Ford Indigo, a two-seat V-12-powered concept sports car, draws its inspiration from some of the world's fastest racing machines: Indy cars. Indigo blends Ford Motor Company and Indy car technologies in its materials, construction techniques, chassis design and aerodynamics. The result is a two-passenger, street-legal sports car of radical design and maximum performance.

"In developing the ultimate sports car concept, we didn't want to tread the same path as others. We wanted to create a car that would be impossible to ignore," said Jack Telnack, vice president, Ford Corporate Design.

"The Indigo's stunning looks capture the essence of the racetrack and transform it into a realistic design for the street."

Indigo serves as a test bed for invaluable lessons in engineering, materials, product development and processes that Ford could use in the future.

"Ford's new concept sports car is an exciting display of Ford design and technological leadership," said Jac Nasser, group vice president, Product Development.

"Its development has given Ford the opportunity to experiment with quick-to-market processes for developing new engines and powertrains, and the use of hybrid and composite materials, especially in the area of carbon fiber and fiberglass. In fact, it took less than six months to go from drawing board to driveable car," Nasser said.

The Look of a Racing Machine

The front and rear wings accentuate the racing-car feel, but they also have a practical purpose. Wind tunnel testing shows the wings, together with the overall body design and underbody diffuser, should help the car corner at lateral accelerations in excess of 1.2 g.

Its chassis consists of carbon fiber-aluminum honeycomb. The engine is affixed to the central chassis and carries the rear suspension. The front and rear suspensions are identical to those on Indy cars: double wishbones with push rod-activated coil-over shocks.

The exterior panels are of carbon fiber and glass fiber with Nomex honeycomb. Some of the body panels retain their exposed black carbon fiber finish, providing a strong contrast to the bright red of the rest of the body. The lightweight materials result in Indigo's estimated weight of 2, 300 pounds.

The doors are hinged at the front and raised by lifting them forward and slightly out from the body, allowing driver and passenger to step down into the car.

The car's rigid construction surrounds the driver and passenger in a safety cell-like structure. Wide air intake ducts located in the deep rocker panels provide an exceptional level of side-impact protection.

Indigo's headlights use a high-intensity discharge light source, with light piped through fiber optics to the main headlights, which are located in the door mirrors. The front fenders house additional headlights. The rear taillights, consisting of small projector lights -- thin neon tubes -- are located in the rear wing.

Additional fog lights are housed in the front spoiler. The spoiler also acts as a bumper. The rear taillights and turn signals, consisting of small projector lights, are located at the outboard edges of the rear wing.

Putting the Go in Indigo

Its expected fuel economy is about 20 mpg during highway driving.

The Indigo's V-12 also uses the same bore and stroke dimensions (89.0 mm x 79.5 mm) as the Duratec, and shares its pistons, rings, rods, valves, valve seals, valve springs and retainers.

The V-12 block and cylinder heads are new, cast from 356-T6 aluminum alloy by Cosworth in Britain. The cylinder heads retain the Duratec's combustion chamber and exhaust port design. The intake ports incorporate a new, "tumble-port" design that creates low-rpm, intake-charge turbulence without the need for throttling one of each pair of intake valves.

Unlike Duratec's girdled design, Indigo's engine is deep-skirted for extra torsional stiffness. It approximates the torsional rigidity of the Duratec V-6 despite its extra length. The crankshaft is formed using a new casting process called "electro-slag casting," which is expected to strengthen the camshaft by 10 percent compared with forged camshafts.

Dual spray fuel injectors -- single injectors for each cylinder that spray both intake ports at the same time -- are used in the V-12 and are similar to the components utilized in the 1995 Taurus SHO V-6. Fuel is fed to the engine via pumps housed in the racing-style, bladder fuel cell. A dry sump system also is fitted to the engine to ensure consistent oil flow through the block.

Twin 14 x 14-inch radiators on each side of the passenger compartment provide the cooling, force-feeding air through the large side air scoops behind the front tires. Electric fans provide additional cooling in low-speed driving.

Comfort and Practicality

Both suspensions are formed from high-strength, aero section chrome molybdenum tubing. The rear suspension arms and geometry are virtually identical to those of an Indy car, while the Indigo's two-passenger monocoque required the front suspension arms be shorter and have a slightly different geometry than those found on racing cars.

Steering is by a modified Taurus rack-and-pinion system fitted with custom-designed, electric power-assist.

Massive Wheels and Tires

Hand-cut Goodyear Eagle high performance racing tires, correlating to street-tire sizes of 325/30ZR17 on the front and 355/35ZR18 at the rear, grip the road.

Brembo disc brakes -- 335 x 20 mm in front and 355 x 20 mm in rear -- help stop the Indigo in an estimated 100 feet in computer-simulated 60-to -0 mph testing.

Ford worked in collaboration with Reynard Racing Cars Ltd. to design, develop and build the Indigo. Reynard won the 1995 CART/PPG Indy Car World Series Constructor's Championship.

Ford has a total of more than 260 Indy car victories -- including 17 wins at Indianapolis -- and more than 200 wins on the Formula One Grand Prix circuit.