He retrieved it on the following lap, but now Gurney/Foyt had no support at all, and were called in to have their cover taped up as a precaution. The Chaparral’s challenge finally ended on Sunday morning with transmission woes, but Ford’s concerns were raised again with a quarter of the race still to run when McLaren had his engine cover/tail fly off. We were so much faster on the straight, it was a hairy race.” I missed them all, but I didn’t think I was going to. One time I ran up to a bunch and I thought I was going to scatter them all over.

Mario Andretti and Bruce McLaren had dominated the Sebring 12 Hours in April, the only other race the MkIV had entered. The MkIV was the ultimate expression of the ‘GT40’ theme, was lighter than the MkIIBs and capable of over 210mph on the pre-chicane Mulsanne Straight, even with detuned seven-litre V8s that produced around 500bhp. Having ended Ferrari’s run of six consecutive Le Mans successes in 1966, Ford entered four works MkIVs and three MkIIBs – essentially improved versions of the cars that had finished 1-2-3 in 1966 – the following year, spread across Carroll Shelby’s team and Holman Moody, Ford’s NASCAR arm.

Ford v Ferrari: Why there needs to be a Le Mans 1966 sequelīut Ford’s approach to Le Mans was on an entirely different scale.

It was stiffer and lighter than its predecessor and also appeared more reliable, having humbled Ford by leading a Ferrari 1-2-3 at the Daytona 24 Hours in February. Ferrari had responded to its humiliation at the hands of Ford at the French Classic in 1966 with one of its greatest sportscars: the 330 P4.

Ford gt40 dan gurney