Apr 12

Apr 12 Guide: Ford GT40 Mk1 Prototype / 64

Ford - Ford GT40 Mk1 Prototype - 1960s Sports Prototypes - 1960s GT Racers - 1960s British Cars - 1960s American Cars - Shelby

Background

Following the 1955 Le Mans disaster, the North American Automobile Manufacturers Association imposed a motor sport ban on US car builders.

The ban came into effect from 1957 and went so far as to preclude assisting anyone involved in racing: even publicising the speed-related features of a model was outlawed.

The ban ended in 1962 when Henry Ford II instigated his Total Performance programme.

Ford started to build saloon cars for circuit racing and rallies. There were also engine supply deals for the Lotus Indy 500 project and Carroll Shelby's Cobra.

As part of the venture, Henry Ford II came close to buying Ferrari, but when the deal acrimoniously fell through, he vowed to create his own challenger that would end Ferrari’s dominance at Le Mans.

Rather than begin from scratch, Ford shopped around for a suitable platform on which to base their new model.

Despite its failure to finish at the 1963 Le Mans 24 Hours, Eric Broadley’s mid-engined Lola Mk6 GT was chosen. Already powered by a Ford V8 engine, the handsome machine had shown great potential.

Immediately after the 1963 Le Mans race, Ford purchased the two existing Lola GTs and contracted Broadley to help design their new model.

Ford Advanced Vehicles (FAV) was established to handle the project. A new factory building was purchased in Slough, right next door to Lola.

The design team was headed by Roy Lunn while Broadley was initially retained on a two-year consultancy. John Wyer was recruited from Aston Martin to manage the operation.

The team in England co-operated with Ford’s experimental department in Dearborn.

The two Lola Mk6 GTs were used as mobile test beds until the end of 1963 when they were retired from active duty.

Chassis

The new Ford GT was based upon a steel semi monocoque fabricated by Abbey Panels in Coventry.

Up front were two square-tube stiffeners that ran from the scuttle to the nose. The back end featured a lightweight detachable subframe which supported the engine and suspension.

Double wishbones were installed at the front. At the rear, dual trailing links, a transverse top arm and inverted lower wishbone were used. Coil springs with adjustable Armstrong dampers were fitted all round along with anti-roll bars at either end.

The 11.5-inch ventilated disc brakes were supplied by Girling.

15-inch diameter wire wheels came from Borrani. These centre-lock rims measured 6.5-inches wide at the front, 8-inches wide at the back and were originally shod with Dunlop R6 Racing tyres.

Each sill panel housed a flexible bag-type fuel tank.

Engine / Gearbox

A dry-sumped 255 cubic-inch pushrod 90° V8 with a cast-iron block and heads was initially fitted.

Essentially a lightweight version of the Ford Fairline engine developed for 1963’s Lotus 29 Indy car, it displaced 4183cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 95.5mm and 72.9mm respectively.

At 12.5:1, the compression ratio was high for an endurance racing engine.

Four twin-choke downdraught Weber 48 IDA downdraught carburettors were fitted along with a spaghetti exhaust system.

In this configuration, peak output was 350bhp at 7200rpm and 299lb-ft at 5200rpm.

Transmission was via a Colotti Type 37 four-speed gearbox, a Borg & Beck triple-plate clutch and limited-slip differential.

Bodywork

The glassfibre bodywork was fabricated by Specialised Mouldings of Upper Norwood in south-east London. However, the aerodynamics took time to refine and the hinged single-piece front and rear body sections were subject to ongoing refinement.

The GT40 moniker was unofficially adopted to reflect the car’s height; it stood barely 40-inches tall.

At the front, the headlights were fixed in position underneath clear Plexiglas covers. Additional spot lights were mounted on the front apron inboard of the brake cooling ducts.

Two large intakes were carved out from each flank to assist engine cooling. Additional ducts were housed on the sail panels, either side of the Plexiglas fastback rear screen.

At the rear, two megaphone exhausts exited centrally from the inverted fascia. Meshed cooling vents were located either side along with a pair of stacked tail lights.

Overall, the slippery shape was pleasing to the eye, but remarkably devoid of downforce-inducing addenda.

Interior

To improve cockpit access, the top of each door cut deep into the roof.

Once across the wide sills, the driver was confronted by a simple horizontal dash that housed an array of instruments, switches and warning lights.

Each seat was trimmed in lightweight fabric perforated with circular outlets to help keep the occupants cool.

Another interesting driver aid was a small inflatable bag in the lumbar region of the rear squab which allowed the driver to inflate or deflate the seat to relieve muscle fatigue.

