2011 GT500 goes on a diet, loses 120 pounds, gains 10 HP - texasRACERS

Tripod · 02-08-2010, 04:14 PM

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/08/2...e-loses-120-p/

Here's an interesting excerpt, especially for those of you who think the domestics can't compete with the Japanese in terms of technology.....

Last June we learned about an award that several Ford researchers had received for a cylinder bore coating system they developed called the Plasma Transferred Wire Arc (PTWA) process. The Ford press release at the time framed the award in terms of fuel efficiency and gave no real hint about what was about to come. It now turns out that the first production Ford to use the PTWA process will be the 2011 GT500.

The heart of the PTWA process involves feeding a steel wire into a device that heats it up to 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit and then sprays it onto the aluminum cylinder bores. Ford is not actually the first company to use a process like this. Similar mechanisms have been used to coat the fan blades in jet engines for a number of years. One of the primary differences is that Ford is using PTWA with a conventional steel alloy rather than some super exotic aerospace material. Ford isn't even the first automaker to use this specific coating process. That honor falls to Nissan, which actually licensed the technology from Ford for use on its V6 engine in the GT-R.

Darien · 02-08-2010, 05:00 PM

Will this also be on the returning GT350?

mopAR · 02-08-2010, 05:12 PM

Good news!

**boxx** · 02-08-2010, 05:41 PM

ok it lost 10 and i gained 10....no win here

Tripod · 02-08-2010, 06:53 PM

It lost 120 pounds overall and gained 10 hp.

Looks like there's a few vid clips up now.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/02/08/v...ack/#continued

In terms of what it gained, if you read the article, the 2011 is about 2.5-3 seconds quicker around a couple race tracks now.

Which is what it really needed most.