Third Edition of The Ford that Beat Ferrari Hits Book Shelves
Hardback release is classic book’s third edition, telling the story of the celebrated Ford GT40 via 850-plus photos.Â
The U.K.’s Evro Publishing has released a new edition of the classic book The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40, which tells the story of the celebrated Ford GT40 through over 850 period photographs, many of them in color. The hardback release is the famous tome’s third edition.
After Ford unsuccessfully attempted to buy Ferrari in 1963, the American car giant instead embarked on its own racing program in a bid to beat the famous Italian marque at the world’s most prestigious race: the Le Mans 24 Hours, as told in the forthcoming Hollywood movie Ford v. Ferrari, starring Christian Bale. The mission was eventually accomplished: Ford’s challenger in this battle, the GT40, finished 1–2–3 at Le Mans in 1966 and won for the next three years as well.
The book, originally published in 1985 (abovce) and redesigned in 2005, is now available again due to popular demand, with further revision to keep the information up-to-date.
Some of the fascinating auto shitory covered in The Ford that Beat Ferrari: A Racing History of the GT40 include:
- Development of the GT40: how the prototype Ford GT emerged in 1964 from the previous year’s Lola GT program.
- The works teams and the GT40: the car’s racing exploits in its earlier years, first with Ford Advanced Vehicles (1964), then Shelby American (1965) and Alan Mann Racing (1966).
- The big ones: this section of the book covers the GT40’s evolution into the 7-litre monsters that brought enormous success, including the first two Le Mans victories with the Mark II (1966) and Mark IV (1967), before becoming outlawed by new restrictions on engine size.
- The Gulf years: against all expectations, the venerable GT40, now back to 5-litre power, raced on with John Wyer’s crack JW Automotive Engineering outfit in the iconic blue and orange colours of Gulf, successes including two further Le Mans wins (1968 and 1969).
- The production line racer: the stories of the 68 privateers, big and small, who raced GT40s.
Chassis and drivers: a data section giving resumés of type designations, chassis histories and all drivers who raced GT40s. - The magic lives on: the book’s concluding sections show surviving cars at differing stages in their later life and bring the story up to date with developments since the 2005 edition.
The classic book’s co-authors John S. Allen and Gordon J. Jones are long-time enthusiasts with a passion for the Ford GT40 and other great cars from the golden era of endurance racing. Besides their long-term collaboration on this book, they have independently contributed to numerous auto publications over the years. The book is available for £90.00 (around $115) on Evro Publishing’s website.