Happy birthday to our beloved GT guy Rich Brooks!!!
A living legend is among us! We cherish you Rich! (And Dennis of course)
This is about Rich
Before the Ford GT was born he was an associate engineer at Roush Industries for 12 years. He has have worked on numerous prototype programs: engine dyne, chassis dyno, ground up prototype builds, instrumentation and heat protection vehicles, Auto show, and SEMA vehicles. In the Spring of 1997 he was asked to transfer into Ford’s SVT department. During his stay in SVT he worked on the Lightning pickup, 2000 Cobra R, SVT Contour, 2003 Cobra, Ford GT, Shelby GT500, Raptor, and most of the other SVT Coletti special projects. My Ford GT experience is a little different than most because he was on the development team from the beginning. He had first heard of the (GT40) project when he was on the 2003 Cobra (Terminator) project. he then found out that Roush was going to build a concept/show car for the 2002 Detroit Auto Show and then it was going to turn into another program for us. As they were picking the people for the program he was picked to be the program coordinator (middle man between the engineers and the shop). His first responsibility was to make sure the 9 workhorses were built in time and to the requirements of each system engineer. We then started building Workhorse 1 on October 1 and then finished it on November 12, 2003 (6 weeks). After that they then built the remaining 8 prototypes. Near the end of the workhorse builds we were tasked with building the three Centennial show cars to be unveiled at the Ford 100 year anniversary. These three cars were to be as representative as possible at the time. They built all three cars in record time and they were driven across the stage with an overwhelming response from the crowd at the 100th Ford anniversary show in Dearborn, MI. Shortly after the show we had been told that the program had been officially approved. Once these cars were built they continued onto the show and marketing circuit where most of the now owners saw them for the first time. Near the end of the build of these three cars he was assigned to assist Saleen in setting up their assembly line and helping them build the first 5 of the 15 CP (confirmation prototypes) cars. Once they were underway he then went back to Roush to continue the coordination of the entire GT fleet. It was his responsibility to make sure all the cars were updated accordingly with the latest and greatest parts and get them to their respective engineer. Once official production started he was directly involved with the control arm retrofits as they were to be performed off site in order to keep the Wixom assembly line moving. Once this was completed he went back onsite to where the rest of the development team was to continue assisting with the program. Once the Ford GT program finally neared the end of production is when the company, The GT Guy LLC, was born. Since February 2006 The GT Guy LLC has worked on almost half of the Ford GT's produced.
Did I hear the number 40????
A living legend is among us! We cherish you Rich! (And Dennis of course)
This is about Rich
Before the Ford GT was born he was an associate engineer at Roush Industries for 12 years. He has have worked on numerous prototype programs: engine dyne, chassis dyno, ground up prototype builds, instrumentation and heat protection vehicles, Auto show, and SEMA vehicles. In the Spring of 1997 he was asked to transfer into Ford’s SVT department. During his stay in SVT he worked on the Lightning pickup, 2000 Cobra R, SVT Contour, 2003 Cobra, Ford GT, Shelby GT500, Raptor, and most of the other SVT Coletti special projects. My Ford GT experience is a little different than most because he was on the development team from the beginning. He had first heard of the (GT40) project when he was on the 2003 Cobra (Terminator) project. he then found out that Roush was going to build a concept/show car for the 2002 Detroit Auto Show and then it was going to turn into another program for us. As they were picking the people for the program he was picked to be the program coordinator (middle man between the engineers and the shop). His first responsibility was to make sure the 9 workhorses were built in time and to the requirements of each system engineer. We then started building Workhorse 1 on October 1 and then finished it on November 12, 2003 (6 weeks). After that they then built the remaining 8 prototypes. Near the end of the workhorse builds we were tasked with building the three Centennial show cars to be unveiled at the Ford 100 year anniversary. These three cars were to be as representative as possible at the time. They built all three cars in record time and they were driven across the stage with an overwhelming response from the crowd at the 100th Ford anniversary show in Dearborn, MI. Shortly after the show we had been told that the program had been officially approved. Once these cars were built they continued onto the show and marketing circuit where most of the now owners saw them for the first time. Near the end of the build of these three cars he was assigned to assist Saleen in setting up their assembly line and helping them build the first 5 of the 15 CP (confirmation prototypes) cars. Once they were underway he then went back to Roush to continue the coordination of the entire GT fleet. It was his responsibility to make sure all the cars were updated accordingly with the latest and greatest parts and get them to their respective engineer. Once official production started he was directly involved with the control arm retrofits as they were to be performed off site in order to keep the Wixom assembly line moving. Once this was completed he went back onsite to where the rest of the development team was to continue assisting with the program. Once the Ford GT program finally neared the end of production is when the company, The GT Guy LLC, was born. Since February 2006 The GT Guy LLC has worked on almost half of the Ford GT's produced.
Did I hear the number 40????
arty
