Ford Wins 24 Hours of Le Mans Against Ferrari | Ford Performance History | Ford Performance

Henry Ford II wanted to beat Ferrari in the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, so he made it a priority to show the world what his American company could achieve on a global stage. Ford not only won the 24 Hours of Le Man in 1966, but '67, '68 and '69 as well. This video looks back at that era with Edsel B. Ford II, Dan Gurney and Mose Nowland.
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Ford Wins 24 Hours of Le Mans Against Ferrari | Ford Performance History | Ford Performance
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[@tomturrise773]

While I didn't get to LeMans, I did get to Nurburgring in 1967 while in the US Army. I have photos of the GT's, Mustangs, and Cobras running there. It was an unbelievable experience that I will never forget.

[@floridamankyle5461]

I am fortunate enough to see the modern Ford GTs win at Daytona twice, (1st and 3rd in 2017, and a 1-2 finish in 2018), watching history and those GTs are Stunning to behold, and those V6 twin turbo engines proved themselves to be wonderful, I only hope that Ford will race again soon, I dont want to wait another 50 years.

[@jmvelezpr]

I saw Mr. Gurney at Amelia in 2013 and he was signing anything you gave him. Very simple nice person for such a great driver

[@jimscjcobra]

Ford won 1,2,3 in "66" and they won again in"67,68,and69" They just wanted to prove they could do it and they did. Henry Ford II was trying to buy Ferrari and there was a big fall out between him and Enzo Ferrari. Ferrari decided not to sell so Henry decided to beat him at LeMans, and he did. Ferrari hasn't been taking the "every day Joe" back and forth to work for the past 100+ years so..no.. they're not equal. Ford did a good job off proving his point. Ferrari is cool but I'll take the Ford GT

[@JC-gw3yo]

It is great to be riding with Ford Then and Now...

[@B0SS330]

AlfaEricWashDC we came, we raced and we beat the finest racing marque in the world.... from practically nothing in '62 to smashing Ferrari's year after year in '66 is enough of an embarrassment for them that we feel we had proved our point. Ferrari's are nice cars, lot's of racing passion no doubt but Ford was there to show Enzo they meant business in everything they did !

[@IAMCANADIAN1998]

Murat Harman On a budget many, many times that of Ferrari, with the combined efforts of workers in several plants worldwide. The Ford was a great car, but the GT40 was the Goliath to Ferrari's David. Ferrari's first engine, designed by Gioacchino Colombo, was built in a small workshop in Modena and immediately started beating established automotive giants in international races. In the 1960s,of course, the big corporate dollars of Ford and VW-Porsche ushered in the era of extremely expensive purpose-built prototypes with no relationship to road cars, which forced Ferrari to sell to FIAT and shortly after focus solely on F1.

[@B0SS330]

IAMCANADIAN1998 just remember Ford never intended to compete against Ferrari but it was ultimately Enzo's attitude that got the better of him.

[@IAMCANADIAN1998]

Murat Harman Nobody can deny that Ferrari was a difficult man, I agree with you on that. His stubbornness led to the infamous defection of many talented employees in 1961.

[@DDS029]

"Extremely expensive purpose - built prototypes" First, that's an oxymoron. Prototypes are by definition purpose-built. Enzo Ferrari must have had plenty to work with. After all, he turned down Ford's offer to buy Ferrari. And Ferrari had tons more sports car, endurance racing experience, than Ford. It was run what you brung, and hope you brought enough.

[@pillockbrain]

Ford built the engines- but where were the chassis and the rest of the GT-40 designed and built????? England!! Look it up!! I was a 23 year old and I was at Le Mans in 1966... Great days!

[@Classof67]

Not the Mk IV. It was built by Kar Kraft in Dearborn. And, really, the Mk II was more Shelby than made in England.

[@uriahbleue1947]

2016 Ford GT, America!!!!

[@asriel_4955]

So you are 49 years old, wow.

[@bLiNdThInG1]

Exactly - the MKI, II and III were all essentially Eric Broadley designs from Lola...

[@jubu3136]

Didnt bruce mclaren play a roll in getting everything to actually work?

