Ford GT 2017 UK first drive

The Ford GT supercar - a grand total of 100 examples of which will be officially sold to UK buyers over the next four years. That’s roughly four times as many as Ford sold of the last-gen GT in Britain – and yet each one of the newbies will cost three times as much as the last ones once did.

The company had more than 6000 written expressions of interest in the car, it says, to fill a production run that will extend to only 1000 cars: a quarter as many as it built last time around. Ford may very well flog pickup trucks and hatchbacks by the containership-load, but it’s a long way from naïve about supercar sales. It plainly understands the value of rarity every bit as well as its old Italian racing foe.

Never mind the numbers, though: racing is what this new GT is really all about. It's built by Multimatic, the same Canadian company than builds the Ford GT FIA GTE racer which won its class at its first Le Mans outing last year. And, as we found out abroad earlier this year, the road-going version of the Ford GT is very much a converted version of a purpose-built competition machine – whereas most supercars and super GTs that find their way onto a starting grid do so via a route running in the opposite direction.

So what, you may wonder, have those hundred GT customers got in store when – or, more likely, if – they venture out onto UK roads in their left-hand-drive, 647bhp, carbonfibre cars? Since Ford lent us one of only two examples of the car to have made it to Europe so far, I can now tell you. 

Assuming they’re brave enough to risk the status of their golden geese on the road, those lucky punters have actually got little to fear but the gooey-eyed wonder of the public at large. It may not look quite like a Lamborghini but, trust me, the Ford GT attracts attention every bit as powerfully – if not more so. And, just as we suspected back in July, although it’s low and wide and noisy, the car has a remarkably well-mannered, compliant and unintimidating on-road character that would make it almost as usable as a great many of its exotic mid-engined rivals.

Brass tacks, then. You can tell right away this isn’t the product of a company whose bread and butter is making supercars. The Ford GT isn’t half as complete as a supercar offering as a Lamborghini Aventador SV was, neither does it feel as quick as a McLaren 720S is. But, boy, is it exciting in spite of its relative weaknesses - and it feels incredibly special.

A comfortable fixed bucket seat, a sliding pedal box and a steering wheel you can adjust to within 18 inches of your sternum all contribute greatly to the impression that this car is a true blue motorsport exile that’s simply waiting for its next circuit outing. The GT’s cockpit is remarkable for its sculptural carbonfibre construction; for its sparseness; for the contrast between its tactile metallic switchgear and its more workmanlike fittings; and for the close proximity in which you sit to your passenger. The instruments are flatscreen and digitally rendered, but not desperately visually sophisticated. The steering wheel is busy with buttons and controls.