Ford had barely ten months to turn a failed Ferrari deal into a car capable of winning Le Mans.
The result was the GT40 a transatlantic engineering program that ultimately defeated Ferrari four straight times.
In 1963, Ford’s attempt to acquire Ferrari collapsed.
Within weeks, Ford created a new high-performance operation with one extraordinary objective: build a GT car capable of competing with and ultimately beating Ferrari at Sebring and Le Mans.
What followed became one of the most ambitious engineering programs in American racing history.
The Ford GT40 was not a purely American creation. British-born engineer Roy Lunn led the program, while the chassis lineage drew on Eric Broadley’s Lola Mk6 racing prototype. The result was a genuine transatlantic engineering project.
The first cars were fast but early testing exposed serious high-speed aerodynamic instability. Reliability problems followed, including a suspension failure at the Nürburgring and a gearbox failure at Le Mans after the GT40 had led and set a lap record.
For 1966, Ford changed the formula.
The GT40 Mark II received a 7.0-litre, 427-cubic-inch V8 derived from Ford’s NASCAR-proven stock-car engine. Ford then subjected the new powertrain to an extraordinary reliability program, including simulated Le Mans-distance engine testing for roughly 48 hours continuously.
The new car immediately showed its potential, sweeping the top three positions at Daytona in February 1966.
Then came Le Mans.
Ford arrived in force. Ferrari suffered mechanical failures. The GT40s kept running.
Ken Miles had led for most of the race and had played a major role in the GT40’s development. A late pit stop and Ford’s planned formation finish changed the final result, with Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon officially classified first and Miles’s car second.
Two months later, Ken Miles was killed while testing Ford’s J-car at Riverside.
The GT40 went on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans four consecutive times:
**1966. 1967. 1968. 1969.**
This is the story of the engineering, the money, the rivalry, the reliability obsession and the human cost behind Ford’s greatest endurance-racing achievement.
**CHAPTERS**
00:00 The Grudge Begins
01:00 The Ferrari Deal Collapses
02:20 Building the GT40
04:00 The Mark II Transformation
06:00 Le Mans 1966
08:00 The Bittersweet Victory
09:40 Four Straight Le Mans Wins
11:00 The GT40 Legacy
** SILENT ENGINES**
Legendary Cars • Forgotten Stories • Timeless Engineering
Original automotive documentary production focused on engineering, history, sound and cinematic reconstruction.
#FordGT40 #GT40 #LeMans #FordVsFerrari #AutomotiveHistory #SilentEngines
source