[@stevefowler1787]

Fyi...the '66 and '67 cars used 427 side oiler engines, while the '68 and '69 used the new 302 engine block design (bored out to 306), but it was a special racing block with stout 4 bolt main bearings and other block strengthening casting techniques, the heads were Gurney-Weslake heads....they made approximately 435 hp.

[@jeremywinslow7345]

+steve Fowler the MK 1 used the 298 out of the mustang actually not a 302.

[@stevefowler1787]

Jeremy Winslow The race winning cars in 68 and 69 all had the new 302 (as i stated above bored to a 306...5 liter...and 4 bolt mains) there were certainly 289's run in 64 and 65 and perhaps in later races but none made a podium. Fyi, I'm an old Ford guy and have a '65 fastback Mustang Hipo 289 sitting in my garage....the 68 and 69 cars had 302's.

[@jeremywinslow7345]

My 66 k code is getting restored now. Moody of Holman and Moody (the guys who made the motors) just gave my restorer ALL the internals for one of the 289 from 65. He said he doesn't do small blocks anymore and wanted parts off the shelf. My 289 just dynoed at Doug Yates race shop at 400 hp and just north of 600 pounds of torque. Basically it's a k code block with the internals of a gt40 mk1

[@stevefowler1787]

Jeremy Winslow Way cool...mine had the k code/Hipo engine and I put it back to OEM (except with the Shelby GT 350 specs; tri y's shelby intake and holley carb)...mine pulled 302 HP after I had it rebuilt, so pretty much right on the GT 350 306 HP advertised number. I have a Ford Lemans cam that I am considering using if I get a 2nd motor with better heads (I'm not messing with my stock heads, nor do i want to make 400+ HP with my very expensive OEM Hipo motor)...if you have the GT40 spec engine (which you can't unless you get a 4 bolt main 289, which is what the 289's also had) you would require the Lemans cam...there are more advanced cams today of course but I have heard a 289 Hipo that had one (his was running 351W heads with porting work) and 11.5:1 compression...and I've never heard a sweeter sound in my life...400 hp yates dyno...wow that is pretty close to the Lemans racing engines, I have heard people say they were about 435 HP...those were running the Gurney weslake heads...of which I almost bought a set a couple years ago...but the $6K bare starting price scared me off. I have some pics of my pony car if you are interested...if you want to share emails I'd be cool with that...I'd love to see yours too.

[@jeremywinslow7345]

+steve Fowler i know it was given 3 cams for the guy to "play with" to get the desired effect so i have LeMans cams for it. I also know the valves are titanium the crank is forged brazillian steel only 15 were made and that alone cost 8350 in 1965. The intake and headers are porcelain. I was told in todays money that engine is now worth over 90k. Awesome thing is the parts were simply given to the car because Moody does not build 289s anymore he only build the 427s. I am not allowed to see it at this point until its complete. the car is completely disassembled right now as its in the middle of the restore. The motor is about the only part done.

[@rodnielson6248]

I'm a ford guy they were the best

[@K2edg]

1965 was the most interesting year......... Ford completely ballsed it up, Ferrari works cars didn't finish either but Ferrari did end up winning with an American privateer team using Ferrari's.

[@gregorysepeda3006]

Ken miles won the race. PERIOD

[@gurpinder71able]

Ford best in the world

[@mortenjohansen5174]

Just waiting for the movie

[@B0SS330]

yes, definitely... someone should make a movie about this historic event in the 60's !

[@joeneufeldt4738]

It's almost here, THIS SUMMER!

[@joeneufeldt4738]

@Flame Resistant Troll Ford vs Ferrari, however the release date has been moved to sometime this fall.

[@jamesmiller3663]

Respect for all,,, but Enzo, should have just said no,,, at least, alot earlier,,,It's a--- I THINK🇮🇹 WE 🇮🇹AWOKE THE SLEEPING GIANT🇺🇸

[@iconicon5642]

Made in Slough

[@GoGoggansGo]

@makattak88 mid 60s ford won 1966-1969 with the Gt40

[@zacharyWT1708]

114 yrs later...

[@carlwilliamson6953]

So while Henry Ford II was supposedly building Nazi cars for Hitler, what was Enzo Ferrari building for Mussolini?

