The Ferrari F40 was a significant benchmark for supercars when it achieved 200 miles an hour, prompting other manufacturers to up their game. The Jaguar XJ220 came along and reached 213 miles an hour, but then McLaren introduced the F1, which left everyone else in its wake. With that in mind, Ford decided to dive into their parts bin and use the Jaguar XG220 as a base for their own supercar project, dubbed the GT90. The car would feature the basic chassis, suspension, and gearbox from the XG220, but with a twist: instead of using the XG220's V6 twin-turbo engine, Ford opted for a Ford modular V8, cutting two cylinders off to make it a V6 before doubling it to create a 5.9-liter quad-turbo V12. The addition of four Garrett turbos would provide an impressive 720 horsepower, which Ford hoped would be enough to propel the GT90 to unprecedented speeds.

The design of the GT90 was meant to kick off Ford's new edge design direction, and while it may not be considered aesthetically pleasing by today's standards, it has aged surprisingly well. The bodywork was made from lightweight carbon fiber, and the car's weight came in at a staggering 1451 kilograms. Despite its size and weight, the GT90 was allegedly capable of reaching an astonishing top speed of 253 miles an hour, a feat that would not be achieved by most production cars until many years later. Ford had even hinted at putting the GT90 into production, with a rumored price tag of just $150,000, which would have undercut the prices of its competitors by a significant margin.

However, it seems that Ford's enthusiasm for the project was short-lived. The company revealed the GT90 at the 1995 Detroit Motor Show, and it looked like they were serious about putting the car into production. In fact, Ford had even made a fully functioning test car and given it to select journalists for a test drive. One such journalist was Jeremy Clarkson, who unfortunately did not get to experience the full potential of the GT90 due to the bypassing of the turbochargers on his car. The V12 engine produced only 400 horsepower, rendering the car significantly less rapid than expected.

Ford's decision to shelve the GT90 project was reportedly due to the engineers' skepticism about the feasibility of the quad-turbo setup. After investing three million dollars and developing the car in just six months, Ford realized that their resources might not have been enough to create a production-ready supercar. Instead of pursuing the GT90 into mass production, Ford retreated from the project, citing it as a test bed for new technology and a showcase for their new edge design language.

Despite its untimely cancellation, the GT90 has developed a cult following over the years, with some enthusiasts lamenting that they never got to experience the car in action. However, its legacy lives on through its appearance in the 2005 game Need for Speed II, which helped introduce the car to a wider audience.

In recent years, the GT90's history was reevaluated, and it was revealed that Ford had actually put the car up for auction in 2009. Unfortunately, the sale fell through, and the car eventually ended up at Brent Hayek's museum in Oklahoma, where it remains on display to this day. While some might view the GT90 as a missed opportunity or a footnote in automotive history, its design and technical achievements are undeniable, making it an interesting footnote in the story of supercars.

In recent years, there has been talk about what Ford could do with the current 4GT model and how it could be modified to compete in the Lema hypercar class. This idea is explored in a full video on the channel's website, which can be accessed by clicking on the link provided in the description below.

