The GT40 left everything standing in the 1960s. Now it's coming back - asthe GT. Brian Byrne gets misty-eyed
When Ford announced it was going to revive the famous name of the GT40 Le Mans racing car, aficionados were delighted. So too was a small American company, Safir GT40 Spares of Cincinnati which registered the GT40 name in 1999.
It demanded $40 million for the rights to the name. Ford declined, and decided that it will now simply call the car the Ford GT. Some 1,000 GTs will be built annually, starting in 2004, at a price something less than €150,000.
The original GT40 was produced following a decision by Henry Ford II to develop a racing car to compete in the key endurance races of the time, at Daytona in the US and Le Mans in France. It took just two years for the car to win at the Daytona 2,000 km race in 1965. A year later came an amazing 1-2-3 at Le Mans. And it dominated Le Mans for the following three years before the Gulf-Ford team took the car out of endurance competition after the 1969 victory of Jackie Ickx and Jackie Oliver.
It wasn't quite the end for the GT40 at Le Mans, though, because in both 1975 and 1980 privately-owned cars, powered by the 3-litre DFV engines developed by Ford for Formula 1, won the classic 24-hour race.
There was something intrinsically seductive about the GT40. Perhaps it had something to do with it being a Ford: the name is synonymous with everyday cars, so anyone driving an ordinary Ford could relate to this magnificent machine. Also, instead of developing a specialised racing engine from scratch, Ford in those days used mildly improved versions of its ordinary road-car power units for its racing activities. Ford Galaxie passenger cars were whacking the competition on US racing circuits.
The early GT40s used engines from the Galaxie road car, and from the then-new Mustang sporty convertible. Even then, at between 4-5 litres, they had relatively awesome power outputs. The 4.2-litre, for instance, produced 350bhp and a 200mph speed along the Mulsanne Straight.
Oddly enough, the 0-60mph performance was only around 8-9secs, one that today is easily managed by any Mondeo. But the key thing for endurance racing was maintaining high speeds for more than 3,000 miles, the distance typically travelled at Le Mans. American large-capacity and relatively understressed V8s were perfect for this.
The 7-litre V8s that powered the GT40's first Le Mans win in 1966 produced 485bhp. Apart from the fact that they were by then also fitted into high-end Galaxie road cars, they were also outgunning most of the Pontiac GTOs and other competitors in NASCAR racing in the US. The engine had been used by a GT40 the previous year at Le Mans and had led the field for much of the time.
In the 1966 event, the three Ford cars remaining out of an original eight GT40s were 175 miles ahead of their nearest competitors at the finish. The lead driver, Ken Miles, was ordered by Ford to slow and let the other two team cars, one driven by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, catch up for the formation finish. He did so, and McLaren drove on past him to take the actual win. History doesn't record Miles's words.
There's an apocryphal story about the 1967 race: drivers Dan Gurney and A J Foyt weren't keen on staying up all night and decided between themselves to drive the car so hard that it would bust up. It didn't, though, and they ended up breaking all records.
After that, the racing authorities introduced engine size restrictions, and the 1968 race was won by Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi in a 5-litre car that had a power output of 425bhp and a top speed capability of 210mph. That same year, because GT40s won so many other endurance races, Ford won the World Sports Car Championships.
The final Le Mans 1969 win by the Ickx/Oliver driving team was in the same car that had won the previous year. It had already won five World Sports Car Championship races before coming back to Le Mans.
And that was it for Ford's official involvement in Le Mans. It remains to be seen if the new car will live up to its legendary origins. Though Ford hasn't officially said anything about racing the car, it would be a pity if it became just another retro commemorative of the supercar 60s.
Wouldn't you feel for Safir GT40 Spares Ltd? For just a little while it thought it had hit the mother lode.