Ford GT40 Race History

Ford led at the start of the 1966 Le Mans, and had been nearly unchallenged as darkness fell. By dawn on Sunday, their leads were so significant that they were ordered to slow down for reliability's sake. By noon, 10 of the 13 Fords entered, many of them sponsored by private teams, had been eliminated, and the three remaining cars cruised toward a 1-2-3 victory and Ford's achievement of the "triple crown" of endurance racing – in just its third season.

Dearborn's Own Mark IV Proving that the victory over Ferrari and the others was no fluke, Ford entered and won Le Mans in 1967, this time in all-new car! The GT40 Mark IV was an all-Dearborn creation, born to some degree in response to criticism that the earlier cars were simply English machines funded by big American pockets. So different were the Mark IVs, for example, that they were constructed of aluminum honeycomb bonded with the latest aerospace techniques, instead of steel.

The 1967 Le Mans hosted GT40's most dramatic duel with Ferrari. Ford led early but lost three of its seven cars to nighttime crashes; the Gurney/Foyt car continued, though, beating the 2nd and 3rd place Ferraris by only four laps. Moreover, the "lazy liters" 427 engine in the winning Ford earned the coveted "Index of Thermal Efficiency" award for highest performance on the least amount of fuel – an achievement which the Europeans considered as important as overall victory.

Not surprisingly, the FIA quickly capped engine displacement at 5 liters, but the European component of "Ford Total Performance" was far from complete. Under Gulf Oil sponsorship, the Mark I GT40s returned to win Le Mans in 1968, and then again in 1969. That final Le Mans for GT40 was one of the most exciting in the history of endurance racing, with a margin of victory of just two seconds after 24 hours of intense competition!

By 1969, the winning GT40 had 425 BHP and was timed at 217 mph along the Mulsanne Straight. The GT40 and its speed were instrumental in sweeping rule changes which were introduced after the 1969 race in order to curb the high speeds of GT racing. The new rules were introduced at the end of 1969 and limited engine size, ending the GT40's successful winning run at Le-Mans.