Falken Ford GT-R, Apart

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

It seems that Black Swan Racing’s Falken-sponsored Ford GT is always a fan favorite, so yesterday after American Le Mans Series practice I thought I’d stop by the team’s tent to give you a look at the car’s insides. The car is packing a Roush-built 5.0L V8, restricted to 500 hp through its 29.3 mm intake ports, as per GT2 regulations. I talked with Dennis, one of the lead technicians, who was busy tinkering with different suspension setups—mostly swaybar and shock adjustments. He said they’d been unhappy with the existing configuration and plauged by understeer problems, so they were swapping the suspension back to the old setup in an effort to get back into the top 10, "where we belong." The team almost did it yesterday, qualifying 11th in the GT2 class—but as of hour 7 of the Petit Le Mans, they’re running in 28th overall, near the bottom of the GT2 standings. Nonetheless, they’ve hung in there throughout the race, even weathering a shock failure that appeared to drop the left rear of the car down on its body, making a hell of a cloud of tire smoke. Tune in to SPEED to catch the end of the race and see how they do. In the meantime, check out some pics of the car in its garage stall and out on the track.

Check out the Amoco Ultimate Your Car Is Worth It Photo Contest. They’re giving away gas money on a weekly basis, and one Grand Prize Winner will get to go to France for 24 Hours Of Le Mans!