Ford GT’s Old Tires Go to Valhalla Through Hoonigans Burnyard
Popular YouTuber ‘Shmee’ prepares his Ford GT for a fresh set of tires with the help of a master tire shredder.
The Ford GT has carried the flame atop the Blue Oval’s high-performance torch since the first one rolled out of Canada in December of 2016. While some may bemoan the fact it has a twin-turbo V6 in the back instead of a hefty V8, the GT has more than lived up to its lineage, starting with a win in the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans, 50 years since the first three GT40s took the entire podium at the same race.
Recently, YouTuber Tim “Shmee150” Burton brought his GT to California for a stop at Los Angeles’ own Galpin Auto Sports, where it would receive a new set of Michelin Sport Cup 2s. Before that, though, he popped over to Irwindale, California’s Irwindale Speedway, the home of the Hoonigans Burnyard, to send off the original set in style.
“This car is still on its original tires,” said Burton, “the original tires, that back over in Europe did the Nurburgring, a track day at Silverstone, then, of course, the car flew over here to the U.S. It has been coast to coast, including a day at Road Atlanta, and plenty of driving. But today, it is time to get some new tires on the car.”
Rather than destroy the tires himself, Burton wisely hands the keys over Damon Fryer of YouTube channel Daily Driven Exotics, whose tire-destruction skills are more suited to the confines of the blacked-out Burnyard.
“This is a beautiful car,” Fryer said. “What are you thinking? You’re mad! Here’s the thing that most people don’t understand: I’m very respectful of people’s property. I go absolutely crazy in my car, to a point where you almost think I don’t care, but I do still care. Then, when I’m given someone’s car, we tone it down a little bit.”
To prove the point, Fryer asks Burton how controllable the GT is, as he’s never driven one before. Burton says it’s good on the big power slides, but he hasn’t done any donuts or burnouts with the Ford. After further inspection, Fryer says his experience hooning a Ferrari LaFerrari should translate well into the GT’s trip through the Burnyard.
“Will this car be okay, and not freak out breaking the tires loose while going in a tight circle,” asks Fryer prior to frying the tires of the GT. “You’ve done it at a higher speed, doing it like a controlled drift.”
Burton adds that while did do those things, the GT is a (street-legal) race car, and “race cars aren’t supposed to slide; they’re supposed to go in a straight line or around corners very fast, not sideways.”
Turned out the GT was more than capable of going sideways like a drift missle. Following a pre-burn cruise around the Burnyard, Fryer let it all hang out with Burton in the passenger seat, bringing the rear around to a stop just inches from the concrete barrier at one point. No matter how many donuts, near-misses, or trips under the flatbed trailer in the middle of the course, the Ford handled it all like a pro.
“I tell you what. He sure did get a lot of dust around the back of this thing,” said Burton. “Absolutely everywhere. But the mission was to do with the tires, to basically kill them… Mission success!”
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