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101 mph through Glenwood Canyon??

Randy Wyrick
The 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 Tuesday morning at 101 mph in Glenwood Canyon — where the speed limit is 50 — and found their way into the loving arms of Johnny Law. In fact, they drew the attention of the Avon police department, the Eagle County Sheriff’s office and the Colorado State Patrol.

The state patrol trooper who clocked the cars’ speed did not give chase, instead radioing ahead, which is faster than even a Ford GT, whose top speed is billed as 205 mph.



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 chaperons attracted a dozen or so gawkers at the side of the road, and countless rubberneckers straining to get a closer look as they rolled slowly past on that exit ramp.

The police took a relaxed and slightly amused attitude about it, but still wrote tickets to all three.

The police took a relaxed and slightly amused attitude about it, but still wrote tickets to all three.



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.”

One would cost you in the neighborhood of $400,000.

The original Ford GT was 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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