Continued on page two...()The original GT40 was beautiful: no doubt about that. But as soon as they took the dust sheet off the new one, for me the old car lost a little of its sheen. Most “retro” designs lose something if you park next to the original. Not this. It is more beautiful. Bigger, but also more ample. Less Twiggy, more Beyoncé.

There’s much more space — I can actually move the seat forward. And it seems to have retained all the knobs and dials, but more nicely engineered.

The new GT has a supercharged 550bhp engine with no traction control. But you don’t have to go far to discover that this is a sufficiently confidence-inspiring road car not to be intimidated by the lack of a safety net.

Of course, the engine — which you can see spinning away behind you in the mirror as you drive along — is much more sophisticated now. It’s hugely powerful and beautifully smooth. The supercharger is like the afterburner on Concorde: you take off with tons of thrust.

This is a big car with a big engine, yet it has a fantastically smooth gearbox. I always love to change gear in a car — manually moving the internals around is a key part of the hands-on experience. If this bit is wrong, it tells you something about the quality of the whole machine. I cannot understand why it is not this good on all sports cars.

The ride is taut — unlike the old car you can feel the smaller bumps in the road. But it’s not unbearably stiff. It just has the tautness of a modern car, which they did not know how to achieve in the 1960s. So this has a much more nimble feel, even though it’s bigger. And it behaves like a nicely balanced car.

Even the finish is great, with lots of exposed metal in the cockpit. As with the GT40, they have managed to keep it American. It says: “We’re not Porsche, we’re not Ferrari — we’re Ford. This is what we do, this is how we’re gonna do it, and people can go elsewhere if they don’t like it.”

The first time I drove it I’d just jumped out of a Ferrari 360 Stradale. It’s a different beast. To get the full satisfaction you have to push that car. It is difficult to be satisfied just driving round in it. Not so with the Ford GT. I have never had such a reaction from people as I did in this car. They love it. I love it. It’s a love-in! But it’s a mistake to compare cars in the quest for what is “best” — that’s one of my messages to members of the P1 club. Don’t say one is right and one is wrong, because it doesn’t work like that. There are different styles and different ways of having a similar experience. Sometimes we feel Stradale, sometimes Ford GT. The GT is what it is, and it’s great because of that. A rightfully proud Ford.

P1 car club can be contacted at www.p1international.com, 01372 374 400

VITAL STATISTICS

Model Ford GT40
Engine 4736cc V8
Power 335bhp @ 6250rpm
Torque 330 lb ft @ 5500 rpm
Transmission Five-speed manual
Fuel Between 10 and 15 mpg
Acceleration 0-60mph: 5.3sec
Top speed 164mph
Price £7,540 when new, £375,000+ today
Verdict A Maximus of the auto circus
Rating 5/5

Model Ford GT
Engine 5409cc V8 supercharged
Power 550bhp @ 6500rpm
Torque 500 lb ft @ 3750rpm
Transmission Six-speed manual
Fuel 14.6mpg (combined cycle)
Acceleration 0-60mph: 3.8sec
Top speed 212mph
Price £126,000
Verdict The sequel is better than the original
Rating 5/5

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