The Ford GT70 was a limited production

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

Ercole Spada Ercole Spada (born 26 July 1937 in Busto Arsizio) is an Italian automobile designer. His most notable designs were produced in the 1960s, for the Zagato design studio house, where Spada was chief stylist. During this period some of the most notabl ...

, made by Ford UK in 1970 and intended for use in the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

. Designed to compete with high speed rally cars such as the Porsche 911 and

Renault Alpine The Société des Automobiles Alpine SAS, commonly known as Alpine (), is a French manufacturer of racing and sports cars established in 1955. The Alpine car marque was created in 1954. Jean Rédélé, the founder of Alpine, was originally a ...

, the GT70 featured a mid-mounted engine with rear-wheel-drive.

Len Bailey Leonard Bailey (25 July 1926 – 23 June 1997) was a British automobile designer. Career Leonard Bailey became an apprentice at Austin at Longbridge in 1942 which at that time were building Short Stirlings for the Royal Air Force of World War ...

, who had been the chief engineer on the Ford GT40 project, was enlisted to help design the bodywork and chassis. The GT70 had little success in rallying as it suffered numerous problems such as the frame not being stiff enough, the cockpit being cramped and the V6 in the original cars having too high a centre of gravity. Rule changes in the

as well as the fact that the already developed Escort platform was showing more promise caused Ford engineers to abandon the platform, and in 1973 the GT70 program ended.

Performance

The GT70 was initially designed to use a range of engines, with the first ones being fitted with the 2.6-litre

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

V6 from the Ford Capri RS2600 developing . One of the cars run by Ford France later had its V6 swapped for a 1.6-litre

Cosworth BDA Cosworth is a British automotive engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in high-performance internal combustion engines, powertrain, and electronics for auto racing, automobile racing (motorsport) and mainstream Automotiv ...

straight-four engine in order to reduce the center of gravity for racing. The GT70s also wore fiberglass bodies to save weight and were fitted with 13 inch four stud, four spoke wheels designed especially for the car by Len Bailey.

Production

Only six GT70s were ever built. One was run in the 1971 Ronde Cevenole Rally in France, driven by Roger Clark, but was plagued by engine, suspension and braking problems. Another ran in the 1971 Tour de France Automobile driven by Francois Mazet with partner

Jean Todt Jean Todt (; born 25 February 1946) is a French motor racing executive and former rally co-driver. He was previously director of Peugeot Talbot Sport and then Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1 team principal, before being appointed chief executive offi ...

. Unfortunately, they were unable to finish after colliding with a bridge parapet in the Alps. A third was modified by Ford France with a 1.6 litre

I4, 5-speed Hewland gearbox and a BP livery and was run in the 1972 and 1973 French tarmac championships with

Guy Chasseuil Guy Chasseuil (born 26 January 1942 in Paris) is a French former racing driver. During his racing career he specialized in rallying and endurance racing. Career Guy Chasseuil's first major race was the 1966 24 Hours of Spa, driving an NSU ...

as the driver. One chassis was used as a press car, and another was used for race car development. The GT70 originally modified and run by Ford France was restored in 2002, and fitted with a 2-litre Cosworth BDG engine.

GT-70 concept car

The remaining 6th chassis was fitted with a body designed by Filippo Sapino at Ford Design Europe studio in Turin and realised by newly acquired Carrozzeria Ghia. The subsequent concept car was shown at the 1971 Turin Auto Show. The car featured a flat decklid and faux fastback buttresses.

References

{{Ford Concept GT70 Rally cars Sports cars Rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive vehicles 1970s cars GT70