Ford GT40 Mk.II 1966
Fujimi Ford GT40 Mk.II

The 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 34th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 18 and 19 June 1966. It was also the seventh round of the 1966 World Sportscar Championship season. This was the first win at LeMans for the Ford GT40 and the first win for an American car company.



The Ford GT40 was an American high-performance endurance racing car. The Mk I, Mk II, and Mk III variants were designed and built in the UK based upon the Lola Mk6 during the early 1960s. The Mk IV model was designed and built in the United States. The range was powered by a series of American-built Ford V8 engines modified for racing. Initially the GT40 wasn't a racing success until the project was moved to the US where further development vastly improved the car's performance and reliability.

Henry Ford II along with New Zealanders Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon celebrates the first victory for an American manufacturer at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the podium in 1966.
The GT40 effort was launched by Ford Motor Company to win long-distance sports car races against Ferrari, which won every 24 Hours of Le Mans race from 1960 to 1965. The GT40 broke Ferrari's streak in 1966 and went on to win the next three annual races. The Mk II's victory was the first win for an American manufacturer in a major European race since Jimmy Murphy's triumph with Duesenberg at the 1921 French Grand Prix. In 1967, the Mk IV became the only car designed and built entirely in the United States to achieve the overall win at Le Mans.

The Mk 1, the oldest of the cars, won in 1968 and 1969, the second chassis to win Le Mans more than once. (This Ford/Shelby chassis #P-1075 was believed to have been the first until the Ferrari 275P chassis 0816 was revealed to have won the 1964 race after winning the 1963 race in 250P configuration and with a 0814 chassis plate[8]). Using an American Ford V8 engine, originally of 4.7-liter displacement capacity (289 cubic inches), it was later enlarged to the 4.9-liter engine (302 cubic inches), with custom alloy Gurney–Weslake cylinder heads.

Early cars were simply named "Ford GT" (for Grand Touring), the name of Ford's project to prepare the cars for the international endurance racing circuit. The "40" represented its height of 40 inches (1.02 m), measured at the windshield, the minimum allowed. The first 12 "prototype" vehicles carried serial numbers GT-101 to GT-112. The "production" began and the subsequent cars: the MkI, MkII, MkIII, and MkIV were numbered GT40P/1000 through GT40P/1145, and thus officially "GT40s". The Mk IVs were numbered J1-J12.


From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_GT40