| History of the Ford GT40 - Ford GT |
Dan Gurney and A.J Foyt won with the brand new Mark IV. This win signalled the first time a whole entry was completely from or created in America. The car was developed and made in the United States, it was made by an American-based company, had an engine that was put together in America, and had two American drivers. This race has been known to have started the famous champagne straying ceremony at the end of races. After Le Mans, Ford got rid of the Mark IV. After the Le Mans of 1967, new rules would ban the large engines in GT prototype cars, because they believed the cars were reaching speeds that were a little too dangerous. Le Mans' new rules stated that prototype race cars can only have 3 liter engines or smaller , and cars with a production of at least 25 could have up to 5 liters.
So, Ford went to work in making the older 5 liter GT-40's better.
At the Daytona 24 Hours in February of 1968, none of the GT-40's finished, but they did keep up with the competition pretty well. Also, at the 12 Hours of Sebring that year, the GT-40's also failed to complete the race. After those first two races, Ford did pretty well. They won several smaller, less-known races. Going into Le Mans, there was probably a good feeling and confidence, considering the many wins Ford experienced that year. Once again, for the third straight time, Ford won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Again, the American brand kicked some @ss. After the winning race, the mechanics of the car actually drove the winning GT-40 on public streets all the way back to the Ford base.
In 1969, as the car was beginning to age, the GT-40 won the 12 Hours of Sebring on March 22, with Jacky Ickx and Jackie Olivier. In the Le Mans race in June of 1969, Jacky Ickx and Jackie Olivier won Ford's fourth straight race at the famous event. The Ford won over the second place Porsche by only about 120 meters. This was the closest finish to ever occur during the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ford ended it's factory support of racing until 1982, after the somewhat unexpected win from their car that was pretty much outdated compared to their competitors. This was the end of the line of Ford's amazing run in the road racing field.
33 Years Later, the Chairmen and CEO of the Ford Motor Company, Bill Ford, introduced the Ford GT-40 Concept Car. The unveiling of the car was at the 2002 North American International Auto Show. Just about everyone loved the idea of sending this legendary American sports car into production. Just a few weeks later, the production started. Then, on November. 12, 2002, the Ford GT Prototype, Workhorse 1 exited the Allen Park facility where it was built. Chris Theodore, Vice President of North American product development, drove the vehicle out of it's "home". At the 2003 North American International Auto Show, Ford released another concept GT. This time, it was powered by a supercharged 500 horsepower V-8 and it no longer held the "40" in it's name. The vehicle was no longer 40.5" high; it now stood at 44.3". This was one reason why the car no longer held the
GT-40 name. The other was because of the loss of rights to the "GT-40" name. In the fall of 2004, the Ford GT will be released. Only 1,000 of these legendary vehicles are scheduled to be made. The car will be powered by a 550 horsepower supercharged 5.4L V-8 engine. THE LEGEND HAS BEEN REBORN!
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