Good ‘ol Boys – the MARC Focus GTC

[MotorActive]

Just like Carol Shelby’s AC Cobra, the MARC Focus GTC relies on the tried ‘n’ true recipe for outrageous performance – take a hairy-chested V8 and shoe-horn it into a small, lightweight chassis. Hmmm, the stuff performance dreams are made of. Understandably, these ballsy rocket ships are generating a plenty of interest on the lead up to this weekend’s Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour. Let’s take a closer look.





Weighting in at a svelte 1250kg and powered by a 500hp, 5.0-litre Ford Coyote quad-cam V8, the MARC Focus was developed to compete in the growing number of endurance events around the world. It’s the brainchild of Queenslander, Ryan McLeod, who states, “our goal was to build a car that was fast, yet reliable and cost effective to maintain. Everything is over engineered, and designed for a long service life.”

How long? Around 8000km, or enough to do two 24-hour races. To put this into context, the MARC Focus is not far short of V8 Supercar speed, yet as Ryan states, “if you took all the cars that finished last year’s Bathurst 1000 and lined them up again, how many do you think would finish? The GTC will do that race at least six times before needing to be overhauled.”

“You can go and race at these fantastic tracks in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Middle East and Dubai cost effectively,” says Ryan.





Foundation of the MARC GTC is a full, chrome-moly, tubular, space frame by Pace Innovations with a body draped over it. In this case a slippery Ford Focus. However under the skin its pure race car, with proper suspension, competition driveline and huge Brembo brakes capable of slowing down the rotation of the earth without breaking a sweat. It’s all a very Aussie affair, with significant componentry sourced from within Australia; such as the six-speed Albins transaxle (the same rear-end used in the V8 Supercar COTF). Catch them in action this weekend at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour.

















WATCH THE RACE LIVE ON TV:
SBS ONE 3:30pm – 6:30pm, Sunday February 9th.

WATCH THE RACE ONLINE:
Via the LIVE STREAM – all day Saturday & Sunday at bathurst12hour.com.au

LIQUI-MOLY
Proud supporters of the 2014 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour
The Mountain - The Race - The Magic
February 7th-9th, 2014

LINKS:
www.motoractive.com.au/blog

[Pedro]

Thanks for the pics. Great engineering in evidence. Humongous brakes. No wonder Grant Denyer dumped that damn awful game show and jumped into one of these.

[nstg8a]

Time for for ford to do a focus xr8?

[LG17]

Great pics!
Thanks.
They are one awesome bit of kit.

[ozpacman]

Can you imagine how much fun that thing would be to drive!

[Herrod Motorsport]

Running a ford racing parts 5.0 coyote Create engine

[graham_h]

want one with a supercharger for street and track use. 800rwhp would do !!

[wozman]

What happened to the gt's. No show?

[DBourne]

The sound of these Focii was amazing! Hear a v8 supercar, see a focus, your brain just can't comprehend.

[blueluvr]

I agree SgtBourne. It sounded sweet as! And what a great initiative. btw, are you the same SgtBourne over on POTN forum?

I was at Forest Elbow when the #50 ended up facing backwards coming into it. How frustrating it would have been for the driver as he had to end up reversing all the way out of the elbow before he could turn around. Cost them some time but there was nothing else he could have done.