Ford GT40
by Walter Colvin
Title
Ford GT40
Artist
Walter Colvin
Medium
Digital Art - Digital Art Fine Render
Description
Digital fine art render of a Ford GT40 race car.
The Ford GT is an American mid-engine two-seater super car that was produced by Ford for the 2005 through 2006 model years. The designers drew inspiration from Ford's GT40 racing cars of the 1960s. A completely redesigned Ford GT is planned to enter production in 2016.
The Ford GT40 is a high performance American-British endurance racing car, built and designed in England (Mk I, Mk II, and Mk III) and in the United States (Mk IV), and powered by a series of American-built engines, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans four consecutive times, from 1966 to 1969 (1966 being the Mk II, 1967 the Mk IV, and 1968-1969 the oldest chassis design, the Mk I), Including a 1-2-3 finish in 1966. In 1966, with Henry Ford II himself in attendance at Le Mans, the Mk II GT40 provided Ford with the first overall Le Mans victory for an American manufacturer and the first victory for an American manufacturer at a major European race since Jimmy Murphys triumph with Duesenberg at the 1921 French Grand Prix. The Mk IV GT40 that won LeMans in 1967 is the only car designed and built entirely in the United States to win the overall title.
he GT40 was originally produced to win long-distance sports car races against Ferrari (who won at Le Mans six times in a row from 1960 to 1965). FORD/Shelby Chassis # P-1075, which won in 1968 and 1969, is the first car in Le Mans history to win the race more than once, with the same chassis. Using an American Ford V-8 engine originally of 4.7-litre displacement capacity (289 cubic inches). It was later enlarged to the 4.9-litre engine (302 cubic inches), with custom designed alloy Gurney-Weslake cylinder heads.
The car was named the GT (for Grand Touring) with the 40 representing its overall height of 40 inches (1.02 m, measured at the windshield) as required by the rules. Large displacement Ford V8 engines (4.2 litre, 4.7 litre and 7 litre) were used, compared with the Ferrari V12 which displaced 3.0 litres or 4.0 litres.
Early cars were simply named "Ford GT". The name "GT40" was the name of Ford's project to prepare the cars for the international endurance racing circuit, and the quest to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The first 12 "prototype" vehicles carried serial numbers GT-101 through GT-112. The "production" began and the subsequent cars, the MkI, MkII, and MkIIIs, (with the exception of the MkIV, which were numbered J1-J12) were numbered GT40P/1000 through GT40P/1145, were officially "GT40s". The name of Ford's project, and the serial numbers dispel the story that "GT40" was "only a nickname."
Fords mighty GT40 is one of those rare models that requires little introduction. Winning Le Mans four times and sporting a roster of some of racings greatest legends, including Bruce McLaren, A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney, and Carroll Shelby, has a way of speaking for itself. But the GT40 is not just significant for its racing supremacy over Ferraris dominant Scuderia, but also for its revolutionary and aesthetically appealing mid/rear-engine design, a layout that would eventually become the hallmark of any fearsome exotic supercar. To establish the 50-car Group 4 racing homologation that Ferraris concurrent and similarly designed 250LM would never enjoy, the GT40 began a run of road car examples that featured more luxuriously trimmed cockpits by late-1965. These road cars remained mechanical beasts and were, of course, equipped with race-prepared 289 CID Ford Hi-Po engines and the competition cars finely tuned suspension.
Uploaded
February 9th, 2016
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