Great Cars Ford GT40

Transcription

1 Great Cars Ford GT40 Porter Press International

2 Great Cars Ray Hutton All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher Ford GT40 The autobiography of 1075 First published in December (de Luxe edition) Published by Porter Press International Ltd Hilltop Farm, Knighton-on-Theme, Tenbury Wells, WR15 8LY, UK Tel: +44 (0) Fax: +44 (0) sales@porterpress.co.uk Printed by Gomer Press Ltd Copyright We have made every effort to trace and acknowledge copyright holders and we apologise in advance for any unintentional omission. We would be pleased to insert the appropriate acknowledgement in any subsequent edition. Ray Hutton Edited by Mark Hughes Designed by Andrew Garman Porter Press International

3 Also published by Porter Press International The Jaguar Portfolio Ultimate E-type The Competition Cars Jaguar E-type The Definitive History (2nd edition) Original Jaguar XK (3rd edition) Jaguar Design A Story of Style Saving Jaguar Original Scrapbooks Stirling Moss Scrapbook Stirling Moss Scrapbook 1955 Stirling Moss Scrapbook Stirling Moss Scrapbook 1961 Graham Hill Scrapbook Murray Walker Scrapbook Martin Brundle Scrapbook Great Cars Series No. 1 Jaguar Lightweight E-type, The autobiography of 4 WPD No. 2 - Porsche 917, The autobiography of No. 3 Jaguar D-type, The autobiography of XKD 504 No. 4 Ferrari 250 GT SWB, The autobiography of 2119 GT No. 5 Maserati 250F, The autobiography of 2528 No. 6 ERA, The autobiography of R4D No. 7 Ferrari 250 GTO, The autobiography of 4153 GT No. 8 Jaguar Lightweight E-type the autobiography of 49 FXN No. 9 Jaguar C-type the autobiography of XKC 051 No. 10 Lotus 18 the autobiography of Stirling Moss s 912 De Luxe leather-bound, signed, limited editions with slipcases are available for most titles. Books available from retailers or signed copies direct from the publisher. To order simply phone +44 (0) , fax +44 (0) , visit the website or sales@porterpress.co.uk Keep up-to-date with news about current books and new releases at: Contents Introduction 6 Objective Le Mans 8 1 If you can t buy them, beat them 10 2 Glory in 24 hours 22 3 The Mark I returns 36 The 1968 season 46 4 Porsche sets the pace 48 5 High hopes crash-land 56 6 Mission accomplished 64 7 Team-mates take victory 78 8 Hard work at the Ring 86 9 A masterclass from Ickx Sweet 1 2, sour finish Driven to precision Track test 150 The 1969 season Unexpected results Right win at right time The greatest race 182 The drivers Jacky Ickx Brian Redman Jackie Oliver Pedro Rodríguez Lucien Bianchi Paul Hawkins David Hobbs Mike Hailwood 272 The JW Gulf team Simply the best 280 Later Life Retirement years Anatomy of Author s afterword 316 Index 318

4 Introduction The record shows that, on 23 January 1968, a new Ford GT40 was delivered to the Gulf Oil Corporation. Actually, it did not go anywhere: GT40P/1075 was one of the last to be built by JW Automotive Engineering and it stayed at its birthplace in Slough, England, to be the lead car in JW s own Gulfsponsored racing team. Although the GT40 was a five-year-old design, John Wyer, JW team principal and the most experienced team manager in endurance racing, was confident of achieving some success in the first year of new regulations for sports-racing cars. But he surely could not have expected 1075 to make racing history. This car raced 11 times in two seasons and scored six outright victories. Two of those wins were in the Le Mans 24 Hours, the race for which the GT40 was designed, after Ford had been rebuffed in its attempt to buy Ferrari. Ford suffered two years of failure before it won at Le Mans in 1966 and It spent millions of dollars on highly developed derivatives of the GT40, but Wyer always believed that the production model could do the job. He was proved right by 1075, in the hands of Pedro Rodríguez and Lucien Bianchi in 1968, and Jacky Ickx and Jackie Oliver in That second Le Mans success, 1075 s last race, came after the closest-ever finish there, with Ickx just yards ahead of the Porsche of Hans Herrmann after an enthralling three-hour duel. So 1075 is a great car with a great story to tell. Jacky Ickx, who drove it to four of its five wins, is modest enough to say that, in the 1960s, winning the Le Mans 24 Hours was 90 per cent down to the car and only 10 per cent to the driver. Le Mans is different today more like a continuous series of very fast sprint races and requires three drivers per car, but 1075 raced at a time of two-driver partnerships when cars were less sophisticated and had to be paced to last the distance, and the circuits were much more dangerous. It was strong, reliable, and always impeccably prepared. As well as Le Mans, the car s exploits, from Daytona, Sebring and Watkins Glen in the United States to the European tracks at Brands Hatch, Monza, Spa and the Nürburgring, are recounted here in detail, and the eight top-line drivers who raced in 1075 share their thoughts about the car, the JW Gulf team, and those two turbulent seasons of motor racing. Today, 1075 is cherished by its owner, who maintains it in the exact specification that won at Le Mans in 1969 the finest 24 hours for what is regarded by many as the most important endurance race car in history.

