This article is about the winning racing vehicle from the 1960 Le Mans. See Ford GT for the supercar that was inspired by it. See DEC GT40 for more information about the graphic computer terminal made by Digital Equipment Corporation. Ford GT is a trademark (disambiguation).
The Ford Motor Company commissioned the high-performance endurance racing Ford GT40. It developed from the “Ford GT” (for Grand Touring) project, an attempt to fight against Ferrari in renowned 24 Hours of Le Mans races in Europe from 1960 to 1965. Ford had success with the GT40, winning the competitions from 1966 until 1969.
The project got underway when Ford Advanced Vehicles in Slough, UK, started producing the GT40 Mk I, which was based on the Lola Mk6. The engineering team was relocated to Dearborn, Michigan in 1964 as a result of dismal race performances (Kar Kraft). Several American-built Ford V8 engines that had been adapted for racing powered the range.
The GT40 Mk II ended Ferrari’s winning streak at Le Mans in 1966, becoming the first American manufacturer to win a significant European race since Jimmy Murphy’s Duesenberg victory at the 1921 French Grand Prix. The Mk IV was the only vehicle wholly developed and produced in the United States to take home the overall Le Mans victory in 1967.
The Mk I, the oldest of the vehicles, won in 1968 and 1969, becoming the second chassis to do so. (Until the Ferrari 275P chassis 0816 was found to have won the 1964 race after winning the 1963 race in 250P format and with an 0814 chassis plate, this Ford/Shelby chassis, #P-1075, was thought to have been the first.) With the addition of bespoke alloy Gurney-Weslake cylinder heads, its American Ford V8 engine’s 4.7-liter displacement capacity (289 cubic inches) was increased to 4.9 liters (302 cubic inches).
The “40” stood for its minimum permitted height of 40 inches (1.02 m), measured at the windshield. The initial 12 “prototype” cars had serial numbers ranging from GT-101 to GT-112. The Mk I, Mk II, Mk III, and Mk IV were officially referred to as “GT40s” once “production” started and were given the numbers GT40P/1000 through GT40P/1145. J1–J12 were the Mk IVs’ serial numbers.
In This Article...
Ferrari joined the race with two vehicles. Ford made eight.
Ferrari only entered two official cars in 1966, feeling secure after winning the five previous endurance races at Le Mans. To the dismay of the Italians, neither finished the race, giving Ford’s MKII cars a chance to end Ferrari’s hegemony in motorsport.
In that year, Ford submitted eight vehicles. Miles and his racing partner Denny Hulme, Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant, and Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon were in charge of the three vehicles that Shelby was directly in charge of. The Ford/Shelby team consumed miles as they raced relentlessly for 24 hours around the eight-mile course that wound through the French countryside in pursuit of a triumph that would change the trajectory of 1960s racing history.
Three Fords were in the lead at the time of the last pit stop. Miles and Hulme were in the lead, followed by McLaren and Amon in second, and another Ford entry, driven by Ronnie Bucknum and Dick Hutcherson, who were holding third despite being 12 laps behind the leaders.
At the 24 Hours of Le Mans Race in June 1966, Bruce McLaren, Henry Ford II, and Chris Amon were there.
In 1964, Ford Motor Company began making an effort to defeat Ferrari at Le Mans. After two disastrous seasons in which Fords were unable to even complete the race, the American carmaker experienced an exciting 1-2-3 sweep in 1966. On the podium, Henry Ford II celebrated the decisive victory alongside the two New Zealand-born race winners, Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon.
Mustang Ford
The Ford Mustang is just one of several classic vehicles that “Ford v. Ferrari” amasses in its 152 minutes.
The Ford Mustang was introduced in March 1964 after being shown off at the New York Auto Show that year alongside a Ford GT40 mule. It was an immediate success, and Lee Iacocca, the Ford Division General Manager who gave the project life, also rose to fame. In its first year alone, Ford created more than 500,000 Mustangs, nearly entirely igniting the muscle car frenzy as virtually every other American carmaker raced to create a Mustang rival. Although the Mustang eventually grew fat and lumpy, the model we see in the film is an extremely early 1964 model being unveiled.
What’s Good
Iacocca gave the Don Frey and Hal Spurley-led design team of the Mustang five goals to focus on: the new vehicle, which would later establish the “pony car” niche, had to be small in size (total length of no more than 180 inches), be able to seat four adults, have front bucket seats, not exceed 2,500 pounds, not exceed $2,500 (currently 21,292 dollars), have a floor-mounted shifter, and be adaptable enough to fit a variety of needs. Whatever the case, the Mustang was all of that and more, and we believe there is no better method to gauge the popularity of the ‘Mustang’ nameplate than by observing what Ford is currently doing: Ford currently exclusively sells the Mustang in the United States. Furthermore, the term has already been applied to an electric crossover, and this may be the beginning.
