Watch Out Le Mans, Ford Is Coming

The original GT40 is a badass car. Mid-mounted V8? Tick. Bubblegum tyres? Yup. In 1966 the Ford swept the board with a 1, 2, 3 finish at the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans. Getting three race cars across the line at that level takes an incredible amount of effort, but a trio at the top? It’s unheard of…

In the 49 years since that victory, Ford has not come close to repeating the success, and haven’t been to Le Mans in decades. Until now…

On the eve of the 2015 running of the iconic motor race, Ford has made its intentions very clear: it’ll be back next year to mix it up again in France. Ford has always been the people’s hero when it comes to motorsport. Not everybody can afford a Ferrari or a Porsche, but Ford is an attainable brand and something you can aim for. So right now there’s a tidal wave of support coming in for the Blue Oval.

Last weekend I was part of the crew that made the short film above in advance of the big reveal, and having seen the car up close, I can tell you that it looks amazing. Yes, it’s powered by a V6 not a V8, but I don’t care. It’s a Ford and it’s taking on the ‘big boys’. I for one can’t wait to see what happens one year from now…

Bryn Musselwhite
bryn@speedhunters.com
Instagram: Twospeedbryn

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1
the_escape_road

I can't wait. WEC is the place to be. Bye bye F1..

2

I just can't even right now.   I mean, we knew it was happening, but I'm still so pumped.

3

I'm very excited to see how ford does. this new ford gt is one of my favorite 'supercars' of this new age

4

I'm looking into getting tickets to see the debut at the Rolex 24, I'm so excited!

5

That sounds absolutely mental! I LOVE IT!

6
Chris 'Haffy' Hafner
7

And now I care about racing. I cant wait.

8

Watch out, I'm also coming.

9

LeMans is gonna be good! Can't wait.

10

The sound!

11
Muhammad Haqy Aunoora

look out Ferrari, the mighty underdog is back

12
vroomtothetomb

LOL at the scared horse at 1:42! the Italians must be seeing rosso haha

13
MohammadAkbarpour

Aesthetically, such a great modern car that carries its roots
Technically, it comes with twin turbo and well-crafted body and chassis
With a lot of history on racing, no doubt it has gut to compete at le mans

14
Pete the perfect pilot

Time for Mazda to step up to the plate. With Mad Mike representing Mazda in the Drift world, timely for Mazda to get back into top level sports car racing. There
is a BUT, and that's that it should be a rotary. If the boys in wanganui at ppre can built a weapon for Mad Mike, they should be at called into create the motor for Mazdas 787 successor. And if Le Mans is insisting on diesels, then lobby them to open up the regs to allow diverse mix, just like the good ol Group C days. Thundering Mercedes, jags and Porsches up against the best of Japan, with Nissan, Toyota and Mazda made for brilliant races. GReat that fords back, WEC is looking good

15

Quick question, is that thing the driver is holding still called a steering "wheel"?

16

The flying buttress sail panel is such a cool design feature. I love when major aerodynamic aspects like that get "hidden" within the car's silhouette.

17

Pete the perfect pilot What the hell does this have anything to do with this article?
...
That gt needs a 6b.

18

Pete the perfect pilot  hijacking a thread are we? Your "Mad Mike Weapon" would disintegrate about an hour into Le Mans...

19
Pete the perfect pilot

Is that speaking from experience? You don't happen to know what car won Le Mans in 1991, or scored 100 IMSA wins?

20

It was about the pilot, not the car. These driftclowns arent real racing drivers. Sorry, but thats the truth.

21

prazzi what were you expecting, a Momo Prototipo?

22

Great video! I love how the old car morphs into the new one.  Audi vs Ford vs Nissan should be intense.

23

@Frozenstar what do you race? most race drivers down here (NZ) have had a go with the drift boys and girls and have came away with respect for their car control skills and have taken those skills back with them back to their own form of motorsport, and have improved. You no nothing of the truth with your closed minded opinons. Go watch the so called drift clowns live before making stupid comments.
by the way Kiwi in 1st and 2nd place car in Le Mans in the weekend as well as 2nd in WRC and first in Superbikes at the Isle of Mann TT last week. we don't grow clowns here mate.

24

It will only be competing in the GTE category, not for the outright victory, but still pumped to see Ford back in GT & Le Mans racing!

25
Robert Sothmann

@Frozenstar I don't recall anyone suggesting that Mad Mike be the circuit driver for a Lemans effort. He was saying that Mazda is competitive in the Drift world and maybe they should re-enter "real" racing.

26

Pete the perfect pilot
Porsche 2l V4 Turbo Hybrid (Li-Ion) 
Audi 4l V6 Turbo Diesel Hybrid (Flywheel) 
Toyota 3.7l V8 Hybrid (Supercapacitor)
Nissan 3l V6 Twinturbo Hybrid (Flywheel)
Rebellion V6 Twinturbo
Bykolles V6 Twinturbo

I think you could call this quite a diverse mix. And only one of them is a diesel.

Back to the topic. Ford is going take part in GTE not in LMP, so all this is quite irrelevant.

27
CoreyKononchuk

Sweet! I hope it does better than the GT's from the previous generation; they were cool to watch at ALMS but didn't seem very competitive.

28
mazdaspeeder86

The engine is basically ford's truck engine. Saw ford running the same engine at le man's prototype couple weeks ago at seca. Spoke with the pit crew about the new setup, and they said it's identical to the production ecoboost engine. It uses 70% of the component.
Fyi. It came in 5th. Chevy is still running things.

29

Ford is doing so many right things this century. They're quickly converting this Toyota fan. However my loyalty with Toyota lies in the days of my youth, the 90's...

30
jbfromsiliconvalley

Pete the perfect pilot Wasn't the 787 LeMans banned because it was too unfair an advantage? The sound of that thing!!!!

31

jbfromsiliconvalley Pete the perfect pilot No. It (along with most of the other cars in its class) was banned because 1992's regulations demanded 3.5l Formula 1-derived engines. The R26B powering the 1991 winner was obviously not a legal F1 engine and so was illegible for 1992. The rules did not outright exclude rotary power and rotary cars have been to Le Mans in the years since they abandoned that 3.5l formula

32

This video was awesome! i really liked the morphing of the No. 2 car into the new one.

33

SkanderFekir That was my favorite part too.  I wasn't quite sure what was going on with the headlight but when saw the wheel I understood.  Well done!   Gave me goose bumps.

34

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