For those who appreciate James May's recent Amazon show, a link to a t-shirt inspired by the show is also included in the description. The design has proven popular with viewers, and those who are interested can order one themselves. If you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up and consider subscribing to Drivetrain for more content like this.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enfew concept cars have captivated the world to a point where people remember them years afterwards the volkswagen w12 is definitely one of them the bmw nazca c2 is another and who could forget the eloquent lamborghini four-seater called the stock but i think there's one concept car that rises to the top and it came from the good old blue oval the ford gt90 was supposed to be the successor to the gt40 a 90s supercar that would reign supreme over everyone else in the performance car game but sadly its geometric design never got past the concept car stage despite ford producing a fully functioning test car and making plenty noise that the project would get over the line so what happened to it let's first digest exactly what the gt90 was set out to be back in the 1990s car manufacturers were obsessed with top speed and the executives at ford decided they wanted a piece of that pie the ferrari f40 had achieved 200 miles an hour then the jaguar xj220 came along and upped things to 213 and then mclaren swung in with the f1 and blew everyone else into the weeds and so the mclaren was ford's target the gt90 was setting out to be the fastest production car in the world the recipe for the car was as follows ford decided to dive into their parts bin and as they owned jaguar at the time they used the xg220 as a base the gt90 has the basic chassis suspension and gearbox from the jag instead of using the xg220s v6 twin turbo engine however they went for a ford modular v8 cut two cylinders off to make it a v6 and then doubled it to make a v12 oh and then they strapped four garrett turbos to it to form a 5.9 liter quad turbo v12 potentially taking inspiration from bugatti's eb110 the bodywork was carbon fiber and the design was to kick off ford's new edge design direction i wouldn't say it's pretty but i do think this design has aged really well and the whole car came in at 1451 kilograms the engine was supposedly good for 720 horsepower and could get the car from not 60 in 3.1 seconds but all they really cared about was the top speed a theoretical 253 miles an hour a speed subsequently achieved by the original veyron about 10 years later despite weighing 300 kilograms heavier than the mclaren apparently the 100 horsepower gain was enough to see the gt98 become the fastest production car back in 1995. i doubt that however because we've seen how much horsepower it takes to reach 250 unless your aero is absolutely on point and i don't think this design would have been capable of it but we never got to find out after being revealed at the 1995 detroit motor show it looked like ford were going to put the car into production they even hinted that a price tag of just 150 000 massively undercutting any of the other supercar competitors and they did make a fully functioning test car and they gave it to certain journalists to give a drive including jeremy clarkson sadly the turbochargers were bypassed on the car meaning that the v12 was essentially naturally aspirated and only created 400 horsepower so the car wouldn't have felt as quick as it should have the reason for that was that the car was developed by ford's svt department in just six months and at a relatively cheap r d budget of just three million dollars and the engineers simply didn't believe that the rest of the car's components could deal with the power from that quad turbo the press and public waited for ford to announce a production version of the car but that press release never came instead ford backtracked saying that the gt90 was only ever a test bed for new tech and a poster boy for their new edge design language to be honest there is evidence that this car was just a bit of design fun the tires had gt90 etched into the treads i can't imagine that was optimal for performance despite going as far as mentioning pricing and developing a fully moving car we'd have to wait until 2005 for ford to take the plunge and create a supercar successor to the gt40 the legendary supercharged gt but just look at this thing this car was developed at the same time as my mondeo st the gt90 was otherworldly even up against its other supercar competitors of the time it was so far ahead of the game in terms of design the diablo and the eb110 look ancient in comparison to this thing sadly the place that most people have come across this ford is in need for speed two but where is the actual car well ford put it up for auction in 2009 but that all fell through and the car somehow fell into the hands of brent hayek's museum in oklahoma which is where the car currently resides ford we're disappointed at you but there is one way you can make it up to us take the current 4gt stretch it slightly slap a shark fin on it and put electric motors on the front axle and enter it into the lema hyper car class actually i've done a full video on what that car would look like the link to which is in the description below another thing that's in the description is a link to these t-shirts i wore this a couple of videos ago and you guys seem to really like this design so thank you to everyone that ordered one and if you fancy one hey bim inspired by james may's recent amazon show click the link down below and get yourself one if you like this video give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe to drivetrain youfew concept cars have captivated the world to a point where people remember them years afterwards the volkswagen w12 is definitely one of them the bmw nazca c2 is another and who could forget the eloquent lamborghini four-seater called the stock but i think there's one concept car that rises to the top and it came from the good old blue oval the ford gt90 was supposed to be the successor to the gt40 a 90s supercar that would reign supreme over everyone else in the performance car game but sadly its geometric design never got past the concept car stage despite ford producing a fully functioning test car and making plenty noise that the project would get over the line so what happened to it let's first digest exactly what the gt90 was set out to be back in the 1990s car manufacturers were obsessed with top speed and the executives at ford decided they wanted a piece of that pie the ferrari f40 had achieved 200 miles an hour then the jaguar xj220 came along and upped things to 213 and then mclaren swung in with the f1 and blew everyone else into the weeds and so the mclaren was ford's target the gt90 was setting out to be the fastest production car in the world the recipe for the car was as follows ford decided to dive into their parts bin and as they owned jaguar at the time they used the xg220 as a base the gt90 has the basic chassis suspension and gearbox from the jag instead of using the xg220s v6 twin turbo engine however they went for a ford modular v8 cut two cylinders off to make it a v6 and then doubled it to make a v12 oh and then they strapped four garrett turbos to it to form a 5.9 liter quad turbo v12 potentially taking inspiration from bugatti's eb110 the bodywork was carbon fiber and the design was to kick off ford's new edge design direction i wouldn't say it's pretty but i do think this design has aged really well and the whole car came in at 1451 kilograms the engine was supposedly good for 720 horsepower and could get the car from not 60 in 3.1 seconds but all they really cared about was the top speed a theoretical 253 miles an hour a speed subsequently achieved by the original veyron about 10 years later despite weighing 300 kilograms heavier than the mclaren apparently the 100 horsepower gain was enough to see the gt98 become the fastest production car back in 1995. i doubt that however because we've seen how much horsepower it takes to reach 250 unless your aero is absolutely on point and