"For those unfamiliar with Grand Prix racing, any cast iron block v-8 of American origin is considered an “old truck” motor." Aside from the Google answers, LeMans is part of the Endurance circuit, not Formula 1 or Grand Prix. And while some colorful phrases may have been tossed about for drama back then (Shelby? Toss out a lot of bull? Nah lol), the FE was NOT an old truck motor. Actually de-tuned NASCAR engines loafing along at reduced RPM. Unfamiliar with Grand Prix racing? That would not be me- I actually went to them back in the day lol. Go back a bit and research the real Grand Prix monsters like the Auto-Unions etc- kinda like an old USAC Champ car on steroids. All that power on those skinny tires on wire wheels- sheesh
I'm not at all saying you know nothing about GP racing. I have no idea what your breadth of knowledge is. I'm just saying iron block V8s from America are commonly known as truck motors in that world... and have been forever. And yeah, I've been to a few F1 races myself man. This isn't a **** measuring contest at all. I was just clarifying some terminology is all...
^^^^ Yup. For a lifetime the euro racing set seemed to wrinkle their collective noses at US efforts. Back to our world I long ago read a story about fuelers showing up for an exhibition race in Jolly ol England. They fired up Ivo's (I think) car and giggles combined with WTFs began due to the snotty idle. As soon as he whacked it off the line the crowds ran in fear. Does it get any more American?
I love that story sooo much... Can you imagine??? And what better guy to handle that bit of amb***adorship than Ivo? Sort of quiet and charming... you might even say understated... until he puts his foot down.
I was very lucky to have been able to go and see the cars and races at an early age, and collected all the race coverage magazines and kept the race programs along the way. So, the Motor Maid story I hinted at. My uncle was head of PR for the winery in Hammondsport that provided the Winner's Circle bubbly. They would charter a bus and give their big customers, dignitaries etc. a tour of the winery and haul them to the races to be pampered. I would go with his ***istant in the winery's station wagon, which was stuffed with the mini bottles of bubbly along with coolers full of finger sandwiches, potato salad, all that stuff, and the two of us set up a couple tables and served the VIPs until they were properly tuned up. At that point I got turned loose with my uncle's set of p***es including full paddock and pit p***es, seat on top of the pits, even admission to the Onyx Club- the only place I couldn't go was the tower- when I was about fourteen lol.. Be back by 5 he said... So anyway, on the way from Hammondsport, over the hill to the Glen on the narrow 2-lane roads on the way to the United States Grand Prix (early 70's), the big old Motorola company radio in the wagon went off- someone had stolen the jeroboams of Winner's Circle bubbly sometime Saturday night. No cell phones then, so radio to land lines back and forth and my uncles' ***istant was called at home to hustle to the warehouse for replacements. So he loads up and gets part way there and gets trapped in the bumper to bumper 2-lane traffic in farm country. He managed to flag down a State Police motorcycle cop who was willing to help, but had no way to carry the big bottles. So they notice this old gal on an old red Panhead, with a sidecar- with a license plate frame that said "Motor Maids". So the motor cop asks her if she thinks she can help. Lead on, Sonny she says with a grin. So the winery guy gets in the sidecar with the bubbly under a blanket between his legs and off they go up the shoulder, through the ditches and around the mailboxes, motor cop leading with lights 'n siren, all the way to the Glen track. Saved the day she did, and was the pampered VIP guest at the Onyx Club for the USGP
Reminds me of the first time I took my last X and our 4 kids to the races. This was the national meet and had fuel cars. For some reason they sent us around to the back gate and while we're waiting to get in I hear a fuel car start. My X says 'Something just blew up!' and I answer, no, that's a car starting. She insists something blew up... then they whacked the throttle. You could see daylight under all four them when they jumped! LOLOL...
