It’s taken a surprisingly long amount of time for word on the latest GT Awards winner to get out, but IGN is first to break cover and confirm the winner: a 1970 Ford Mustang with a 427 SOHC “Cammer” engine. The car is a mean-yet-classy addition to Gran Turismo, carefully pieced together by Philip Koenen and Grand Touring Garage in Oregon for a “Hong Kong client” after a long search for the right body and engine. The powerplant is particularly special: considered one of the best Ford has ever built, it produces 616 hp at 7000 rpm and 515 lbs/ft of torque at 3800 rpm.
Other finalists included a Scion tC with a very, very interesting front-mounted wing, a Camaro SS stuffed with carbon fiber, and an upgraded, twin-turbo Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4, though none were able to capture Yamauchi’s attention like the ‘Stang. Watch for it next spring in Gran Turismo 5!
UPDATE (Nov. 7): New pictures of the other finalists and awards ceremony added to the gallery below.
See more articles on Gran Turismo Awards, Kazunori Yamauchi, and SEMA.
Rado is a poser, I kind of agree with Zmann42087, he is the type of guy that you will dislike immediately when you hear him talking. Well, I do not know about his driving, the car is really unique (does it really have 1000 hp? In a FWD car? That car should handle really badly, anyway…), but it is like a hot wheels car so I prefer the mustang. About Rado, just watch his video on his webpage, and you will immediately dislike him, well I think he is like the Bam Margera of cars, or worse.
P.S. Ken Block can surely drive, he is a true WRC class driver, and there is also a probability that he will compete in WRC with a new team sposored by DC and monster drink next season…
OKAY THE CAMARO,STANG & lambo should have had a 3 way tie !
Do you think I don’t know how long Chris Rado has been around? I was a long time subscriber to Sport Compact Car Magazine before their unfortunate end last year. The editors actually gave Rado a column for a time starting back in 2003 for reasons I cannot fathom. He used to write about the most stupid and intolerable topics. The articles usually centered around himself as Rado really does seem quite enamored with his own persona. I remember in the November 2004 issue he wrote an entire column about his long “chop” sideburns and the variety of extreme hairstyles he has had (a shaved head, a mowhawk, and everything in between). He said he did it because he wanted to be “different” and said his sideburns were his “signature”. It was basically him admitting to his never ending effort to stand out and attract attention to himself. His radical front-winged Scion is no different. It’s Rado once again standing out on his soap box and yelling at the top of his lungs “LOOK AT ME EVERYBODY!”. It has nothing do with “function over form” or any of that shit and I grow tired of people claiming it is. It’s Rado endless plea for attention and nothing more. And like I said in my above post, to the people who say “well he is winning”, of course he is winning. He is in the easiest fucking class in all of the Redline Time Attack series. He has the largest budget of anybody else in Unlimited FWD by a mile.
If you think Rado is anything remotely resembling a decent driver, you are a complete fool. With all do respect, being a drag racer since 1999 are hardly credentials for road racing or drifting. And you say Chris has been drift training for a year? Hardly. Chris Rado stated his intentions to reconfigure his World Racing Team for drifting as early as July 2004 in his SCC column. So where has he been the past five and a half years? Practicing apparently? If it has taken him five and half years and he is still not up to snuff to compete in Formula D, I doubt he ever will be. It certainly isn’t for lack of funding. Rado seems to have some never ending deal with Toyota/Scion that enables him to pursue any automotive venture that suits his fancy. You mention Ken Block. You’re correct there.. Block gets his money from the DC Shoes company he founded. And besides that, the kid can flat out drive. Not so with Rado. Chris Rado is nothing short of an inept clown and he has run circles around this industry for far too long.
@Luke
Its pretty much the most retarded way to make downforce on the front wheels. (scions are fwd)
What the hell is with that spoiler on the front ? Oo
@Zmann
Rado is in business like 12 years or so (he even got Super Street rookie of the year ’99 award – and it is Time Attack reward) – so he’s definitely got an experience and skill because there’s just no way he didn’t become a decent driver within a decade)). And BTW he’s being studying how to drift for a year or so with his FD friends (I wish I had Tony Angelo as a teacher) and builds an AWD time attack scion right now, so he is moving further in terms of class.
