"blackfriday", fucking grow up. I hear your kind of arguments from 13 year olds.
FPV claim that MOTOR was flatshifting during its PCOTY testing, but Jesse Taylor (Ed) denies it to the bone. When Glenn Butler of wheels tested the F6, it broke in the same fashion as the two MOTOR test cars but FPV claimed that the failure had arisen from a pre-production specification clutch. FPV tested their own F6s to try and reciprocate the conditions in which the AP Racing twin plate clutch broke, and it only happened when flat shifting. So FPV blamed MOTOR for just that, going as far to say "people don't drive like that!"
The problem, as I have heard, is in the design of a circlip in the clutch pack. The AP Racing clutch should, when you put the pedal in and lift the diaphragm, move the first clutch back - releasing the friction plate nearest to the flywheel. The system contains 3 self-adjusting circlips designed to limit the rearward motion of the first plate. Clip failure lets the plate move further rearward than it's engineered to, holding the rear-driven plate and not allowing any gear selections or gear changing.
Does the F6 even need a twin plate clutch? FPV argue it is necessary to withstand the F6's towering torque figure of 550Nm. Air Power Systems (APS) have had their XR6Ts up to 700Nm with the stock XR6 single plate clutch and it still engages - mind you, it gets a little shaky after a bit of run but it still engages.
Anyhow, the current F6's clutch is a flawed design and as I hear it, FPV have heads down bums up engineering a new pack of circlips to stop it happening again.
Now, why is the F6 slower than the XR6T? It isn't slower - it's just not as faster as what we expected it to be. It's only a smidgeon quicker than a stock XR6T. A few mates and I reckon Ford understates the XR6T's stock power figure. Then we read it in the newsagency in MOTOR! Well MOTOR dyno tested the XR6T in a comparison about a year back and it came up with around 185RwkW - if you take into account about a third power loss through the drivetrain, that equates more to 250kW at the flywheel than Ford's quoted output of 240. Theoretically, the F6 is only 20kW more powerful than the XR6T.
Still, I reckon the F6 doesn't live up to my expectations - or many other's, at that. For the same price as an F6, you can have an XR6T with a Stage 3 APS kit and a few options running high 12s down the strip. Of course, there is a limit to how much torque the internals and drivetrain can handle, but the Phase 3 APS kit is the limit, pretty much. But it has been proven - namely by an outfit by the name of Nizpro - that the stock internals of the 4.0L DOHC VCT I6 can handle enormous amounts of power and torque (up to something like 1000bhp!). The potential from this engine is unprecedented.
That about answers your Qs, I think? I want Ford to do a special limited run model of the 4.0L six running 22psi or whereabouts and about 650Nm and 400kWs to get some more prestige German brands a run for their money! Come on Ford! What are you waiting for!
