FORD VS. FERRARI WARS

The Rest of the Story

If it weren’t for their participation in racing, Ford and Ferrari probably wouldn’t exist.

October 10, 1901, was the day that Henry Ford, driving his racer ”Sweepstakes,” proved themselves by beating what was then considered the best driver and a superior car in a ten-lap shoot-out. This win established Ford’s reputation as an engineer and secured the financial future of the Ford Motor Company. It was Henry’s first and only stint as a race driver and in his words, “Once is enough.”

Fast forward to 1962 Ford launched the “Total Performance” program, designed to showcase its engineering and reliability, winning races on Sunday and selling cars on Monday. What better way to do that than winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Henry Ford II, a.k.a. “The Deuce,” thought he could jump-start the program by buying the best racing company in the world, Ferrari.

Ferrari’s racing legacy started in 1919 with Enzo Ferrari’s experiences as a race driver in 1919, team manager in 1929, and manufacturer in 1947. Without question, racing was Ferrari’s lifelong passion. In 1948 he began producing and selling road cars to support his racing. By 1955 the production numbers grew to 306 vehicles, nearly a vehicle a day. Ferrari’s future looked bright, and his son Dino was groomed to take over from Enzo one day. Tragically Dino died on June 30, 1956. Ferrari was devastated. Every day for the rest of his life, Enzo visited his son’s grave. Perhaps the loss of his son made him open to talks with Ford in April 1963 to discuss a “plan of collaboration.” After a promising start, the negotiations fell apart when Enzo would not relent on having complete control over the Ferrari racing program. The suddenness and finality of the breakdown angered Henry Ford II, leaving him resentful at having been rebuffed. The Deuce vowed to get even…Thus was born the Ford vs. Ferrari wars.

Ford turned to British race car builder Eric Broadley to redesign, with Ford’s assistance, his Lola Mark VI GT. In July 1963, work began on what would become the legendary GT40. Meanwhile, in California, Carroll Shelby was winning production GT races with his Cobra roadster, but he wanted more. The Texan, who won Le Mans in 1959 driving an Aston Martin, had been itching to beat Ferrari, but his Cobra roadster wasn’t fast enough. Since its inception in 1953, Ferrari had won the World Sportscar Championship 8 out of 10 years. Its mighty 250 GTO won the Championship in 1962 and 1963. It would be a tough challenge. One of Shelby’s employees, 28-year-old Peter Brock, thought he knew how to beat Ferrari. While working on the Corvette Sting Ray at GM, he had read papers written in the 1930s by German aerodynamicist Wunibald Kamm and knew he could get more speed, a lot more speed, out of the Cobra roadster. In late 1964, Shelby gave Brock a crashed roadster and told him to go off in the corner of the Shelby American workshop and build the car. He had 90 days. In its first test session in February 1964, the new coupe design proved to be a vast improvement over the roadster. Just 15 days later, it dominated the Daytona race until a pit fire ended its bid for a debut win. The GTOs finished first, second, third, and fifth. Despite 3 class wins, including Le Mans, Shelby’s Daytona finished second to the Ferrari GTOs in the 1964 Championship. In November 1964, after a series of problems with the GT40, Ford replaced British-based John Wyer with Carroll Shelby to lead the charge against Ferrari using the Daytona and GT40.

In 1965 the Daytona Coupe defeated the Ferrari GTO on racecourses worldwide, including Le Mans, and Shelby became the first American constructor to win the World Sportscar Championship. Nevertheless, his focus was on Le Mans, where his Ford team of six GT40s vied for the overall win against Ferrari’s eleven GTs prototypes. Alas, it was not to be. Ferrari finished first, second, third, sixth, and seventh with nary a Ford GT40 insight. The Deuce was not pleased.

In 1966, Shelby dropped the Daytona Coupe program to concentrate on an overall win against Ferrari at Le Mans. The GT40 Mk I was replaced with a newly designed Mk II version, powered by Ford’s mighty 427 V8. It would go toe-to-toe with the gorgeous and fast Ferrari 330 P3. At the first race of the season, the 24 Hours of Daytona, the GT40s finished first, second, and third, a feat they repeated the next month at the 12 Hours of Sebring, soundly beating the Ferraris. Things were looking good for Ford at Le Mans, and The Deuce was not disappointed. The Ford GT40 soundly beat Ferrari’s best, finishing first, second and third and clinching the 1966 World Sportscar Championship. Ford went on to win Le Mans in 1967, finishing ahead of two Ferrari 330 P4s.

Now for the rest of the story. After the 1967 victory, Ford ended its factory effort at Le Mans, and Enzo Ferrari never again competed at Le Mans as a factory team. Surprisingly, the smaller 4.7-liter engine GT 40 MK IIs won again in 1968 and 1969. Today a Ferrari GTO is the most expensive car in the world at $70 million. A Ferrari 330 P3, Shelby Daytona Coupe, or a Ford GT40 is worth a tenth of that. On February 24, 2021, Ferrari announced that it would return to Le Mans in 2023.

—by Bob Vitrikas, Advisory Board Member, Virginia Festival of the Wheel