Kenny Brack Wrestling A Ford GT 40 In The Rain

One of the two Essex Wire GT 40's at LeMans in 1966.  Both were DNF with engine failure.  This one was driven by
Jochen Neerpasch (normally a Porsche pusher) and Jacky Ickx (later to win championships in the GT 40's run
by John Wyer in Gulf Oil colors).  The other car was driven by Skip Scott and Peter Revson.  Essex ran
GT 40's in Europe and Cobras in the States with some success in the mid 1960's.

Here's a good video of Adrian Newey's ex-Essex Wire GT 40 in the rain at the Goodwood Revival in September.  And some commentary by Kenny Brack about rain driving.  Newey has made enough money, being the premier racing aerodynamicist of recent decades (most recently for Red Bull), to indulge his passion for vintage racing.  (He co-drove with Brack.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_2827047481&feature=iv&src_vid=1jF__B1xpJY&v=3zMGR9qjj4I

And for those who want more, here's five minutes of nothing but in-car.  Kenny was a busy boy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jF__B1xpJY&feature=youtu.be&annotation_id=annotation_1162010291&feature=iv&src_vid=3zMGR9qjj4I

The GT 40 is one of the most beautiful GT racers ever built in the opinion of many (including me).  And, for us Americans, there was admiration and patriotism: "Ford can build a car capable of winning LeMans and stomping Ferrari in the bargain?  No kidding!?!"  (Ferrari dominated LeMans in the 1950's and early 1960's.)  To this day, I suspect that I bought cars as terrible as the Mercury Zephyr and as forgettable as the Ford Escort partly because of what Ford accomplished with the GT 40 and the Cosworth V-8.