Ford Presents
Europe's Greatest Roads
The Atlantic Ocean Road, Norway
And Europe's Greatest Circuits
The Arctic Circle Raceway, Norway
Filmed using professional drivers
in a controlled environment
Always obey local driving laws
Starring the Ford GT
So here we are
Ford
Ford GT
on the Atlantic Ocean Road in Norway
Ford GT on this road is
just out of this world, it really is.
You can't drive too fast on this road
because they've got very low speed limits
but it absolutely doesn't matter
because the scenery
as you can see from our film
is utterly beguiling around here.
The Atlantic Ocean Road
on the west coast of Norway
is truly one of the world's most incredible roads
and originally it was meant to be a railway line
not a road at all.
Having pondered the idea for several decades
Norwegian government
abandoned their plans to link the villages of
Kårvåg and Vevang by rail
and in 1983
they began to build a road to do so instead.
And on July 7 1989
the now world-famous Atlantic Road
also known simply as the 64 was completed.
At a cost of just over 120 million Norwegian kroner
The road itself is only five and a bit miles long
but it features a series of surreal-looking viaducts
and causeways
and eight different bridges
that really do fray the outer edges of your imagination.
It's an extraordinary road to drive
in any car
but in a bright yellow Ford GT
with 647 bhp
and two big black stripes on its roof
well it doesn't get much better than this quite frankly.
I mean look at this place
it is unbelievable!
I don't know,
I'm not sure there are many more beautiful places on earth
and I'm not sure there are many better
more beautiful roads on earth
than the Atlantic Ocean Road.
So anyway part two
we need to get up to the Arctic Circle Raceway
to go and break the lap record.
To reach the Arctic Circle Raceway
I drove the GT 500 miles north
Past the town of Trondheim
and then along another amazing series of roads
called the E39
and the E6.
I have to be honest
it really was an absolute blast.
The GT looked
and sounded
and just was
a quite incredible thing to witness on those roads
and then we met a nice man
who had a very smart looking
replica GT40
in full gulf colours.
The Arctic Circle Raceway
is the northernmost racetrack in the world
and it sits just 19 miles
outside the Arctic Circle itself.
It was designed, built and opened in 1995
by a collection of local engineers
and nowadays it's used mostly for bike racing
and it really is one heck of a track
with 13 corners
most of which are really fast and flowing.
Plus, there's a tighter section between turns 4 and 5
which is actually meant to replicate
the best bits at Laguna Seca
and in a Ford GT ...
... it's pretty damn exciting.
So this is it, the Arctic Circle Raceway.
This is the main reason that we came to Norway in the first place.
I have to say
it's pretty special!
With 647 bhp from its 3.5 liter twin-turbo v6
the GT has massive straight line performance
for sure
but if anything it's the cars aerodynamic qualities
that distinguish it most,
relative to other road cars.
This is what makes it so rapid
around a circuit like the Arctic Circle Raceway.
At its core sits a carbon fiber tub
but there's active aero at the front
and rear.
Plus a vast carbon ceramic brake disc
at each corner.
All up the GT weighs just a little bit less than 1,400 Kg
and its top speed
is 216 miles an hour.
0 to 60 miles an hour
takes less than three seconds
which is pretty astonishing
for a car that's rear-wheel drive.
But the grip this car has got ...
the composure it's got ...
... just blows your mind
it really is a proper piece of work
and it suits this track
down to the ground.
The main reason we came here
all this way ...
to within 15 kilometres of the Arctic Circle.
Is to try and set a new lap record for this track
The current record stands at one minute 41 seconds
I'm not going to try and break that lap record for Ford
but I know a man who is
and I know that he almost undoubtedly will
and that Stefan Mücke
one of Ford's Le Mans drivers.
I think he's going to break the lap record by huge amount
to be honest.
But that's not my duty that Stefan's duty
so basically, over to you mister Mücke.
Speed Limit End
So after just a couple of sighting laps in the GT
Ford's Le Mans ace, Stefan Mücke
was already down into the 1 minute 38s
Which meant that he and the GT
had already smashed the lap record
before either of them had even got properly started
but then Mücke did what racing drivers do
he climbed out ...
had a bit of a think ...
and then said he could easily go quicker still.
So, the tire pressures were dropped a bit
and back out he went
visibly trying quite a bit harder this time.
And here is the unbroken footage
of his fastest lap
with data and footage all captured
by the smart new Ford Performance App.
And so precisely 1 minute 36.29 seconds later
that was that
Stefan Mücke and the Ford GT
had a new lap record to their names
and our week-long adventure
in this incredible country
with this extraordinary car
was over.
And with that
we put the car back in the truck
gave it one last look for good luck
and we left Norway much as we'd found it.
Which is to say a very beautiful country
that has some of the most extraordinary roads
on earth ...
and some of the nicest people
you could ever wish to meet.
Road #7
Road #7 - Atlantic Ocean Road, Norway
Thrill factor 8/10
Road surface 10/10
Accessibility 7/10
Hospitality 10/10
Scenery 11/10
Food and drink 7/10
Total score 53/60
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