobra concept. This 390 cubic inch,
6.4-liter engine, reprised for service in the
Shelby GR-1 concept, is adapted from Ford's MOD
engine family. It delivers the rush of raw power
– with 605 horsepower and 501 foot-pounds of
torque – associated with that big 1960s V-8
powerplant without the aid of supercharging or
turbocharging.
This combination of brute force and thorough
engineering has created a rarity in the world of
auto shows – a concept car that can actually do,
rather than merely promise, 0-60 in under four
seconds, and would easily exceed 200 mph if not
electronically limited.
ADVANCED TRANSMISSION
While the Ford Shelby GR-1 concept shares a
significant amount of technology with the Ford
GT and the Shelby Cobra concept, the team met
several unique engineering challenges head-on.
First, the six-speed manual transmission had to
be packaged in a way that would not compromise
the occupant footwells. The rear-mounted
six-speed transaxle is identical to the
high-performance unit in the Ford GT, with an
integral limited-slip differential to drive the
rear wheels. Based on the engine's 7,500-rpm
redline and the wide drive ratios, this Ford
Shelby GR-1 concept has a theoretical top speed
of around 200 mph, although it's electronically
limited – for now.
The transaxle application was necessitated by
the desire to fit such a large engine into a
compact coupe while leaving enough room for the
driver's legs and feet. With a conventional
transmission mated to the back of the engine,
the tradeoff between hood length and passenger
room often makes for a cramped footwell and
dramatically offset pedals.Mounting the
transmission in the rear helped to more evenly
distribute the vehicle's weight and increased
the footwell area from 16.5 inches to 21.7
inches, resulting in almost three inches more
legroom than in similar performance vehicles.
UNIQUE SOLUTIONS
Additional improvements from the Ford Shelby
Cobra concept include new, twin fuel fillers
exiting the bodywork just aft of each sideview
window and mid-way up the rear quarter panel
bodywork. These racing-inspired devices feed two
individual 10-gallon capacity fuel tanks that
reside inside the structural chassis directly
behind the passenger compartment.
The battery was also relocated to the rear of
the vehicle, deep inside the luggage
compartment, further aiding vehicle weight
distribution and better shielding the battery
package from the intense heat of the engine
compartment. A new cooling system, evolved from
the Shelby Cobra concept, includes a unique hood
with twin portals to feed air into the engine
compartment.
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