Greatest Racecar? Alan Mann’s Ford Mustang

The greatest racecar has to be the Ford Mustang, no question. I helped homologate it in the first place, and got one to England before it was announced. In 1964, we won the Touring Class in the Tour de France and over 40 years later we’re still running one. I took the Mustang to Brands Hatch for the Boxing Day meeting and won that, but now they’re a bit quicker. We’ve got more horsepower—around 425 bhp against 320 in period. The Mustang’s reliable, good looking, with a low center of gravity and nice to drive, a great car. What more do you want?

At Alan Mann Racing, it was an honor to have the prototype in England even before the car was announced; that’s how close we were to the Ford Motor Company. Lee Iacocca told me that, if the press got a picture, he would personally kill me! We tested at Goodwood, so to be racing it there 43 years later and take pole position is a bit special. Back then, we built three cars for the Tour de France where we finished 1st and 2nd in the Touring Class, 8th and 9th overall. Hardest event you’ll ever do. It was 10 days with racing every day and a hill climb every other night. So you only got to sleep every other night, which was pretty hard going. The secret was preparation: If the cars are well prepared you can maintain them, and it’s easy. If snags build up, you can’t keep up with them.