[@TheDumpbin]

Nothing. His company did not exist at that time. Not until 1946-1947

[@gturner38]

Prior to the war, Ferrari was building race cars for Alfa Romeo and during the war, that factory was used by the Fascists. The difference between Ferrari and Ford in that regard is that Ferrari had relatively little choice as an Italian living in a police state. Henry Ford could have easily refused to trade with Hitler, but continued to supply the Nazis right up until the US entered the war and did so while Germans were reading the antisemitic works Mr Ford published.

[@sc-sp4cm]

what cars did Ford build for the Nazi's, i'd like you to show me some examples,

[@rockandroll4689]

@@gturner38 GM suppled Hitler also - don't leave THAT out. It wasn't just Ford

[@gurpinder71able]

Ford blue DNA

[@GRwamukunyu]

wwwwhhhaatttt these cars were going 200+MPH back then 0_0

[@zzzhuh]

+Gilbert Rwamukunyu With no tracton control, I doubt ABS was even around.

[@zzzhuh]

***** Most of them didn't was my point...

[@DDS029]

Well the Mulsanne Straight was almost four miles long, and no chicanes back then.

[@radicalsquare]

I have far more respect for Ferrari. They were the little guy vs. the Ford conglomerate. Ford was determined to beat Ferrari after Ford's takeover bid was rejected years back. Ferrari sold half his stock to Fiat to finance his racing, while Ford was able to give his designers a blank check. Ford used 7 liter engines vs Ferrari's 3.3 liter with new development on a 4-liter. In '68, after Ferrari invested in 4-liter engine development, the rules were changed to only allow 3 liter max for prototypes, however Ford was able to run at 4.9 liters due to their deep pockets, as they were able to meet the 50-car production minimum to have an exemption as a "GT" and not a prototype, something no other racing manufacturer had the funding to do.

[@robertevans9578]

I have no issue with your comments at all, I'm with you. But I am wondering how the weight difference between the cars might be factored in this time period. I believe the Ferraris were a couple hundred kgs/400+ lbs lighter than the Fords. How much would this have cut into Fords power/displacement advantage?

[@RussDiazCars]

The '69 car was running a 289.

[@davidgonzalez4665]

Rex Racer by '69 the GT40 had been relegated back to the 302, basically the same 289 just punched out a little bit to 5 Liters. The 289 was raced along side the 427 but back in '65.

[@davidgonzalez4665]

***** Right indeed! It was already outdated by '68 and damn near obsolete in '69 but by that time it was super reliable. The 917 was fast but suffered from gearbox issues, much like early GT40's did. It came down to a brake pad swap that cost the older Porsche 908 victory in the final laps, with the GT40 being able to brake deeper into the final corners.

[@dravendfr]

+Draven Flores *Ford added TYFAIM

[@kellienicolebrooksschettin6598]

Don't look at the trees

[@Madmonkeyitch]

Yes and yes. Ford was a fan of genetic purification.

[@VKONTOP09]

Ford v Ferrari

[@marcelpacheco7878]

Bunch of Ford kiss-ups. Half way through and no mention of Shelby. Friging suck ups!

[@davea.218]

Shelby wasn't originally involved. The Ford GT40 was principally designed and developed by Eric Broadley of Lola Cars in England.

[@DDS029]

Shelby ran his own cars. They were Ford powered, but not Ford Factory effort. And this was about the first win mostly, because of the 50th anniversary.

[@eritaloperuvianodcb1400]

ferrari is for ever better

[@makattak88]

when did this happen? lol

[@ElNizzz]

KZbin's Random algorithm e to today 2023/june/12, one day after Ferrari won again... Hello Ford! says Ferrari

[@pex3]

bit late

[@pacerodi]

There we go again...! It has been 50, or, 60 years ago! Wake up!

[@AlfaEricWashDC]

Ford did whin during that time, but it was just a couple of races. They lost drivers, cars had to be tested, and readjusted time and time again. They Also LOST like 4 times before they won three times. Winning Lemans a couple of times while ferrari since their inception and continues to win in Motorsport does not make your brand equal. You won, but we were to never see you race again in such competition.

[@fillingseamse931]

Mmmu