Where history was made.
After Ford tried to purchase Ferrari in 1963 to the denial of Enzo Ferrari, a huge rivalry began that bled onto the streets of Le Mans. Henry Ford II put Carroll Shelby in charge of the Ford GT40 projects with the aim of conquering the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Only it wasn’t that easy. After none of the Ford GT40 entries finished the 1964 and 1965 races, the team went back to the drawing board with a vengeance. They applied new technologies and innovations to their Ford GT40 racing program with the goal of going back and taking that checkered flag.
“Next year, Ferrari’s ass is mine,” proclaimed Shelby.
And their ass was Fords for the next four years at Le Mans. The Ford GT40s swept the podium in 1966, and then took home first place in 1967, ’68, and ’69. The Ford GT quickly became a legend for toppling the mighty Ferrari motorsports empire that was seemingly unbeatable at the time.
Ford took their failures and used it to fuel their motivation to innovate and overcome.
Source: InsideSales.com YouTube
Was Ford’s triumph at Le Mans in the late 1960s one of the most important in motorsports history?
