[MOC] EV3 2017 Ford GT

[TheMindGarage]

The 2017 Ford GT is effectively a GTE race car converted to road use. After the 2016 race car won at Le Mans, exactly 50 years after Ford's historic win with the GT40, they had to build some road cars for homologation purposes. These road cars have a 3.5-litre twin-turbo Ecoboost V6 producing 647 horsepower, and an extreme amount of downforce from the active rear wing, diffusers, front splitter and those gigantic flying buttresses on the sides. The interior is sparse to reduce weight. The initial allocation sold for around $500,000 each, and Ford received more than 5,000 applications for 500 cars. Getting hold of a car is extremely difficult, and even those who are successful must wait for several years to receive their car. The recent incident of Ford announcing that they would sue John Cena for selling his car (supposedly for profit) and breaking the terms of the contract is a testament to how sought-after this car is.

After several months of rather intermittent building, I've finally finished what turned out to be a prime example of how not to manage a project. Anyhow, at least the car is finished so I can get to work on building something I'll hopefully enjoy more...

Initially, I planned for this to be a fast RC vehicle, using every single motor that I own. That meant three EV3 Large motors, a PF XL and a PF L for drive, an EV3 Medium for the gearbox and a PF M for the steering. However, as I chased the GT's distinctive styling, the car got heavier, more fragile and closer to the ground. In the end, the car would barely move in anything other than 1st gear, and it would scrape its bodywork on the ground. That's what happens when you change tack mid-way though a build. However, at least I think I can call this my best-looking car model to date.

The car has a 4-speed sequential gearbox mounted behind the rear axle to save space and take advantage of the car's huge overhangs. There is no suspension to reduce complexity and because the model is a little too narrow for an independent driven axle to fit. All the motors in the drivetrain are hard-coupled together (yes, I know it's a little naughty, but the gear ratios are closely matched and the stresses put on them by this are probably dwarfed by the load caused by driving the car uphill). The steered axle is extremely simple with just a little return-to-center mechanism. This is in order to leave enough space for the PF battery box under the bonnet.

There was just about enough room to have a convincing-looking cabin and seats, although it is considerably smaller (compared to the size of the whole car) than in real life. The rear wing is mounted on a scissor lift system to raise or lower it - there wasn't much space over the gearbox so I had to resort to using those ugly yellow beams. The doors are hinged about the A-pillars in order to give that characteristic motion, opening both upwards and outwards. An elastic band puts some tension on the mechanism and keeps the door either in the closed or in the open position.

Styling-wise, the Ford GT is quite a challenging car, but at least it is more angular than curved. I did my best to focus on the characteristic features: the two big vents on the bonnet, the giant side vents and flying buttresses, the red circular brake lights and the carbon sill running along the length of the sides, part of which lifts up with the doors. I don't have that many pieces, so I had to do a few colour-mismatches, but I tried to keep to the grey theme. In the end, the car is easily-recogniseable as a GT, and that's what counts to me.

Here is a video showing pictures of the car and a time-lapse of building. Unfortunately there's no driving footage (it would be pretty underwhelming anyway), but you can see the opening of the doors and raising of the rear wing. Music is composed by me as usual.

My next build will be what this one failed to be: an incredibly fast RC car. This time, I'm going for minimal bodywork and no gearbox.

[Erik Leppen]

Building models that, in hindsight, maybe you shouldn't have built, is a great way to learn the craft of building :) I think we all have (had) these kind of builds. I know I have :)

 

I think it's good to show us the model you have built (I'm a bit less happy about the image host you chose to upload the pictures, but the video shows most of the information so I'm fine with that). I do think your car is a bit messy on the inside, but that's mostly due to the huge mindstorms motors.

Also, the whole thing is a bit, well, colorless. Partly due to the not-so-great photo quality, it looks a bit like a large gray mass. On some pictures it looks like you made the photo black-and-white, until you spot some colored details.

I think gray is difficult to build cars with. There are few panels in gray (and mostly large flat ones), so you have little choice in parts. The result is a lot of stacked beams, which makes it look a bit "square" and also makes the model quite heavy (as you have found out yourself already). Maybe it would be better to pick another color, one in which you have more panels and hopefully flex axles (these are rare nowadays). Red or white come to mind. If you have the money, maybe try to find a good single-color panel set (like 42025) to obtain some more build material :)

 

I personally don't recognize the Ford GT unfortunately (but I don't know it very well), but I do like the dark-gray sloped link from the roof to the side that is on the real (new) Ford GT as well. I also like the 5x9 bent beams you used to outline the roof. From a distance, it's not even such a bad model, the problems mostly arise when you take a closer look and zoom in on details.

 

But please note that you have took on a difficult task just by wanting to build an existing car. I normally go for fantasy models myself, since I find it way easier, because you can adapt your design to the sizes of parts (panels) Lego offers. As a not-so-experienced builder, you might want to try "just" building a car you're happy with, before you take on the much harder task of replicating an existing car.

[Aventador2004]

It is alright, still messy and boxy, but mine aren't prefect either.

Keep working and you will improve!

[TheMindGarage]

10 hours ago, Erik Leppen said:

 

But please note that you have took on a difficult task just by wanting to build an existing car. I normally go for fantasy models myself, since I find it way easier, because you can adapt your design to the sizes of parts (panels) Lego offers. As a not-so-experienced builder, you might want to try "just" building a car you're happy with, before you take on the much harder task of replicating an existing car.

Thanks for the advice. I do have plans to build non-specific cars, but I have a couple of things in the queue already. Hopefully they should be easier than this one in terms of bodywork.

[StudRobotics]

This is really cool! It's okay if you didn't get quite the result you wanted. Every Lego builders has their occasional difficulties. Still, you tried your best and I think this is truly one of your best builds!

[TheMindGarage]

17 minutes ago, StudRobotics said:

This is really cool! It's okay if you didn't get quite the result you wanted. Every Lego builders has their occasional difficulties. Still, you tried your best and I think this is truly one of your best builds!

Thanks! I think it's definitely the best I've built (at the very least equal to the Atom 500) in terms of looks. I already have quite a bit of progress on my next build - the steering works well and the power unit (the most powerful I've ever used...) seems to be pretty robust. When it's done, I might even try driving it outdoors and get some on-board footage.