The 1960s was a tremendous era for endurance racing, one which saw automakers such as Ferrari, Porsche, Ford, and Alpine battling for glory on tracks in Europe and North America. By 1965, Ferrari had dominated the world of GT racing with its light and powerful prototypes, but it all came to an abrupt end in 1966, when Ford took a shocking 1-2-3 win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. With Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon behind the wheel, the Ford GT40 MkII became the first American race car to win at Le Mans.
Ford’s win was that much more important considering how the GT40 was born. In 1963, Henry Ford II wanted to buy Ferrari and reportedly spent several million dollars in an audit of the Maranello brand. However, Ferrari unilaterally cut off talks at a late stage unhappy with the fact that Ford didn’t want Enzo to remain the sole operator of the brand’s motorsport division. Enraged, Henry asked his racing division to build a Ferrari-beater for GT racing. A year later, with help from Lola designer Eric Broadley, ex-Aston Martin manager John Wyer, and Carroll Shelby, Ford rolled out the first GT40.
By 1970, the GT40 would go on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans four times in a row under different configurations, giving Ford a place in the history books. Five decades have passed since the GT40 first triumphed at Le Mans, and a new GT is about to hit the same track to honor its iconic forerunner. At the same time, Shelby American, Superformance, and Safir GT40 teamed up to build a new continuation GT40 based on the original, Le Mans-winning MkII.
"We’re very excited to release this special edition GT40 celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Le Mans victory," said Superformance CEO, Lance Stander. "Having known Carroll Shelby personally, we know how proud he was of this victory and can’t think of a better way to commemorate it."
Continue reading to learn more about the Superformance 50th Anniversary GT40.
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