Ford GT Three speeding charges dismissed

AVON — You cannot tell one test driver from other when they’re hard at work performing high altitude testing on prototype Ford GT supercars.

That’s basically how the Ford GT Three managed to skate on charges of speeding and reckless driving.

A Colorado State Patrol trooper clocked two of the Ford GT Three at 101 mph, headed east on Interstate 70 at the east end of Glenwood Canyon. The third was surrounded by fellow motorists traveling at the 50 mph speed limit.

Prosecutors found themselves in a conundrum over proving which two of the Ford GT Three were traveling at triple-figure speeds, and which one was behaving himself.

“There would have been no way to identify which two of the three were doing the speeding,” said Heidi McCollum, assistant District Attorney. “There was no way we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt which two of the three were speeding.”

According to the incident report, none of the Ford GT Three were speeding when they were pulled over.

McCollum is a Formula One racing fan who appreciates automotive performance. However …

“There are places to go 100 mph. The interstate highway leaving Glenwood Canyon is not one of those places,” she said.

Triple figure speeds

On Sept. 21, about 10:30 a.m., two of the Ford GT Three were heading east out of Glenwood Canyon while a Colorado State Patrol trooper was headed west into Glenwood Canyon.

Two of the cars were alone — no one was around them, and there’s this huge right-hand sweeping curve that sings the stomp-the-gas siren song.

The trooper said in the incident report that he thought they must be moving about 100 mph. He couldn’t quite make out what kind of cars they were, saying at first they were probably Lamborghinis.

It would be an easy mistake to make. First, hardly anyone has ever seen these prototype cars, the cars were several dozen yards away across four lanes of highway, and were headed away from him at triple-figure speeds.

His rear radar — and yes, campers, police cars have radar in the front and back of their cars — clocked the two at 101 mph.

He spotted a third car just like the other two, but it was surrounded by fellow travelers who were rubber-necking to get a better look. That car was traveling at exactly the 50 mph speed limit, the incident report said.

The Ford GT Three rolled more than 30 miles east along I-70 from Glenwood Canyon to Avon, where they were pulled over and became quite the tourist attraction.

The Blue Oval’s back

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 generates more than 650 horsepower.

The top speed is north of 205 mph.

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-seater 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.

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