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Even Ford supercars can’t outrun radar

Officers from the Eagle County Sheriff's Office, Avon Police Department and Colorado State Patrol were all present when the drivers of three Ford GT supercar prototypes were were pulled over in Avon.
Randy Wyrick / Vail Daily |

AVON — No matter how fast the Ford GT prototype might be, it still cannot outrun police radar.

Three of Ford’s new supercars were clocked at well above the posted speed limit in Glenwood Canyon on Tuesday morning, and found their way into the loving arms of Johnny Law. In fact, they were feeling a bunch of love from a lot of Johnny Laws from the Avon police department, the Eagle County Sheriff’s office and the Colorado State Patrol.

The top speed of the new supercar is faster of 205 mph, but these cars weren’t going anywhere near that fast. They were actually being pretty normal, police said, for a supercar.



They were clocked at 101 mph heading east out of Glenwood Canyon, said the Colorado State Patrol. Alas, that part of the highway through Glenwood Canyon is posted at 50 mph.

The observant state patrol trooper did not give chase, instead radioing ahead, which is faster than even a Ford GT. Police caught up with them about 35 miles later, and they pulled over in Avon on an I-70 exit ramp. The three supercars and their police car chaperons attracted a dozen or so gawkers at the side of the road, and countless rubber-neckers straining to get a closer look as they rolled slowly past on that exit ramp.

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The police took a relaxed and slightly amused attitude about it, but still wrote tickets to all three. When they were printed on the officers’ mobile printers, those tickets were about a foot long.

The cars were loaded with all kinds of data-collecting equipment, and were in the area for high altitude testing.

With the 2017 Ford GT, the Blue Oval jumped back into the supercar market in a big way. Its 3.5 liter twin turbo EcoBoost V6 is related to the engines used in Ford’s F-150 pickup and the Mustang. In this case, though, that engine generates more than 650 horsepower. Which is a lot. The 2016 F-150 version of that engine generates a claimed 365 horses.

Ford Performance Director Dave Pericak told Car & Driver magazine that production will be in the “hundreds, not thousands.”

It’ll cost you in the neighborhood of $400,000.

The Ford GT is an American mid-engine two-seat, mid-engined sports car that was produced by Ford for the 2005 and 2006 model years. The designers drew inspiration from Ford’s GT40 racing cars of the 1960s. Those cars, born of a grudge between Ford and Ferrari, dominated the 24 Hours of LeMans in their heyday.

Staff Writer Randy Wyrick can be reached at 970-748-2935 and rwyrick@vaildaily.com.


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