i don't think this design would have been capable of it but we never got to find out after being revealed at the 1995 detroit motor show it looked like ford were going to put the car into production they even hinted that a price tag of just 150 000 massively undercutting any of the other supercar competitors and they did make a fully functioning test car and they gave it to certain journalists to give a drive including jeremy clarkson sadly the turbochargers were bypassed on the car meaning that the v12 was essentially naturally aspirated and only created 400 horsepower so the car wouldn't have felt as quick as it should have the reason for that was that the car was developed by ford's svt department in just six months and at a relatively cheap r d budget of just three million dollars and the engineers simply didn't believe that the rest of the car's components could deal with the power from that quad turbo the press and public waited for ford to announce a production version of the car but that press release never came instead ford backtracked saying that the gt90 was only ever a test bed for new tech and a poster boy for their new edge design language to be honest there is evidence that this car was just a bit of design fun the tires had gt90 etched into the treads i can't imagine that was optimal for performance despite going as far as mentioning pricing and developing a fully moving car we'd have to wait until 2005 for ford to take the plunge and create a supercar successor to the gt40 the legendary supercharged gt but just look at this thing this car was developed at the same time as my mondeo st the gt90 was otherworldly even up against its other supercar competitors of the time it was so far ahead of the game in terms of design the diablo and the eb110 look ancient in comparison to this thing sadly the place that most people have come across this ford is in need for speed two but where is the actual car well ford put it up for auction in 2009 but that all fell through and the car somehow fell into the hands of brent hayek's museum in oklahoma which is where the car currently resides ford we're disappointed at you but there is one way you can make it up to us take the current 4gt stretch it slightly slap a shark fin on it and put electric motors on the front axle and enter it into the lema hyper car class actually i've done a full video on what that car would look like the link to which is in the description below another thing that's in the description is a link to these t-shirts i wore this a couple of videos ago and you guys seem to really like this design so thank you to everyone that ordered one and if you fancy one hey bim inspired by james may's recent amazon show click the link down below and get yourself one if you like this video give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe to drivetrain youfew concept cars have captivated the world to a point where people remember them years afterwards the volkswagen w12 is definitely one of them the bmw nazca c2 is another and who could forget the eloquent lamborghini four-seater called the stock but i think there's one concept car that rises to the top and it came from the good old blue oval the ford gt90 was supposed to be the successor to the gt40 a 90s supercar that would reign supreme over everyone else in the performance car game but sadly its geometric design never got past the concept car stage despite ford producing a fully functioning test car and making plenty noise that the project would get over the line so what happened to it let's first digest exactly what the gt90 was set out to be back in the 1990s car manufacturers were obsessed with top speed and the executives at ford decided they wanted a piece of that pie the ferrari f40 had achieved 200 miles an hour then the jaguar xj220 came along and upped things to 213 and then mclaren swung in with the f1 and blew everyone else into the weeds and so the mclaren was ford's target the gt90 was setting out to be the fastest production car in the world the recipe for the car was as follows ford decided to dive into their parts bin and as they owned jaguar at the time they used the xg220 as a base the gt90 has the basic chassis suspension and gearbox from the jag instead of using the xg220s v6 twin turbo engine however they went for a ford modular v8 cut two cylinders off to make it a v6 and then doubled it to make a v12 oh and then they strapped four garrett turbos to it to form a 5.9 liter quad turbo v12 potentially taking inspiration from bugatti's eb110 the bodywork was carbon fiber and the design was to kick off ford's new edge design direction i wouldn't say it's pretty but i do think this design has aged really well and the whole car came in at 1451 kilograms the engine was supposedly good for 720 horsepower and could get the car from not 60 in 3.1 seconds but all they really cared about was the top speed a theoretical 253 miles an hour a speed subsequently achieved by the original veyron about 10 years later despite weighing 300 kilograms heavier than the mclaren apparently the 100 horsepower gain was enough to see the gt98 become the fastest production car back in 1995. i doubt that however because we've seen how much horsepower it takes to reach 250 unless your aero is absolutely on point and i don't think this design would have been capable of it but we never got to find out after being revealed at the 1995 detroit motor show it looked like ford were going to put the car into production they even hinted that a price tag of just 150 000 massively undercutting any of the other supercar competitors and they did make a fully functioning test car and they gave it to certain journalists to give a drive including jeremy clarkson sadly the turbochargers were bypassed on the car meaning that the v12 was essentially naturally aspirated and only created 400 horsepower so the car wouldn't have felt as quick as it should have the reason for that was that the car was developed by ford's svt department in just six months and at a relatively cheap r d budget of just three million dollars and the engineers simply didn't believe that the rest of the car's components could deal with the power from that quad turbo the press and public waited for ford to announce a production version of the car but that press release never came instead ford backtracked saying that the gt90 was only ever a test bed for new tech and a poster boy for their new edge design language to be honest there is evidence that this car was just a bit of design fun the tires had gt90 etched into the treads i can't imagine that was optimal for performance despite going as far as mentioning pricing and developing a fully moving car we'd have to wait until 2005 for ford to take the plunge and create a supercar successor to the gt40 the legendary supercharged gt but just look at this thing this car was developed at the same time as my mondeo st the gt90 was otherworldly even up against its other supercar competitors of the time it was so far ahead of the game in terms of design the diablo and the eb110 look ancient in comparison to this thing sadly the place that most people have come across this ford is in need for speed two but where is the actual car well ford put it up for auction in 2009 but that all fell through and the car somehow fell into the hands of brent hayek's museum in oklahoma which is where the car currently resides ford we're disappointed at you but there is one way you can make it up to us take the current 4gt stretch it slightly slap a shark fin on it and put electric motors on the front axle and enter it into the lema hyper car class actually i've done a full video on what that car would look like the link to which is in the description below another thing that's in the description is a link to these t-shirts i wore this a couple of videos ago and you guys seem to really like this design so thank you to everyone that ordered one and if you fancy one hey bim inspired by james may's recent amazon show click the link down below and get yourself one if you like this video give it a thumbs up and don't forget to subscribe to drivetrain you\n"