Ford donates XR8 Sprint for diabetes research

FORD Australia has donated the first of its limited-edition Falcon XR8 Sprints to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF) to help fund research into finding a permanent cure for type 1 diabetes.

The JDRF is using the money to fund its Artificial Pancreas Project, which looks into how to automate insulin pumps and deliver improved therapies to ultimately find a “technological cure” to type 1 diabetes.

The auction runs from May 7 to the end of the month and the organisers are hoping that, given the limited run of only 750 models, the white, six-speed manual XR8 Sprint should fetch a handy sum.

The Sprint is the last performance-based Falcon that Ford is producing, and punters wasted no time in snapping up the swansong models, with all 500 XR6 Turbo and XR8 models selling out completely.

Ford has sent the Falcon out with a bang, with the XR6 Turbo packing 325kW/576Nm under the hood, while the XR8 steps it up to 345kW/575Nm.

Both models have an overboost function that temporarily raises peak power to 370kW in the XR6 and 400kW in the XR8.

Along with the XR8, Ford has also donated $60,000 towards the project, which involves research institutes and hospitals in Perth, Melbourne, Newcastle, Adelaide and Sydney.

This is on top of the $13,000 that Ford employees chose to take out of their wages in 2015 to donate to the cause, bringing Ford's total contribution to JDRF over the past 15 years to $500,000.

The project is being run out of Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth and is led by Professor Tim Jones.

Ford Australia president and CEO Graeme Whickman said the donation would help the innovative work done by the people at JDRF.

“Our support of Professor Jones’ team’s innovative diabetes research underpins our commitment to serve our communities as we become Australia’s largest automotive employer,” he said.

“This iconic car will contribute in a small way to another Australian innovation under development by JDRF to help save young lives.”

Before it wound up in 2014, Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) auctioned off the final two 351 GT Fs for a combined $393,700 in a bid to raise funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Anyone looking to bid on the first XR8 can do so byfollowing this link.