As the seats were fixed in position, it was the pedals that could be adjusted.

All GT40s were right-hand drive with a right-hand gear change (with the exception of four much later Mk3 road cars).

Weight / Performance

Weight was around the 865kg mark and top speed was 207mph.

Depending on gear ratios, a 0-62mph time of a little over four seconds was possible.

Launch

After an open day for journalists at FAV’s Slough factory in April 1964, the first GT40 (chassis 101) was flown out to the US where it was displayed at the New York Motor Show (April 4th to 12th).

1964 Season

As had been the case since 1962, the 1964 World Sportscar Championship was organised for Grand Touring cars of which 100 base cars had to be built to qualify.

Sports prototypes were eligible to contest the International Prototype Trophy (IPT).

The IPT was based on the outcome of the World Championship’s four Blue Riband events: the Sebring 12 Hours, the Targa Florio, the Nurburgring 1000km and the Le Mans 24 Hours.

Prototypes were permitted to run in certain other World Sportscar Championship events, but there were no points on offer at these races.

1964 Le Mans Test

One week after the New York show had ended, two GT40s were taken to France for the annual Le Mans Test which took place over the weekend of April 18th and 19th.

Chassis 101 was on hand for Jo Schlesser and 102 was allocated to Roy Salvadori.

Also present was the brawny new Maserati 151 and a trio of works Ferrari prototypes.

The test took place in predominantly wet conditions, but the Ferraris were on track early and all their drivers had the advantage of several fast laps on moderately dry roads.

In the Ford, Schlesser had already complained about high speed instability when, on his eighth lap, he lost control down the Mulsanne Straight at over 150mph.

Fortunately, the car neither overturned nor went into the trees and Schlesser emerged with just a minor cut to his face. Chassis 101 was a write off though. It only had 465 miles on the clock.

By contrast, Salvadori gave chassis 102 a relatively gentle run. The Fords ended up twelfth (Schlesser) and 19th (Salvadori) while Ferrari swept the top three positions and Maserati were fourth.

1964 Nurburgring 1000km

Six weeks later, chassis 102 was in Germany for the Nurburgring 1000km (round seven of the 1964 World Sportscar Championship and round three of the IPT). Ferrari had won the opening IPT race at Sebring. The Maranello outfit then skipped the Targa Florio which fell to Porsche.

For its debut race, the big Ford was allocated to Phil Hill and Bruce McLaren.

Practice was marred by the fatal accidents of Brian Hetreed (who crashed his Aston Martin DP214 at Keffelchen) and Rudolf Moser (whose Porsche 904 went out of control at Tiergarten).

With its modified front clip, the Ford started second on the grid, a fraction of a second slower than the pole-starting Ferrari 275 P of John Surtees and Lorenzo Bandini (one of three works Ferrari prototypes in the race).

The sister 275 P of Ludovico Scarfiotti / Nino Vaccarella lined up third while in fourth was the works two-litre Porsche 904/8 of Jo Bonnier / Richie Ginther.

Phil Hill did the opening stint and variously ran second, third and fourth.

Unfortunately, soon after he handed over to Bruce McLaren, the Ford was retired with suspension damage.

Victory went to the Scarfiotti / Vaccarella Ferrari 275 P. Mike Parkes and Jean Guichet came home second in a works second series 250 GTO. Ben Pon / Gerhard Koch rounded out the podium in Pon’s Porsche 904 GTS.

Early pacesetters, Surtees and Bandini, went out when their 275 P lost a wheel.

1964 Le Mans 24 Hours

Ford’s next appearance came at the Le Mans 24 Hours in front of a sell out crowd.

Three GT40s were entered for the race which took place over June 20th and 21st after a week-long build up.

The Nurburgring car (102) was once again allocated to Phil Hill and Bruce McLaren. Two new cars were also present: chassis 103 for Richie Ginther / Masten Gregory and chassis 104 for Richard Attwood / Jo Schlesser. 104 was the first GT40 built with a lighter 22-gauge steel chassis.

Pole position went to the works Ferrari 330 P of John Surtees / Lorenzo Bandini. The Ford of Ginther / Gregory qualified second. The NART Ferrari 330 P of Pedro Rodriguez / Skip Hudson was third and Hill / McLaren were fourth in another of the Fords.

Slowest of the GT40s were Attwood / Schlesser who started ninth.

The race began on Saturday at 4pm, but Phil Hill was immediately left behind when his GT40 proved reluctant to start.

Having initially dropped to fourth on lap two, Ginther then hurtled by the trio of front-running Ferraris to lead for the next 25 laps.

