press event for GT this weekend?

[phil]

this is quite a parking lot.

Nice to see some regular GTs in attendance, along with the PEs.

 

[Pushrods&Capacitors]

Happy to be proved wrong, but I suspect it will just be what every manufacture does and create a layout that will play to the strengths and disguise the weaknesses. So plenty of opportunities to feel the instant torque response from the motors at low speed but without a straight not long enough to get to much above 60mph to mask an real sense of the true acceleration.

While I suspect any twisity sections will not be anything that technical but more for showing the strengths of the magneride, I find the steering ratio of the GTPE way to slow for one using performance in the title and while the seats are very comfortable the side bolsters do not hold me in that tightly either, especially when compared to the recaros used in my focus st / rs, so having a load of journalists sawing away at the wheel while trying to hang on is probably not in Fords best interests lol.

Speaking as someone who’s driven the FoST and FoRS, everything is gonna have slow steering if that’s your reference point. What are they 1.8-2.0 turns lock to lock? Just sayin’ ?

 

[Pushrods&Capacitors]

From a Ford engineer who works on the Mach-E on the 'gram .... there's some kind of a private event with a ton of GTPEs on an autocross course that's in Alameda this weekend (across from the USS Hornet I believe). I'm guessing this is the event to get us professional GT reviews (finally) -- why else would they have so many GTs in the same place at a private event?

Here's two photos as an example...

Welp, there you have it. Media drives in an environment geared to under 60mph to hide “The Problem”. I sure hope Ford can get GT trap speed issue corrected quickly for all of the would be owners sakes. Plus, I am now more grateful than ever that Ford chose the stylistically-challenged “flower wheels” for the base GT - because they are basically all that kept my wife from choosing a GT over the 4X. Bullet dodged.

 

[macchiaz-o]

Interesting that some of you assume the worst... My guess is that the press event includes freeform and highway driving, too.

Sam Abuelsamid was in attendance. Can't wait to hear his thoughts on his Wheel Bearings podcast when that publishes.

 

[buzznwood]

Speaking as someone who’s driven the FoST and FoRS, everything is gonna have slow steering if that’s your reference point. What are they 1.8-2.0 turns lock to lock? Just sayin’ ?

Yes they have very few turns lock to lock , but then the wheels don't turn that much either lol, age old problem of wider tires and different front knuckles being used on a sportier trims. However the wheels on the mach-e don't turn that much either so it is blessed with the same oil tanker turning radius as the Focus.

The Focus RS had a fixed ratio of 13.0 while the ST had a variable ratio of 13.7 on center to 10.1 at the end, the switching to the fixed ratio on the RS was another in my list of disappointments I had with the RS no doubt done as a concession to appease the addition of the pointless drift mode . So the 14.6 of the mach-e is far to slow for my liking and more suited to a shopping trolley lol.

While I have always preferred variable ratio racks as they can help remove some of that twitchy feeling on center, something that is useful for a near 5000lb vehicle, I can accept that there is no doubt the constraints from the bean counters so there needs to be a lot of parts bin selection for a lot of the componets, however with mach-e platform being c2 derived they could have at least used the c2 mk4 focus ST rack with its fixed 11.6 ratio and 1.8 lock to lock Seeing as Tesla use an even faster steering ratio I once again have to wonder what on earth Ford where bench marking against.

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