Ford GT40

This is a photograph of a Ford GT40 in Gulf Oil Racing colours taken at the Silverstone Historic Festival meeting in August 2001. The Ford GT40 MkI won the Le Mans 24 Hour race in 1968 and 1969 entered by the John Wyer Automotive Engineering Team. The MkII version entered by Shelby-American Inc had won the 1966 race and the Mk IV version entered by the same team won the 1967 race.

Henry Ford II, in an effort to win the Le Mans race for Ford, had attempted in 1963 to buy the Ferrari racing team and after being rebuffed by Enzo Ferrari was determined to develop a Ford car to take on and beat Ferrari. The manufacturer Ford eventually chose to develop what became the GT40 was the British Lola firm who were already using a Ford V8 engine in their mid-engined Lola Mk6, and it was from this car that the GT40 was created. The original Lola Mk6 also appeared at this Silverstone meeting and here are two photographs of the car which I took that day.