Initially powered by small-block Ford V-8 engines of 4.2 liters, and then 4.7 liters, the GT40 first raced at the Nürburgring in May of 1964. When the first modern Ford GT was developed in the early 2000s, it was to be called GT40, but guess what? Someone else had acquired the copyright and wanted big bucks for Ford to use it. Incidentally, Ford never registered the GT40 name. Officially the car was labeled Ford GT, the GT40 being more of a nickname. The name? Naturally, GT is for Grand Turismo, while the 40 refers to the car’s height in inches. David Hobbs and Richard Attwood raced one at Le Mans in 1963, while we saw one in the US, raced by John Mecom’s team.įord bought a pair of the GTs and hired Broadley, John Wyer and Roy Lunn to create a Ford version, the GT40. Eric Broadley created a mid-engine, Ford-powered sports car called the Lola GT. That idea led Ford to Eric Broadley, a British entrepreneur, engineer and Founder and Chief Designer of Lola Cars - the motor racing manufacturer and engineering company.

After a failed attempt to buy Ferrari, the Detroit automaker looked for a way into the sport. Then Henry Ford II -“The Deuce”- decided that Ford should win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The likes of Carroll Shelby and Phil Hill had wins in Europe (including wins at Le Mans in 19, 19 respectively) but Americans only found out about them several months later in Road & Track. Briggs Cunningham had made his valiant attempts at Le Mans in the early ‘50s (many of his cars are now on part of Miles Collier Collections, on display at the Revs Institute). If you were a US fan of auto racing at the dawn of the 1960s, you didn’t have much to brag about.

Ford gt40 dan gurney