Le Mans ’66

In April 1964, a new Gran Turismo racer 40-inches high rolled out of the Ford Advanced Vehicles factory in Slough, England, and in an inspired moment, Ford decided to call it the GT40.

This whole project had been brought about by Ford’s failure to buy Ferrari in 1963, so it was decided that if the world-famous family car manufacturer was to succeed in sports car racing, it would have to build its own “Ferrari beater.” To help them achieve this, Ford enlisted Eric Broadley, an engineer and the founder of Lola cars, who had already built and raced his own Ford-engined GT car, which would be the basis for the first GT40. Ford Advanced Vehicles was set up in 1963 with Eric in charge of design and John Wyer, formerly of Aston Martin, running the whole team. In 1964 the GT40s entered for only two events, the Nürburgring 1000km and Le Mans; in both races the cars failed to finish. So Enzo and his team were not too worried, but the signs of future success were there: the GT40s were fast if not yet reliable.