General Information

Car: 2006 Superformance GT40 MkII
Vehicle Type: 2-door coupe, production car
Base Price: $65,000 (no engine)
Price as Tested: $85,000 (approximately)

Drivetrain

Engine Type: V8
Displacement: 7000 cc
Horsepower: 530 bhp

Dimensions

Curb Weight: 2600 lbs

Performance

Top Speed: 220 mph

There’s no way I am going to fit inside this thing. That ‘40’ in the name is not just marketing jargon. The Ford GT40 is really 40 inches low. The infamous doors that carry a third of the roof panel with them require that you swing them 90 degrees before you can even think of trying to get in. And look at that little slit they expect me to wedge myself into. There’s no way in Shell I’m going to make it behind that wheel. Oh, the wheel comes off? Great. Now I’m going to have to try at least. Hmmm, that wasn’t as hard as it looked. That wide sill (which reminds you that this is a steel monocoque) isn’t as hard to bridge as it seems.

Wasn’t Gurney like 6’ 2” or something? Maybe that’s why there seems to be endless legroom in here. Must have been a bit gangly though as my hips have zero wiggle room. Spool out the 4-point harnesses to fit around me and cinch them down. Now I just need to reach over and grab the door. Whoops. Unbuckle, reach, pull door shut, rebuckle. Thank God for the reminder to duck. I believe these doors have been referred to as guillotines. If not, they should have been. Hey, there’s a bump up there for a little extra headroom. Oh yeah, that was what Gurney needed on his to clear his helmet. Clever. Looks like the passenger isn’t as lucky though. OK, let’s fire this puppy up. This has to be the stiffest clutch ever made. Well, it’s now in my top 5 at least. All right, switch on. Whirr-whirr-brap-BRAP-BRAP. Oh good God, I’m in love. Ease it into…shove it into gear, and away we go. Yee-hah!

It is so easy to imagine yourself flying down the Mulsanne, pretending to be Dan or A.J. when you are driving one of these. With a huge 427 cubic inch V-8 nudging you forward, urging you to dip into the throttle deeper and deeper, promising that 200 mph will be smooth and steady, and here before you know it. And this is the mild version of the mill. A mere 530 hp compared to the more racy 580 horse SR motor you can choose when they build one for you. Wait? They’re still building GT40s? Yes they are as a matter of fact, and you can even drive it on the street. The “they” we are referring to are the men and women at Superformance.

After working their magic on Cobras for a number of years (recently working out a deal with Carroll Shelby himself to become an officially licensed supplier of said vehicle recreations), they brought in Pete Brock to develop a more modern version of the legendary Cobra Daytona Coupe. Having most of the original team back together to develop an updated version of the car, and giving them the chance to meet some of the wishlist items they had but couldn’t incorporate in the ‘60s because of the constraints of the original Ace platform, the Coupe is larger and more refined without losing one iota of the neck-snapping responses of the original. With a specially prepped Roush motor, that car has topped 220, all the while sporting lines that are arguably even sexier than the original’s.

Other projects have also appeared in the Superformance catalog over the years. A brief fling with a Lotus 7 resulted in the thoroughly modern S1 roadster that unfortunately never quite caught on. The factory that builds each of these vehicles also produces Nobles down in South Africa, although each product line has its own final assembly section. And this brings up an important issue. For the most part, when people look at this class of vehicle, they see the retro shapes and refer to them as “kit” cars. And in some ways, they are correct. But an important point needs to be made here: Each of the Superformance products is supplied as a complete factory manufactured roller, minus engine and transmission.

Rather than picking all the parts out of a box of panels and widgets, each car is completely manufactured just like something rolling out of Detroit. Because of the vagaries of U.S. regulations, the cars then need to be disassembled, shipped to the States, and reassembled with a choice of crate or built motors and transmissions, then they are sold and registered as a kit car. Nobles, Ariel Atoms, and Superformance products all follow this pattern. This makes them a little more complicated to register, but the reward is that you have something that offers a driving thrill like nothing else on the road. In the case of our featured car, like nothing else on the track either.

Although the GT40 Mk II is essentially a new GT40, no two of the original Mk. IIs from the ‘60s were exactly alike. And they tended to change from race to race. That made the Superformance mission to recreate this LeMans podium sweeper even tougher than usual. To begin with, they had to really think long and hard to convince themselves to do this project in the first place. The thought of reverse engineering a 40-yr-old racecar, and more specifically its steel monocoque was a bit overwhelming. They even considered going the route of many of the other GT40 kitmakers out there and just build a frame that could wear the GT panels giving the kit the look, if not the feel, of the original. It didn’t take very long to shoot that idea down. They decided to not even do it if they weren’t going to do it right.

And so they began assembling a mini library of photos and schematics, traveled to England to visit with the original team of engineers, and got to work. Five years later they had a steel monocoque that was twice as rigid as a modern Formula 1 car, and 90% parts interchangeability with the original. The body is all steel too, just like back in the day. Rather than using off-the-shelf parts like lesser GT kits, everything onboard is specifically manufactured for this product. In fact, this car is currently being evaluated for historic racing eligibility. It’s that close to the real deal.

The biggest difference, company President Lance Stander points out, is the hidden air conditioning system and the more modern brakes. They also used more modern materials for many of the suspension components in the interest of durability, weight savings, and safety. Oh, it’s also left hand drive with a center tunnel mounted shifter rather than rhd with a sill-mounted stick. A rhd drive version is available at a substantially higher price for the purists out there. The launch MSRP of the complete SPF GT without engine and transmission is $65,000. Depending on the drivetrain the buyer chooses, final price should be between $80,000 and $90,000.

We’ve rolled out of the Superformance headquarters lot and worked our way to the freeway. The car is loud inside, but perhaps not as loud as you’d expect. It weighs 2600 pounds, has a 427 about an inch behind your ear and is essentially 40 years old, despite being freshly built. It’s a great noise though. A high winding big block is unlike anything else powering a vehicle today. The combination of low-end rumble with high rpm valvetrain action makes quite a symphony, especially when you have pit seats. We get to the on ramp and because of some traffic have to stop at the bottom before getting our chance to launch and merge. Lance is worried a bit because the tires are cold. The light changes and first gear proves useless. We squirm in place a bit, inching forward for what seems an eternity before we get a bite on the oil-rich pavement that hasn’t seen rain to wash it clean in months. And then it happens.

My retinas strain to remain attached but my lips are peeled back so far in glee that it hardly matters. Ram that shifter up a notch and I think we’re doing about 120 already. And then traffic slows our progress so we get a chance to see what this thing is like as a highway cruiser. And again it surprises. Not what I’d call a racecar ride by any stretch. Large bumps remind you of this, and the fact that you are about an inch off the ground with just over that much space between your head and the Gurney bump. But the smaller stuff is managed quite well. And later we have a chance to see that the brakes are phenomenal. Lance says track worthy and we don’t think he’s exaggerating. And the grip level is right up there with anything else we’ve tested, with some modern rubber in place perhaps even better than the original.

Our drive is regrettably short, but incredibly rewarding. We head back into a parking lot down the street from the offices and shut down for some still shots. The sun is dropping and the deep blue paint is starting to glow. The curves of the flanks are broken here and there by functional vents and scoops that the modern GT only hopes to mimic. While that modern Ford is a terrific supercar, this is the real thing. It is as close as any of us will probably ever get to knowing what it felt like to sweep the Ferraris the first time out, taking the whole podium in a legendary 1-2-3 finish that put Ford out in front and probably started the slide that led Enzo to get out of endurance racing altogether. Makes it seem like quite a bargain compared to the modern homage, let alone the best Maranello has to offer today.