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Although the goal in 1965 was only to win Le Mans, multiple GT40 projects were greenlit in Ford's desperation to just get it done, at literally any cost.
Initially, a Mk. 2 frame was built using lightweight materials by Abbey Panels in England, then sent to Bruce McLaren's shop for the rest of the work. This car ended up becoming the X-1, and although it weighed just 1,900 lbs (a whole 1,000 lbs lighter than a normal GT40), the car failed to finish any race in 1965. While this was going on, a second prototype, called the J-car, was built by Kar Kraft. It was not as light as the X-1, but featured a longer aerodynamic body, which resulted in the fastest lap time at Le Mans testing in May of 1966. A fleet of Mk. 2's finished 1-2-3 at Le Mans a few weeks later, becoming the most iconic version of the GT40, but the J-car was promising, so Ford moved forward with that.
A month after Le Mans Ken Miles was killed testing the J-2, the cause of which was never known. By January of 1967, Ferrari had improved the 330 P3 with their new P4, winning the Daytona 24 Hours, while every GT 40 suffered a mechanical failure of some sort. This was apparently the point at which Ford decided to stop spending money on the project. They had already won Le Mans, and had nothing left to prove, so the J-Car project became their swan song. Given to Holman & Moody and Shelby American, four J-4's debuted at Sebring, now called GT40 Mk. 4's. The Andretti and McLaren driven Mk. 4 won, which kept Ford's interest (and money) around enough to give Le Mans another shot. Dan Gurney and AJ Foyt crushed the competition, taking the lead after the second hour and never relinquishing, setting new records for fastest top speed, fastest lap, and most laps completed. This was also the only time an American built car was driven to victory by two American drivers. After two victories in two races, the Mk. 4 was retired and the entire project was shut down. With a rule change banning prototype engines over 3 liters in 1968, the remaining Mk. 1's (classified as Sportscars) were used by privateers to win Le Mans in 1968 and 69.
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