One of the things that makes cars so enjoyable is the people behind those cars and the stories they have about them. Dave Pericak, the former head of Ford Performance, has plenty of those, some of which he shares with Jay Leno in the video below.
Pericak is currently the director of Ford’s EV truck line but, not too long ago, he was the man behind the vehicles that have shown the world what Ford can do, whether that’s on a street in a small American town or the Mulsanne Straight. When you think of the 50th Anniversary Mustang, the GT race car’s 2016 Le Mans victory, the 2017 GT road car, or the S550 Shelby GT350R or GT500, think Dave Pericak.
But if you think Pericak and his team accomplished those feats of engineering and determination without fear or doubts, think again. As the chief engineer of the 2015 Mustang, he knew there was a certain way he needed to do it, which required a larger budget than initially allotted, but he made a case for it and got the necessary funding. The worldwide love of the Mustang was both a blessing and a curse when Pericak took on the 50th Anniversary model.
The S550 Mustang’s more potent variant, the track-ready Shelby GT350R, presented its own unique challenge in the form of its flat-plane crankshaft. Luckily, Pericak and his crew sorted that issue out, but they had to start worrying all over again when they decided to put the same 5.2-liter V8—albeit with a cross-plane crank—into the new Shelby GT500, then connect it with a supercharger and a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.
Developing the last-generation GT supercar, which Pericak calls “a race car with a license plate,” started with the motorsports variant. According to him, the street version only received approval once he agreed to not only race the GT in Le Mans but also to win. It’s safe to say that everything worked out.
Pericak even helped Leno with his custom first-generation Bronco, which is based on a Kincer chassis and powered by the same 760-horsepower “Predator” V8 that’s in the S550 Shelby GT500. Did he once again thrive under pressure and pull it off? Watch to find out.