5 Part 1 Objective Le Mans

6 Chapter 1 If you can t buy them, beat them How Ford built a car to challenge Ferrari in long-distance racing It is intriguing to consider what might have happened or not happened if Ford had been successful in its bid for Ferrari in Obviously, there would have been no Ford GT40 and it is doubtful that the Shelby AC Cobras would have represented such strong competition in GT racing. The starting grid at the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hours would have looked pretty thin and the World Sports Car Championship would have stayed in the doldrums instead of representing the second pillar in top-class international racing alongside Formula 1. Furthermore, the direct link between racing sports cars and the fastest and most powerful road models (what we now know as supercars) might not have been established. Fifty years on, we can see that the mid-engine GT40 set the format for the cars that excite enthusiasts, of all ages, the world over. The plan for Ford to take over Ferrari, assuming control of the road car business but leaving Enzo Ferrari to run the racing division, came very close to fruition. At least Ford thought so, having had its auditors and lawyers working at Maranello for weeks and making ready for an announcement on 23 May Then, at the eleventh hour, Enzo Ferrari, apparently frustrated by the number of Ford people delving into every part of his business, changed his mind. Ostensibly, this was because he was unwilling to give Ford the power of veto on racing programmes. But since he was looking for financial stability and a way out of running what he regarded as a tiresome road car business, we can only surmise that what he really wanted was an Italian solution like the deal with Fiat that finally was made six years later. The man who had driven Ford s interest in Ferrari was Lee Iacocca, the showman general manager of Ford Division. Iacocca had already started the Total Performance programme in the US as a way of giving the blue-collar Ford brand a more youthful and dynamic appeal and he saw Ferrari as part of that, as well as lending prestige and an exotic Italian flavour to Ford s more expensive production models. In any case, Iacocca and his boss, Henry Ford II, were both predisposed to the finer things of European life. Later, Henry Ford made a personal decision to buy into Aston Martin, and Iacocca, in charge of Chrysler after Ford had fired him, formed an association with Maserati and bought Lamborghini. But in May 1963, rebuffed by Ferrari, they vowed to beat the Italians at their own game. Henry Ford, when told that Enzo Ferrari had shut the door, is reputed to have said, OK, then we ll kick his ass. Iacocca immediately set in motion a sports car racing programme bigger and more costly than any before. Ford had an engineering team to match the world s best and would spend whatever was required. How hard could it be? Well, much harder than they imagined but that is getting too far ahead. In the summer of 1963, Ford instructed Roy Lunn, an English engineer who ran the company s advanced concepts department, to set up a racing operation Previous spread The Ford GT was designed primarily to win the Le Mans 24 Hours but it took three attempts and millions of dollars to achieve its goal. In 1966, Le Mans was won by the Mark II driven by Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon, here hitching a ride to the podium. It was the first of four consecutive Ford victories at Le Mans. LAT Images The Ford GT s first race a single entry in the Nürburgring 1,000Km brought retirement but only after it had run in second place and mixed with the then-dominant Ferraris. The drivers were Phil Hill and Bruce McLaren, seen here on the right, helmet in hand. Ford 10 Great Cars