Race to Perform

Ford Performance’s Dave Pericak and Jamie Allison talk to Autoline

By Steve Turner
Photos courtesy of Ford Motor Company

For the first time since the announcement that Ford Performance would bring the likes of Ford Racing, Ford SVT, and Team RS under one umbrella, both Director of Ford Performance, Dave Pericak, and Director of Ford Racing, Jamie Allison, sat down for an interview together last night. It took place on the weekly web show, Autoline After Hours.

The duo addressed the reasons for bringing the Blue Oval’s performance divisions under one roof.

“We don’t have Ford Racing shirts on. The reason is that we don’t race to race. We race to perform. Because it is going to affect the whole product lineup at the Ford Motor Company,” Dave Pericak said. “Not just that you did a great race car and you won the Daytona 500, but how does that translate to someone’s driveway?”

“We are a company that has come together under the mantra, One Ford,” Jamie Allison added. “One of the last things that bastion that needed to be One Ford was we had these regional and fractionalized activities about performance.”

It is certainly exciting to see Ford putting such a focus on performance, and the attention it has garnered with the Ford GT is sure to help the cause.

“We have a goal that as we continue to develop this linkage that you will see a better connection between the racetrack and the showroom,” Dave said.

“That’s (the Ford GT) a halo product for Ford Performance and Ford Motor Company and we are going to debut a lot of technologies that will ultimately make their way through the lineup,” he added.

The interview got a bit more interesting when a caller asked about the official horsepower ratings for the Shelby GT350’s Voodoo 5.2-liter engine.

“We’re probably a couple months from sharing that information. We are going through the final certification stages and what not now,” Dave said. “We’re probably two to three months from sharing that information and I am very excited about sharing that information with everyone, and I know everyone will be very happy about that. As far as a crate version of that, it’s not currently in the plans, but we’ll have to stay tuned on that.”

That conversation begat some description of how the exhaust on the Shelby GT350 sounds as it hit the back straight on the racetrack during Ford’s tests. Its tone was said to put a smile on all the engineers’ faces.

“The exhaust note is absolutely amazing. You will never get sick of hearing the exhaust note on that,” Dave enthused. “…The 350 and 350R are amazing products, and I just can’t wait to get them out into people’s hands.”

For the full interview, you can watch the show right here…

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