Aero Evolution Of The Ford GT 40

The story of the GT 40 is thoroughly documented and has been told many times (in many books), but I thought I'd recount it here for some regular blog readers.  Although the Lola GT was a brilliant concept, it went through several versions and two years of development before it was a race-winning car.  The inspiration of Eric Broadley of Lola (race) Cars was to put a 289 Ford V-8 in the back of a coupe suitable for endurance racing.  It was a viable idea because the FIA had de-emphasized racing sports cars, with their 3-liter engine size limit, and was emphasizing a GT championship for closed cars which allowed engines above that size.  When Ford's attempted acquisition of Ferrari fell through, Ford bought the project from Broadley and the car became the GT 40.

Eric Broadley (left) and John Wyer with Broadley's Mark 6 Lola GT.  Although the car was DNF at the Nurburgring 1000 km. and LeMans in 1963, it was very quick and got Ford's attention because a thin-wall cast iron Ford 289 V-8 was in the back.  When they bought the project, Broadley was retained as a development engineer and Wyer was hired to build 100 cars for homologation and to run the race team.  This did not work out well for either of them.  Broadley found it hard to work in a corporate environment and soon left.  He resumed a successful career in race car design using the Lola nameplate.  Wyer was spread too thin: the race cars and team were poorly prepared in 1964.  He was reassigned to finish the homologation build and support customer race cars while Carroll Shelby ran the factory team.  When Ford retired from sports car racing in 1967, the GT 40 project including rights and tooling was sold to Wyer.  He won the championship for Ford twice, in 1968 and 1969, with the now-famous light blue and orange Gulf liveried GT 40 and its Mirage derivative. 

Publicity shot of the Ford GT 40 as it fist emerged from Ford engineering.  It was a beautiful car, as stylish and classy looking as anything coming out of Aston Martin, Ferrari, Maserati, or Porsche.  But it suffered from aerodynamic lift, in part because the 4.7 liter 289 was pushing it to straight-line speeds higher than seen before.  The "light bar" (barely visible in this picture) was intended to work as a front spoiler.  It didn't.

The GT 40 as raced at the Nurburgring in 1964.  It had grown a rear spoiler to combat lift, but this created lift at the front.  As if aero development being attempted in both Dearborn, U.S.A. and Slough, England wasn't problem enough, there were problems with engine fires and the Colotti gearbox Broadley had specified.  Wyer got ZF to do a new gearbox, but it would not be ready until the season was over.

The GT 40 as raced at LeMans in 1964.  The front now has an air dam and a hole in the nose for cooling.  Although it sat on the pole, it was still unstable and unreliable.  All three team cars retired early.  The Dickie Attwood/Jo Schessler car burned to the ground with an engine fire.  Richie Ginther/Masten Gregory retired early with no gears.  Phil Hill/Bruce McLaren lasted the longest before their gearbox broke.  Here Bruce McLaren leads the Aston Martin "Project 214" GT coupe through the esses.  In its first year the GT 40 used Ford's 4.2 liter 4-cam Indianapolis engine.  Future factory cars and the "production build" used the 4.7 liter 289.  So, retrospectively, this car became the Mark I.

Two examples of the early 1965 GT 40 at the Goodwood Revival forty years later.  Only one or two open cars were built.  The green car is restored to its appearance as raced in the Targa Florio.  As can be seen, the Borrani wire wheels have been traded for alloys.  The 289 now resides in the engine bay.  The radiator exit vents have been enlarged, but the car still suffers from front-end lift. 

The GT 40's "final solution" nose, designed by a Ford engineering team in Slough, England, led by Len Terry.  This is the iconic configuration of the GT 40 and the new nose was made available to private entrants.  This car, also photographed forty years later at Goodwood, is an ex-Essex Wire (American) team car restored to as-raced colors.  Essex ran two GT 40's (and a Cobra roadster) in the States as well as in Europe.

A good view of the blunt "Len Terry nose" on a Mark III GT 40 street car.  Yes, you could order a car with front bumperettes, road-legal lighting, Borrani wires, vent windows, and several levels of engine tune.  This one is in the Peterson Museum in Los Angeles.

The final iteration of the GT 40 Mark II factory race car.  It had a 7-liter NASCAR engine, revised intake ducting, scoops for transmission oil cooling, and a single, larger, radiator outlet vent.  Although the Mark II was plenty fast, Ford gilded the lily with the 7-liter, which finally won LeMans for them in 1966 with a 1-2-3 finish.  This is the Ken Miles/Denny Hulme car that "should have won" but came second to Bruce McLaren/Chris Amon because Ford staged a photo finish and this car covered a few feet less because it was gridded behind the winning car.  (Miles was asked to back off so that the sister cars could catch up.)  Ford's stunt cost Miles a never-before (or since) accomplished hat trick: winner of Daytona, Sebring, and LeMans in the same year. 

The GT 40 as raced by the Wyer-Gulf team in 1968.  It was a standard Mark II car that grew rear fender blisters to cover wider rear tires and with Gurney-Weslake heads on the engine.  The Mirage was the same car with a narrower cabin designed by Len Terry (but not used) in 1965.  This is the David Hobbs/Mike Hailwood car in Eau Rouge at Spa-Francorchamps in 1968.  It came 4th behind the winning sister car of Jacky Ickx/Brian Redman.