2016 was the year of the GT40 With Ford bringing the modern version of the car into competition at the 24 Hours of Daytona and celebrating the company’s 1966 triumph at LeMans, it is was all GT40 all the time. Hey, we didn’t have a problem with that and still don’t!
This video is a cool look back at the car and how it stacked up next to the bevy of competitors that it was trying to grind into dust. While the Porsches and other makes were strong, there was one company that Ford was gunning for and the whole world knew. Ferrari.
The story is famous. Ford was going buy the Italian brand and was then rebuffed in a way that infuriated Henry Ford II and when that happened there was literally no budget too tall to put Ford ahead of Ferrari on the international racing scene. Over the span of three years the company spent $3-million ($22-million in today’s money) to develop a car that would do it.
Like every good story there were doubts, pitfalls, failures, and early struggled but soon the good guys got their act together. They got better, they refined the car they refined the engine package, and ultimately shoved one of Detroit’s most vaunted engines the FE 427 big block V8 in the back and charged into battle.
Charge they did, literally wearing out the Ferraris before the end of the race. The 200+ mph speeds on the Mulsanne straight meant that they were literally driving away from everyone on that part of the course. The end result was a 1-2-3 finish, a complete domination of Ferrari, an unparalleled American racing triumph, and the first overall win for an American manufacturer at LeMans in the history of the race. The GT40s came back and did it again in 1967, again in 1968, and again in 1969. Henry Ford II’s fearlessness when it came to spending the money necessary largely made this and a huge number of other racing accomplishments from Ford during this era possible. Awesome stuff.
So..let’s watch the video and see what made this monster of the Mulsanne tick and tick harder, faster, and better than anything else of its day.
A several weeks ago two of the ’66 GT40s were a the Cobra Experience (a museum in Martinez, Ca.) on loan (the light blue one/the gold one). It was sweet to walk around and check them out in person (they be tiny!). Near them was a stand with a 427/transaxle on it. Cobra #1 and Dragon Snake were there too (surrounded by a bunch of Cobras/GT350s). I’m mostly Chevy guy but the Cobra Experience is awesome. (going to the C&C there tomorrow (Easter)