Guys, all jokes aside on our side of the pond here in Europe (or the UK which is no longer "Europe" lol) these cars (unlike say Cunnighams, Corvettes or Chaparrals which also made their appearances here) are a part of local racing lore as any Ferrari or Porsche is, and are often seen in local vintage races. And don't forget the formula (US-made engine in a British or European ch***is) became very respectable and effective by the likes of Lola (with its later models) and McLaren. One other thing: years ago I read somewhere (Road & Track maybe?) Ford - before Lola or Shelby got involved - initially toyed with the idea of building what essentially would have been a streamlined NASCAR Galaxy to run at Le Mans. The thinking was that such a car would be fast enough to remain in contention with the sports-prototypes and at the same time dead reliable. I remember seeing a drawing which looked sort of like the later Ford Torino King Cobra. I actually think this was realistic, remember, back then Le Mans had more in common with a super speedway than with the Nürbugring or any typical European road circuit. It might have worked, just like a NASCAR Daytona/Superbird might have worked for cl*** honors in 69-71 (anyone laughing, look up Dodge's v Ferrari's Daytona's lap times at Riverside back then), had Mopar decided to race its American cars in Europe instead of noncompe***ive Hillmans and Simcas. But I digress
Don't forget NASCAR has ran at Le Mans... In 1976, two teams entered with Cup cars - a Dodge Charger and a Ford Torino. Both were piloted by experience GP teams. Neither made it past 11 or so hours... Brake and tire problems plagued both teams, but eventually the engines let go. I think I've read that a NASCAR team is going to attempt it again this year? Edit: Found it: Weird, no? This is a personal opinion based on bias... But I personally believe NASCAR is the biggest catalyst for America's failures in international racing. The public took to it and Detroit profited from it, so why put a budget towards actual GP racing? I don't particularly like any generation of NASCAR racing... turds with race car livery.
Oh yes. Those ran in their own cl*** though I believe, am not sure they would have been as compe***ive as my hypothetical Daytona in 1970 (no Porsche Turbos back then for example) or a streamlined Galaxy in 1964. In any case what I heard is the Le Mans organizers provided the two teams fuel samples which they used as yardstick to set the carbs/ignition etc. but the fuel actually available during the race was lower octane which caused the engine issues. European teams experienced with such things usually did not have such problems... Adding: looked up some NART Ferrari Daytona stats from the 71 race when they finished 5th, top speed was 189 mph and from what I know about those cars that's all out screaming engine on a qualifying run, if they'd have tried this during the race they'd be out after a couple of hours. The Dodge would have been comfortably 10 mph faster lap in, lap out.
Oh yeah. Without question... Even in '76 those Cup cars probably would have hit 200mph on the Mulsanne Straight without breaking too much of a sweat. But could they have done that for 24 hours even with the higher octane gas? And sadly, Mercedes taught us that Mulsanne speeds mean nothing if you can't slow it down for that 90 immediately after. Not to mention the Porsche Curves... You gotta think even in '64, that Galaxy would have lost seconds through there. To me, history has taught us that the most important element of an endurance car is its weight. Weight saves everything - power, brakes, tires, turn in/out, etc... Those cup cars make great power and sound better than anything on the track, but that's really all they offer. I mean, you ever watched NASCAR at Watkins Glen? It's like watching those big rig novelty races.
In general I totally agree, even in my fantasy Le Mans the window of opportunity for winning outright or "merely" a cl*** with that type of car was closed in 1972 at the latest... It will be interesting to see what Hendrick Motorsports does in 2023 with the Camaro if it goes (not that it gives us any reliable guide but there's a Dutch team running a Camaro in European GT events and they haven't embarr***ed themselves AFAIK).
There are plenty of these Goodwood videos, but I like this one because it also highlights how ridiculously fast the little early Minis are- always a crowd favorite
That's what makes the GT40 so special, right? More than anything really... It might have been designed and built in England, but the resulting product still feels very American. It looks American, it sounds American, and from most reports sort of drives American... And so in the late 60's, it proved that the American way of thinking can compete internationally. You don't have to have some super light car with a high revving double over head cam 3-litre to go fast... You can also do it with a really stiff ch***is and a truck engine. I mean, don't get me wrong... I have a real p***ion for European cars as well. I mean, I'm a closeted Porsche freak and consider the early 911 cars to be a****st the best cars ever made - American or German... and for any purpose. BUT... And I think even those with the largest of traditional GP sticks up there *** would have to admit this... Watching an overpowered race car tear up a track is FAR more enjoyable than watching a perfectly balanced Ferrari dance a ballet around the sharpest of circuits.
This to the 10th power. THAT is American, that sentiment, that admiration, that undeniable respect. ****in hard to actually put it in words. Like real customs, you know it when you see it? This is, you know it whether you say it or not.
That but to me it was also the fact Ford was the first US (and maybe last?) car manufacturer to take that race seriously or have the budget, hence the deserved wins. Oh and if we're into fantasy racing, it almost happened earlier - in 1928 Bentley barely managed to win in a car which was about to blow out, only one lap ahead of a Stutz Model BB Blackhawk, and two Chrysler 72s (with flathead sixes, surely "truck" engines) finished at 3rd and 4th. A Stutz win might have generated much needed sales and raise interest a**** other US makers, who can tell what might have followed...