By contrast, Hill’s troubles continued. He was in on lap six for the ignition to be checked and returned next time round with the engine only firing on seven cylinders. Four minutes were lost to replace a carburettor air vent.

Hill was then in again on lap eight, this time for the plugs to be changed.

After yet another stop, he finally went off with the car sounding healthy once some foreign matter blocking an intake pipe had been removed.

When Ginther came in to refuel on lap 26, he had established a two-minute lead, but this was not enough to stop John Surtees taking over at the front.

Ford suffered its first retirement shortly after 8pm when the Attwood / Schlesser entry caught fire and its rear end almost completely burned out.

Less than an hour, later Ginther / Gregory had to abandon when their GT40’s gearbox failed.

This left the heavily delayed Phil Hill / Bruce McLaren entry as the sole Ford representative still in the race.

At around 10pm, there was a very bad accident when Peter Bolton’s AC Cobra left the road between Arnage and White House. The car was struck by Giancarlo Baghetti’s works Ferrari 275 P which then shot into a ditch.

After the two drivers were taken away shaken but unhurt, the officials were horrified to find that three people had been killed while spectating in a prohibited area.

After its troubled start, the sole remaining Ford of Hill / McLaren proved the fastest car overnight. It rapidly climbed up the leader board and, after seven hours of racing, had recovered to eighth position.

By midnight, it was up to sixth and at 5am, was chasing down the third place Cobra.

Unfortunately, chassis 102 was retired half an hour later with gearbox failure.

Ford’s only consolation was a new lap record.

Works Ferraris ultimately finished first, second and third. Victory went to the works 275 P of Jean Guichet / Nino Vaccarella. Graham Hill / Jo Bonnier and John Surtees / Lorenzo Bandini rounded out the podium in their 330 Ps.

1964 Reims 12 Hours

Two weeks later, a trio of GT40s were present for another French endurance race: the Reims 12 Hours (July 5th).

The Reims event was round ten of the 1964 World Sportscar Championship but did not count towards the IPT which had concluded after Le Mans.

Ford turned up with the two cars that suffered gearbox failure at Le Mans (102 and 103) plus a brand new example (105). Chassis 104 was still undergoing repair after its fire at la Sarthe.

The new car arrived at Reims with a 4.7-litre Shelby Cobra engine. Compared to the original units, this 289 cubic-inch motor was bored from 95.5mm to 101.8mm for an overall displacement of 4727cc (a gain of 544cc). New Weber 48 IDM carburettors were installed and the compression ratio was reduced to 10.8:1.

Output rose from 350bhp at 7200rpm to 390bhp at 6750rpm. There was a useful torque gain with 341lb-ft at 4000rpm compared to 299lb-ft at 5200rpm.

In an attempt to avoid a repetition of the problems at Le Mans, new third-to-fourth selectors were fitted to the Colotti gearboxes and the dog rings were carefully hardened.

Chassis 102 was allocated to Hill / McLaren, 103 to Ginther / Gregory and 105 to Attwood / Schlesser.

Qualifying saw the works Ferrari 250 LM of Surtees / Bandini take pole. The Fords of Ginther / Gregory and McLaren / Hill were second and third respectively. Graham Hill and Jo Bonnier were fourth in the Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari 250 LM, Dan Gurney / Bob Bondurant were fifth in their Shelby Daytona Cobra and Attwood / Schlesser lined up sixth in the new 289-engined GT40.

After the midnight start, Graham Hill’s Ferrari took an early lead from Ginther and McLaren, but by lap ten, Ford held first and second places.

Ginther’s lead lasted little more than an hour. On lap 34, he came to a stop at Thillois with a broken crown wheel and piston.

Soon afterwards, McLaren came in and handed over to Phil Hill, but the Ford lingered nearly 20 minutes in the pits while the clutch was adjusted. Hill re-joined a lowly 24th.

After three hours, Bonnier’s British Ferrari led from Surtees’ works example. They were followed by the 4.7-litre GT40 of Attwood / Schlesser in third.

At 4am, Attwood came in for an unscheduled stop. He went out again, only to retire soon afterwards – a plug had come out of the gearbox which suffered damage before it could be replaced.

Half an hour later, the engine of the Hill / McLaren car blew when lying seventh. Ford’s challenge was over before half distance.

Jo Bonnier / Graham Hill won the race in their Maranello Concessionaires 250 LM as Ferrari swept the top four positions. Surtees / Bandini were second in another 250 LM, Parkes / Scarfiotti won the GT class in their works Series 2 GTO and David Piper / Tony Maggs claimed fourth in Piper’s Series 1 GTO.