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Shelby's Ford GT-40s
Le Mans ChampionsIn 1964, when Shelby was beginning to tackle Ferrari in the GT class, Ford began racing its own GT-40 in the Prototype class, which allowed for larger engines and had fewer car design restrictions. 1964 was a disaster for Ford, however, as the cars failed to even finish any of the three races in which they were entered. This was an especially disappointing result, because Ford had spent millions of dollars designing, building, and testing the high-tech GT-40s.
In 1965, Ford turned to Carroll Shelby to try to turn its GT-40 into a winner. The results were almost immediate, as the Shelby-ized GT-40s placed 1st and 3rd at Daytona, 2nd at Sebring, and 3rd at Monza. The "big one" -- the 24-Hours of Le Mans -- however, still got away.
With the retirement of the Cobra factory team, in 1966 Shelby focused all of the team's efforts on making the GT-40 a winner -- particularly at Le Mans. The year saw a new, more powerful model of the GT-40 -- the Mk.II -- which had a 427 cubic inch engine and refined aerodynamics. The GT-40s swept 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places at the 24-Hours of Daytona, the 12-Hours of Sebring, and the 24-Hours of Le Mans! Shelby had now beaten Ferrari in the World Prototype Championship as he had the year earlier in the World GT Championship.
Other teams joined Shelby in 1967 in racing GT-40s. These included Ford of France, John Wyer's British (Gulf-sponsored) team, and a host of private entrants. Shelby's efforts again resulted in victory, however, as Mario Andretti and Bruce McLaren won the 12-Hours of Sebring and Dan Gurney and A.J. Foyt won the 24-Hours of Le Mans -- both teams driving the new GT-40 Mk.IV.
John Wyer's Gulf team went on to take a refined version of the original GT-40 to two victories at Le Mans, with Pedro Rodriguez and Lucien Bianchi winning in 1968 and Jackie Ickx and Jackie Oliver winning in 1969.
Although GT-40s, including roadster versions of the the original GT-40 (called the X-1) and the Mk.IV (called the G7A), competed in U.S. Road Racing Championship (USRRC) and Can-Am races during the period 1964 to 1970, the cars were never successful in those series. They were simply too heavy and underpowered to be competitive against the unlimited "hot rods" that raced in those series. After his successes with the GT-40, Shelby turned his attention back to the U.S. road racing scene, where he campaigned Ford Mustangs in the SCCA Trans-Am series. His Mustangs helped give Ford Trans-Am championships in 1966 and 1967 and 2nd place finishes (to Chevrolet's Camaro) in 1968 and 1969.
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1996-2008 Arnold E.
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