Today is the day gentleman. A friendly reader has offered me a drive in his GT40. I will report back with video…
Prototype GT/105 is up for sale. Price? If you have to ask... https://www.dhrofgo.com/sold/1964-f...ant-compe***ion-gt40s-to-ever-come-to-market/
OK… Here’s my report… The MKII I drove was one of the movie cars from Ford vs Ferrari. It’s on a 1 to 1 reproduction ch***is from Superformance and features a lot of original parts including most of the suspension, the brakes, the front and rear clam shells, the dash, etc… The motor was a backup for the Ford France team at the 1967 Le Mans race. It’s a 427 backed by a newer 5-speed transaxle from Quaife. For all intents and purposes, this car is as original and as “real” as you can get (without having provenance) and probably worth millions. Video wasn’t allowed due to uh… some privacy concerns. After I was told that, I felt weird about taking pictures. Owner also has a reproduction Ferrari 330 P4 with a real motor and ****** that was used in the movie. It was in the middle of maintenance, so we didn’t get to play with it. When I walked in the shop, the GT40 was parked next to a new corvette and looked TINY. Like, really small. Anyway, the owner drove the car first to warm up the tires. My first impression was the car is surprisingly comfortable and the suspension isn’t as stiff as I expected. The sound is glorious. Without question, the best sounding V8 I’ve ever heard. Those 180-degree headers are amazing. Because of the cam, it has a very lumpy idle - you can hear each cylinder fire and the distance between those explosions shortens in perfect time as you bring up the revs. It’s a god damned symphony - the likes of which I’ve never heard. Just amazing. I first drove the car down a long straight country road and it wasn’t nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be. The steering is very direct, the brakes are surprisingly good, and it puts power to the ground very efficiently. It doesn’t at all feel like an old car. Not even a little bit. It’s fast. From there, we went down a fairly curvy hill country road and I was able to really get at it. As long as the turns aren’t too sharp and you keep the revs above 4500rpm or so, it’s a perfect race car. Very neutral. However, as the corners get tighter and the speeds slow down, the car starts to understeer a bit. To fight this, you need to steer with the throttle… but this wasn’t my car and I didn’t have the nerve to do it. I expected it to be a whole lot of fun to drive, but it was better than I could have imagined. I’ve driven two other race cars from the period in the last 5 years. One was a Corvette that, frankly, was a pig… The other was a 1970 Porsche 911ST that was probably the best car I’ve ever driven. The GT40 might not have been as balanced, but it was Faster. In fact, I think the GT40 is the only car I’ve ever driven made before 1990 that I would consider fast by any measure… What’s funny is that I expected it to take some time to get used to driving a RHD car with right hand shift. I didn’t even really noticed it until I got in my car to drive home. Perfectly natural. But my drive home was sort of depressing… and I thought the same thing after driving the 911ST. It’s incredibly sad that the GT40 is so far out of reach financially. The car world would be a better place if everyone had access to one of these cars once a week. Sincerely. It felt like going to some sort of spiritual reckoning and having a better understanding of the world afterwards. I find myself yearning to do it over and over… Anyway, that was amazing. Special thanks to the owner for the opportunity. I will go to my grave with that. Never forget.
Got your cherry- welcome to the FE world. The Hammys have their own sound, but a good 427 with a lotta squeeze and a lotta stick will drown them right out- BBCs aren't even in the same zip code for LOUD. Been in love since Ed Lowther let my young **** sit in his Cobra, running, at the Glen 500 in '67. Got a ride in an R-code 64 Galaxie the same summer. Now you understand. There's a quote in a road test, IIRC HotRod, of a '65 R-code Gal, and they uncorked the cast iron headers for the drag strip test- "the sound producing capabilities of this engine are unmatched". You betcha. When it changes from the booming to that howl when it comes on the cam. You should hear one with the old 330/600 cam and 14:1's Yep, the Superformance cars are a pretty good reproduction, nowadays you can order up a pretty faithful reproduction 289 or 427 Cobra, Daytona Coupe, GT40, whatever your checkbook can handle- but the real ones will always be very, very special
Another awesome sounding summitch is the old Porsche 904- and a very beautiful car. Absolutely amazing how much noise that under 2-liter NA engine can make
After careful consideration and a gummy, I've recompiled my list of best sounding cars of all time: 1. 1957 Ferrari Testarossa 2. 1967 Ford GT40 3. 1970 Porsche 917 4. 1995 Ferrari 412 5. Flathead Ford on Nitro
The Jalopy Journal
