Ford GT40

For the concept car presented as the Ford GT40 on the auto show circuit in 2002, see Ford GT.

The Ford GT40 was a notable sports car and winner of the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row, from 1966 to 1969. It was built to win long-distance sports car races against Ferrari (who won at Le Mans six times in a row from 1960 to 1965).

The car was named the GT40 after the Grand Tourisme category it was intended to compete in (in fact regulations were changed the car was never homologated in GT) and its overall height of 40 inches (1.02 m, measured at the windscreen) as required by the rules. Large-capacity Ford V8 engines (4.7 L and 7 L) were used, compared with the Ferrari V12 which had 3.0 L or 4.0 L.

Early cars were simply named "Ford GT" the name GT40 was introduced with the production of the stock Mk. 1.

The contemporary Ford GT is a modern homage to the GT40.

History

Henry Ford II had wanted a Ford at Le Mans since the early 1960s.

Initially, Ford attempted to buy Ferrari. Much to the surprise of Ford who expected long negotiations, the proposal was welcomed by Enzo Ferrari. A deal had been all but agreed on when Ferrari called the merger off in 1963, after an agreement with Fiat that gave some financial backing to Ferrari, while preserving Ferrari's independence.

Ford had been manipuled to rise the bids with Ferrari and a frustrated Henry Ford II, decided to produce its own car instead. To this end Ford began negotiation with Lotus, Lola, and Cooper. Cooper had no experience in GT or prototype and its performances in Formula One were declining.

Lotus was already Ford partner for their Indy 500 project. While Ford executives had already doubt on the ability of Lotus to handle this new project. Colin Chapman had probably similar views as he asked a high price for his contribution and insisted that the car should be named Lotus and not Ford, an attitude that can be viewed as polite refusal.

The Lola proposal was chosen, since Lola had used a Ford V8 engine in their mid-engined Lola Mk 6 (also known as Lola GT) one of the most advanced racing car of the time that made a noted performance in Le Mans 1962, even if the car didn't finish. However Broadley agreed on a short-term personal contribution to the project without involving Lola cars.

The agreement with Lola cars manager Eric Broadley included a one year collaboration between Ford and Broadley and the sale of the two Lola Mk 6 chassis built to Ford. To form the developpement team Ford also hired the already ex-Aston Martin team manager John Wyer and Ford Motor Co. engineer Roy Lunn was sent to England. Lunn had designed the mid-engined Mustang 1 concept car powered by 1,7 L V4. Despite the small engine of the Mustang 1, Lunn was the only Dearborn's engineer to have some experience with a mid-engined car.

Broadley, Lunn and Wyer began working on the new car at Lola Factory in Bromley. At the end of 1963 the team moved at Slough, England near Heathrow airport. Ford established a new subsidiary under the direction of Wyer, Ford Advanced Vehicles Ltd to manage the project.

The first chassis built by Abbey Panels of Coventry was delivered on March 16 1963. The first "Ford GT" the GT/101 was unveiled in England on April first and soon after exhibited in New York.

The car was powered by the 4.2 L Fairline engine with a Colotti transaxle, the same power plant was used by the Lola GT and the single-seater Lotus 38 that would go on to become the first mid-engined car to ever win at the Indy 500 in 1965.

The Ford GT was first raced in May 1964 at the Nürburgring 1000 km race and later at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and was not very successful with all three cars retiring. The experience gained then and in 1965 allowed the Mk II to dominate the race in 1966 with a 1-2-3 finish. New Zealand drivers Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon drove the winning Ford GT. The Mk IV, a newer design with a Mk II engine but a different chassis and a different body, won the following year (when four Mark IVs, three Mark IIs and three Mark Is raced).

After a rules change for 1968 which limited the capacity of prototypes to 3.0 L (same as in Formula One), but allowed a maximum of 5.0 L capacity for the Sports category (where at least 50 cars had been built), a revised 4.7 L Mk I won the 24 hours of Le Mans race in 1968 against the fragile smaller prototypes. In 1969, facing more experienced prototypes and the new yet still unreliable 4.5 L flat-12 powered Porsche 917s, the winners Ickx/Oliver managed to beat the remaining 3.0 L Porsche 908 by just a few seconds with the already outdated GT40. Apart from brake wear in the Porsche and the decision not to change pads so close to the race end, the winning combination was relaxed driving by both GT40 drivers and heroic efforts at the right time by (at that time Le Mans' rookie) Jacky Ickx, who would win Le Mans 5 times more in later years. In 1970, the revised Porsche 917 dominated and the GT40 became obsolete.My Name is Rawiri and im a Shit Fuck also my dad has a ((ford-fairmont))

Various versions

The Mk I is the original Ford GT40. Early prototypes were by powered by 4.2 L (255 in³) engines; production models were powered by 4.7 L (289 in³) engines, also used in the Ford Mustang. Some prototype models had a roadster bodywork.

The Ford X1 was a roadster built to contest the Fall 1965 North American Pro Series, a forerunner of the CanAm, it was entered by Bruce McLaren team and driven by Chis Amon. The car had an aluminium chassis build at Abbey Panels and was originally powered by a 4.5 L (289ci) engine. The real purpose of this car was to test several improvements originating from either Kar Kraft, Shelby or McLaren. Several gearboxes were used, a Hewland LG500 and at least one but more probably several automatic gearboxes. It was later upgraded specification to the Mk II with a 7.0 L (427ci) engine and a standard four ratio Kar Kraft gearbox, however car kept specific features like its open roof and lightweight chassis. The car went on winning the 12H of Sebring 1966.

