2005 Ford GT - Light-Speed Supercar

Joe had a friend with a hopped-up Mustang and saw firsthand how easy it was to make them go fast. Seeing the GT's obvious connection between SVT's Lightning and Cobra models, Joe thought it would be pretty easy to modify the GT for even more power, relatively speaking.

"I got a call on a Sunday afternoon from this guy who wanted to have his GT tuned," says HP Performance's Tony Gonyon. "I didn't give it much thought and figured it was just someone with a Mustang GT, but I was just sitting around and the grass was mowed so I called the guy back and he said that he wanted his Ford GT tuned today." That offer was something worth postponing Sunday's dinner for.

After consulting SCT tuning guru Jerry Wroblewski, Tony tweaked the ECM's file and took the GT from its stock 532 hp/467 lb-ft of torque to 552 hp and 511 lb-ft of torque. A week later, Joe stopped back in for more boost via a 2.70-inch Whipple supercharger pulley. By this time, word had spread that HP Performance had cracked open the power fountain of the Ford GT, and numerous people were requesting tuning assistance.

A week after the pulley install, Joe once again contacted HP, this time to install the Ford Racing Performance Parts long-tube headers and performance muffler kit. The new exhaust changed the GT's note completely, making it sound more like a Daytona Prototype race car than a smooth-sailing supercar. As Joe puts it, "It was ridiculously loud."

Many people got to see and hear the GT in action at the '06 Fun Ford Weekend event in Orlando, where HP's Tony Gonyon piloted the GT to a best 10.48-second elapsed time at 144.95mph using a Compucar Bottle-in-a-Bag nitrous-oxide system set for 75 hp. With the nitrous flowing, the GT turned HP's Dynojet rollers to the tune of 718 hp and 686 lb-ft of torque, which necessitated the use of a DiabloSport MAFia, a mass airflow sensor calibrator that allows you to control and regulate MAF voltage.

Obviously, the stock rubber, while designed to cover the Earth's span at over 200 mph, isn't optimal for drag racing, and traction on the street was becoming an issue. But no one made drag radials for the GT's 19-inch-diameter BBS rear wheels. Joe and the HP Performance team found that 18x9.5inch Cobra R wheels would fit, and Nitto made a 305/45/18 drag radial tire that gave the GT the extra hook it needed.

That extra hook forced the next weakest link to show itself-the twin-disc clutch. "We called a lot of people, but no one wanted to touch it," Tony says. "Dave Norton at Spec Clutches went the extra mile and helped us develop an aftermarket clutch setup for the GT. We went through three engineering prototypes before the final version.

With the GT chalking up victims faster than Woo Bom Kon, Joe's thirst for capable competitors led him to street bikes. Japan's finest crotch rockets offered a bit of a race, and it wasn't until the GT was defeated by a couple of track-modified Hayabusas that Joe came to the realization that he "ran out of horsepower."

Shortly thereafter, Joe called Tony to discuss his options. "I came up with the idea to put twin turbos on it," he says, "but Tony didn't do any of that type of fabrication.

"Joe wasn't interested in shipping his car out of state as there were a couple of offers to develop the idea," Tony says. "He asked me if there was anyone in the area that I knew of, and the only places I could recommend were Stage 6 Motorsports in Jacksonville, Florida, and Speedfab in Orange Park (Florida)." As it turns out, Joe had already visited Stage 6 where the gang had installed a twin turbo system on his Infiniti Q45 sedan, so he made the call.