About money – some people say things like it’s easy for Ken Block to win and film his clips with having an unlimited budget of DC shoes. But he’s co-founder of this company, and all this money comes effectively from his own pocket. The same goes for Rado – he gets his money from his own business, so you can’t blaim him for spending his money the way he wants it. He wants a ridiculous wing in front of the car – that’s great, cause he is trying to innovate, and BTW, the same trick can be applied to AWD car maybe with even more effect – so he is studying the matter, while others stand still in their “true mega cool” awd and rwd classes and do nothing but cut weight and increase horsepowers.
There are thousands of tuned mustangs out there, and several dozens of tuned with taste and style;)) but this scion is truly unique car – and I think it’s pity that we miss such an opportunity to try something REALLY different.
I saw Chris Rado and his hideous Scion at Round 3 of the 2009 Redline Time Attack Series at the Autobahn Country Club. It was inexplicably retarded. People claim, “Rado always finishes well”. Well no shit sherlock! He better! He has the largest budget of anybody competing the Unlimited FWD class by a mile! I dare say he has spent x10 more than anybody else in Unlimited FWD. He is the only “big budget” team competing in that class. All the other big budget teams (i.e. AMS, Crawford, etc.) have the sense to compete in a real category, such as Unlimited RWD or AWD. They know it’s plain stupid to dump that much money into a FWD car. Look at any race car in any series.. F1, WRC, Nascar, Le Mans… are any of them FWD? Of course not. Everybody knows FWD is a stupid platform for racing. But that’s all Chris Rado can do. For one, even though it’s horrible for racing, FWD is easier to drive and requires less skill. Seeing how Rado is low on skill, he needs a car that is easy to drive. And believe me, Chris Rado is a shit road racer. He’s a drag racer that all of sudden decided to go into time attack because that is what’s popular at the moment. Chris Rado is just a leech. He sees that time attack is popular right now and says “whoops.. ok, I’ll do that now”. So he jumps on the trendy time attack bandwagon and is along for a jolly ol’ ride. He would of done drifting because that is even more trendy, but god knows there is no way in hell he has the skill for that. Even Chris Rado, who is near completely blind to his own incompetence, can see that he is not capable of drifting. Yes Chris, that would actually take time and effort to learn. But Chris is not up for that. Instead he takes his massive sponsor-backed bank account and dumps it into the easiest time attack class he can find. Great, Chris. Congratulations. You’re living proof that you CAN buy a championship. Unfortunately, winning in the Unlimited FWD class is like winning the Special Olympics. No matter what, you’re still retarded.
Wow! Just wow! I’m not a big fan of muscle car, but I like almost all cars in general. But this KY pick is just amazing piece of machine. No wonder he’s the judge, he knows how to pick a proper car that a real car enthusiast would love.
Respect to that.
The Mustang is VERY nice, but I’m thinking a truck is never going to win the award. =(
That mustang is awesome! I never loved american cars but there are some that have sth, i don’t know..
It is so mean with this paint and wide tyres and a superb motor.. And it also lacks those stupid NFS-F&F vinyls every american guy loves.. Great choice for our game, yup! I also want the GT350 and GT500 models to be included..
We LOVE you, translator Guy!!!!!
He´s back *___*
That Scion is awesome, so is the engine in the Mustang, and the car too. Just I think I’ll take good handling over a good engine and pretty car. Afterall the most fun I’ve had in a car was taking turns in a good handling car.
translator GUY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Scion next to the Escudo Dirt Trial in GT5’s drag strip ^_^
Mmmm
i really want the new mustung gt500, its so hot.
This event is so good for the game, Kaz makes the top tuners ASPIRE to be in his game. As they up their game featured cars will become even more cool (or outlandish) this is the true way to build a fan base…
I would actually like to see the scion in gt5 along with the mustang.
It would be one of the 1000hp monsters like the tuned skyline, Tuscan speed 12, and bugatti veyron
Pics of all 5 cars:
http://us.gran-turismo.com/us/news/d5140.html
I had the opportunity to talk to Chris rado at a time attack event in chicago, and he said scion pretty much gave them a greenlight to do whatever it is they wanted to do, so they kind of went all out. yeah it looks stupid but hell, its functional. That car is wicked fast.
