THE RETURN TO LE MANS!
June 19th, 2016 | History was made!
In its debut season, the Ford GT achieved the ultimate success and made road racing history by delivering on its mission of winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans, fifty years after the first GT won Le Mans in 1966. Not only did the Ford GT win, but it also achieved a third place podium finish, almost sweeping the podium in the Le Mans Grand Touring Endurance (LMGTE) class. The Ford GT ‘supercar’ immediately rose to the pinnacle of road racing history.
July 2016 |
Preparations begin for the 2017 return to Le Mans. Knowing the competition would be focused on the podium and the Ford GT, the goal was clear and the countdown began to prepare the twin-turbo Ford EcoBoost V6 engines that would power the Ford GT fleet to defend the 24 Hours of Le Mans title, just as Ford did in 1966 and 1967.
“We have approached this program like we do every program, in close partnership with Ford Performance,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “The entire Roush Yates Engines team is very honored to be Ford’s partner in this legendary road racing program.”
Preparation for the 2017 return to Le Mans hit its stride in late-2016. Knowing that the 2017 race engines would need to be ready for shipment in less than seven months, the pressure was on.
The Team, led by Ford Performance, Roush Yates Engines, Ford Chip Ganassi Racing and Multimatic Motorsports had to make quick work of evaluating needs and logistics during this time period.
These seven months were critical to the 2017 preparation. There was a constant flow of information between the four partners to ensure that everyone had the latest information to act on. It was crucial that the team members stayed on the same page, which was sometimes challenging with partners and suppliers from around the world collaborating on the project.
“The Roush Yates’ engineering team has worked very closely with the Ford Performance engineering team this past year,” stated Wade Riesterer, Technical Manager of Road Racing of Roush Yates Engines. “Having the 2016 Le Mans race data from four cars has allowed us to improve our correlation between simulation and the track in order to add another level of refinement to our simulation models.”
“As a leading edge engine development company, with 3 state-of-the-art facilities based in Mooresville, NC; Roush Yates Engines (NASCAR division), Roush Yates Performance Engines Group (road racing division) and Roush Yates Manufacturing Solutions (CNC machining division) enables us to streamline the flow of design, development and production of various critical components, all in house,” according to Dan Keenan, Design & Analysis Manager for Roush Yates Engines.