The Mk II used the 7.0 L (427 in³) engine from the Ford Galaxie.

For Daytona 1967, two Mk II models (chassis 1016 and 1047) were branded Mercury 7.0 L. Mercury is a Ford Motor Company division, and this was only a cosmetic change. It made no difference anyway as Ferrari won 1-2-3.

The Mk III was a road-car only, of which 31 were built. The car had four headlights, the rear part of the body was expanded to make room for luggage, the 4.7 L engine was detuned to 335 bhp, the shocks were softened, the shift lever was moved to the center and the car was available with the steering wheel on the left side of the car. The most famous Mk III is GT40 M3 1105, a blue left hand drive model delivered in 1968 in Austria to Herbert von Karajan. As the Mk III wasn't very appealing aesthetically (it looked significantly different to the racing models), many customers interested in buying a GT40 for road use chose to buy a Mk I that was available from Wyer ltd in a street version.

The Ford J was tested in 1966 four cars were build around a specific chassis including honeycomb aluminium panels. Ken Miles was killed while testing the J-2 and the car was never raced.

The Mk IV was build around a reinforced J chassis powered by the same 7.0 L engine as the Mk II. Excluding the engine, the Mk IV was totally different from other GT40s, using a specific chassis and specific bodywork.

The Ford G7A was a Canam car using the J chassis.

Chassis numbers

Early chassis (commonly named prototype chassis) are branded GT and have a three-digit number (GT 101 to GT 112). Among these chassis, at least two were made of aluminium, one was number 110 used on the X1.

Production chassis are branded GT 40 P (P for Production) and have a four-digit number (GT 40 P 1000 to GT 40 P 1086 and GT 40 P 1108 to 1114).

Prototype chassis and production chassis were built by Abbey Panels. Two Mark I lightweight chassis were build by Alan Mann Racing. They are numbered AM GT 1 and AM GT 2, and these chassis incorporate panels in elektron light alloy.

Mk IIs were built on a Mk I chassis with additional strengthening using random prototype or production chassis numbers, with the notable exception of the ex-X1 GT/110 build on an Abbey Panels lightweight chassis. However, as other Ford partners were overworked at that time, three chassis numbered XGT 1 to XGT 3 were built by Alan Mann Racing for Le Mans 1966. Unlike Alan Mann's Mark Is chassis, these chassis did not show any significant difference from those built by Abbey Panels for Kar Kraft.

GT40 Mk IIIs used chassis numbers GT 40 M3 1101 to GT 40 M3 1107.

Ford J, GT 40 Mark IV and G7A used J chassis twelwe chassis numbered J1 to J12 were built. J1 to J4 were build to J specification. J3 and J4 were later converted to the MkIV specications. J5 to J8 were build directly for the MkIV. J9 and J10 were build for the G7A. Some J11 and J12 were replacement chassis. A MkIV replica has been build around the J11 chassis.

Ford GT chassis numbers continue from the point that GT40 stopped.

Replicas

There have been several "kit cars" and replicas made that have been inspired by the Ford GT40, from the VW-based Fiberfab Avenger GT-12 of the 1960's http://www.avenger-valkyrie.org/, to rebodied Pontiac Fieros http://www.v8archie.com/gt4t.htm, to almost exact replicas of the GT40 produced by Superformance http://www.superformance.com/gt40.aspx, Era http://www.erareplicas.com/gt/gt.htm, Roaring Forties http://www.roaringforties.com.au/,

Ford GT

At the 1995 Detroit Motor Show, the Ford GT90 concept was shown and at the 2002 Detroit Auto Show, a new GT40 Concept was unveiled by Ford, similar to the original cars, but bigger, wider, and especially taller than the original 40 inches (1.02 m), so it might instead have been named GT43. Three production prototypes car were shown 2003 as part of Ford's centenary, and delivery of the production Ford GT began in the fall of 2004. A British company "Safir Engineering" who made "continuation" GT40's in the 1980's owned the GT40 trademark at that time, and when they completed production, they sold the excess parts, tooling, design, and tradmark to a small Ohio company that calls itself Safir GT40 Spares. Safir GT40 Spares licensed the use of the GT40 tradmark to Ford for the initial 2002 show car, but when Ford decided to make the production vehicle, negotiations between the two failed, and as a result the new Ford GT does not wear the badge GT40. It is rumored that Safir asked 40 million dollars for the rights, but this has never been verified.

In November 2005 a Ford GTX1, a roadster version of the Ford GT was unveiled in Las Vegas. The $38,000 aftermarket conversion is performed by Genaddi Design Group (www.GTX1.com) but approved by Ford.

Le Mans results
			Distance		Speed
Year	Car	Drivers	miles	km	mph	km/h
1966	Mk II	Chris Amon, Bruce McLaren	3009.4	4,843.2	125.39	201.80
1967	Mk IV	Dan Gurney, A. J. Foyt	2630.2	4,232.9	135.48	218.03
1968	Mk I	Pedro Rodriguez, Lucien Bianchi	2766.9	4,452.9	115.29	185.54
1969	Mk I	Jacky Ickx, Jackie Oliver	3105.6	4,998.0	129.40	208.25

Sources

Auto Passion n°49 July 1991 (in French)
La Revue de l'Automobile historique n°7 March/April 2001 (in French)
http://www.gizmag.co.uk/go/1230/1/

External links