Yeehaaaa, my favorite car in GT5. That is absolutly awesome. A nice fact tpp: it is not overtuned and looks pretty in series. Wonderful, wait to see first ingame screens :D
This Stang is really awesome, but they could include the stock ’67 fastback too, that’s my favourite one…
@Corey
Thanks for clearing that up dude. That really turns my opinion 180 degrees. FUNCTION > FORM, Anytime! ;).
I always was baffled by the ricers putting giant wings on the back of their FF cars. I guess maximizing traction to the wheels that are doing absolutely nothing is cool in some way. So bravo Mr. Rado you got it right, in theory, too bad your car looks completely ridiculous. I bet it’s fast as hell in reverse though!
Good pick, and the reason that Scion has that wing is because front wheel drive sucks. so in order to make it drive nice for racing thats what you gotta do to make front wheel drive seem decent.
FR for the win.
A Mustang 1970 good choice, in GT4 I remember a Mustang Shelby GT350 1965.
The Scion is weird with that front wing, well for me looks horrible, by the way the cockpit view is not affected because the wing upper than the windshield.
I also remember the Buick Special that appeared in GT4, the cars was great and very fast, let see how this Mustang will perform on the track.
@JC is right
@CarBastard
They used a drag racing motor in the time attack car, and on the straights it would break the front tires loose at high speeds and that was the only way to keep the front down.. It has proved to be the fastest FWD car at most if not all tracks, so it goes to prove that form<function
Great.. I just admire old glassics in GT series….
The designer of the Scion is just DAFT. Is there a reason for a spoiler this big to be positioned this way or is he an utter failure as an engineer?
The scion i mean
I hope this car wont be in gt5, it looks ridiculous
thats awesome! good choice kaz!
this car also comis in gt5 i like it you can tune every car in your list with turbos cams everty thing
That Scion could fly if it went backwards.
More Mustangs would be nice to have. I wish the the new GT500s (08′ to 10′) are included and I would crazy happy if we get the old GT500, BOSS (302, 429, 351), and MACH 1 (70’s and 03′).
Thank god Rado’s Scion didn’t make it in. I absolutely hate that POS.
The 427 Cammer motor was way ahead of its time.
I think it was originally built in 63 or 64 for use in Nascar.
It was banned without even seeing a checkered flag.
It held the record for most power produced by a production engine at the time.
Fact being it made 616hp in 1964, as a production motor.
two words… Bad ass.
Wait, this is supposed to be the best Ford ever made?
My comment with details on this Scion, including cocpit video awaits moderation, so check back later to see how it feels to drive this car.
My bad – just found more details – this scion holds only absolute FWD record at the WS track (1:22.623), but it had problems with turbo while setting this time, so I think it can easily go even faster))
Well, mustang is great, but I think that Chris Rado’s time attack Scion is what really outshines all others. It’s basically one of fastest FF cars in the world (only drag FFs maybe faster)- it has around 1000hp under the hood and installing that at a first glance odd front wing was the only way to put it under decent control. BTW it featured in the NFS shift drivers experience series of videos, where it was chosen to represent ta scene. Here’s this vid: http://speedhunters.com/archive/2009/08/01/video-gt-gt-the-chris-rado-driver-s-experience.aspx
And a “pure” version with nothing but cocpit video: http://speedhunters.com/archive/2009/08/28/video-gt-gt-the-chris-rado-in-car-experience.aspx
This is a HUGE photo of this car (!Warning: 5Mb!): http://cardomain.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/redline3.jpg
This car holds lap absolute record at the Willow Springs track (so its faster than most FR and even AWD cars).
I hop to god we don’t end up with that monstrosity on the covet of GT5. My choice would be a Radical SR4 :)
driving that scion in cockpit view would have been fun
how can you drive with a spoiler at the front oh and a picture of the carbon fibered camaro would be nice
Where are other pictures???
And any video?
Anyone?
Gran Turismo really needed a 70’s Mustang. Great choice for the game.
Thank god they didn’t go with the Scion…
I love the look of that car.
Nothing says US muscle like a jet black paint job to me…
Great Pick KY!!
I would love to see a picture of the Camaro.
If someone finds a pic, please post a link to it
not a huge fan of stangs but that looks sick
@ tim_de: Arrows once used it on a F1 car in Monaco, but this one sure is bigger!
Nice car !
That front wing is interesting indeed…
I wonder how many pills you have to swallow to come up with that?
wow..first to post..great car then..