It’s bad
There aren’t many issues with early Mustangs aside from those you’d anticipate having with an older vehicle, such controls that aren’t as responsive as they are on a current vehicle. Having said that, you should always be on the lookout for the common rust issue, especially if the car spent much of its life in a more humid environment. Additionally, many people have talked over the years about how the location of the gasoline tank contributed to a lot of Mustangs from that era catching fire after being rear-ended quickly.
The View from Topspeed:
It’s understandable why many individuals choose a Mustang as their first classic automobile given that there are well over a million of them currently on American roads. The original pony car continues to turn attention now just as it did in 1964, and it not only looks fantastic, but it’s also simple to work on and modify thanks to the several specialty stores and websites that solely sell Mustang components and upgrade kits.
How Reliable Is Ford Versus Ferrari?
In 1966, American automotive designer Carroll Shelby, driver Ken Miles, and a team supported by the Ford Motor Company became the first American car constructors to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This is the year’s “Ford vs. Ferrari” episode that takes viewers back in time to that moment in racing history. In an effort to compete internationally against Ferrari, who won every Le Mans race from 1960 to 1965, the company built the Ford GT40 for the competition (via Britannica).
The movie featured Jon Bernthal as Ford vice president Lee Iacocca, Christian Bale as Miles, and Matt Damon as Shelby. It was well received by both the general public and critics, garnering four Academy Award nominations, and won for Best Film Editing and Best Sound Editing (via Oscars). The James Mangold-directed movie came in at $107 million domestically, making it the 27th-highest grossing movie of that year, according to Box Office Mojo.
One of those sports drama biopic movies, “Ford vs. Ferrari” prompts some viewers to pause and consider how well the storyline resembles the actual events it portrays. Even though every Hollywood movie dramatizes real life to some extent, some portray more stark contrasts than others. How closely do the circumstances leading up to the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans seem in “Ford vs. Ferrari”?
They competed in the Ford versus. Ferrari race.
A significant portion of James Mangold’s “Ford v Ferrari” is devoted to a meticulous reenactment of the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans race, and it all builds to a conclusion that, if you are unaware of it, feels almost too surreal to be true.
What vehicles did Ford vs. Ferrari use?
The endurance race was mainly a competition between the Ford GT40 Mark II and Ferrari 330 P3 produced by American and Italian automakers, as suggested by the movie’s title.
Which vehicle did Shelby drive in the Ford vs. Ferrari battle?
Later in the “Ford v. Ferrari” plot, other Porsches take secondary roles, but early on, moviegoers might be shocked to witness Carroll Shelby sprint down the streets of Los Angeles in what appears to be a Porsche 356A Carrera Speedster modified with a roll-bar, among other things.
Shelby, who retired from racing at the end of 1960, wasn’t a fan of Porsche, and the car’s inclusion in the movie appears to be the result of chance acting up.
According to Bloomberg, the movie’s vehicle director, Rob Johnson, “we were originally considering an Aston Martin DB4 for Matt [Damon] for the opening sequences – and we could acquire one – but the owner was like, “um, you can take it up to 30 or 45 mph.” “We had to consider our options, and we were aware that we had three Porsches that we raced in Willow Springs. They were dependable and present on set, and as they say, the rest is history.
Only 4,000 Porsche 356s were ever produced, and the ones with the DOHC, four-cam “Carrera” engine are the most prized, with the exception of the very first ones, which are genuine antiquities on wheels. This is due to the fact that Ernst Fuhrmann created the four-cam for use in automobile racing, and at the time it was created, it was twice as powerful as its pushrod cousins.
Today, 108 horsepower might not seem like much, but the 1.5-liter engine only had to move 1,852 pounds.
Given the diversity of Porsche 356s available and the relatively small characteristics that (to the typical passerby) distinguish them, it’s not conceivable that someone would attempt to “falsify” the identify of one exemplar. In order to tell if a 356A Carrera GT Speedster you’re interested in is authentic or not, look for rolled edges on the front and back, as well as around the wheel apertures. Oh, and the 356 can also have rust issues. These vehicles lack creature comforts but are mechanically sound.
The Porsche 356, sometimes known as “The Simple Porsche,” is continuing the classic Porsche history of becoming unaffordable unless you belong to the top 1% of earners. There are still some affordable variants available, such as a 1960s 356C with all the modifications, which you can purchase for roughly $75,000 in today’s market. However, the 356A Carrera GT Speedster is a vehicle that only a man with the income of Matt Damon could purchase.
In Ford vs. Ferrari, how quick was the Ford GT?
With a qualifying lap speed of 143 mph, Ford’s Dan Gurney won the pole position, and Miles was just over a second behind. Ford finished 1-2-3 at the Le Mans race thanks to the big-block GT40s’ aggression, which defeated the Ferrari entry’ subtlety and handling skills.
What kind of engine was in the Ford vs. Ferrari GT40?
With barely four weeks to the race, the team opted to build two of the cars powered by the 427 engine (known as the GT40X) and add the GTs with the 289 engines that were already competing in Europe to the team.