Ford GT's still being wrecked???

[Cobra #3170]

Originally Posted by buddyg

They were 550 at the crank stock, I find it hard to believe it's going to make 600 rwhp on a cold morning.

First of all, intake air temperature has a very big effect on forced induction engines. Ford, as you may or may not recall had a problem with over rating Mustang HP years ago and got burned. Being a normal corporate entity they over reacted in the opposite direction and started being VERY conservative with HP numbers. The 550 GT number was based on worst case conditions and with a safety factor. The other piece of information you are missing is that the Recardo transaxlel loses about 5% HP and torque because of it's excellent design.
A personal friend witnessed the 600 HP pull on a chassis dyno during development of the FGT with a bone stock engine. These cars are not like many we see here where an overly optimistic (phoney) engine dyno HP number is excused by saying 20-25% was lost to driveline and exhaust when a sub par RWHP is measured.