Ricardo GT650 Transaxle

[Rigdotcom]

I was scrolling around marketplace about a year or so ago and stumbled across a footnote in a for sale ad about a GT650 prototype.

One popped up on the GT40 website a few years back with all the bells and whistles. People were a little hesitant to buy them.

I did a little digging and eventually spoke to the engineer at Ricardo that was part of the development team. They were intended for the first iteration of the Ford GT relaunch, back in 05. They had to make a transaxle for now, GT650, and one for the production cars, the Ricardo 7003-GT.

For the GT650 they took the trans for the Jaguar XJ220, added a 6th gear, changed the shift mech to accommodate for the 6th gear, and a few minor cosmetic enhancements.

I bought 2 of them for next to nothing, 1 has a broken input shaft and is a parts trans, the other is solid. The transaxle has a magnesium case and is insanely beefed up. It makes the G50 i have look like a toy.

It has a final drive of 3.36 and mated to a TT V6 it had a top speed of 217mph. The only clutch available is $3K and it's an old unit that was saved as a spare. I contacted AP Racing and they provided me with the schematics for the clutch with part numbers. With a company like XClutch, they can manufacture a clutch and a flywheel spaced to fit any need.

I contacted a few Ricardo "experts" for help with getting the boxes inspected, and possibly getting another shaft made...but they had no experience with it and wanted nothing to do with it.

I have a shifter lined up, after speaking with Dan at Numeric Racing who welcomes the challenge. It also works for the 996, 997 series transaxles. It has a hydraulic throwout bearing and a built in cooling pump for the trans fluid.

The gear shift mechanism, seemed to float freely left and right, but it would engage in the 1,3,5 (upper positions), N, and 2,4,6 (lower positions). I was hesitant to remove the cover, but when I did I found that the pin securing the mechanism to the selector forks had sheared off.

I haven't invested a ton of money into this project, as of yet, but it is pretty exciting. I learned a lot of the Ford GT's history and spoken to a few of the guys that brought the project back to life.