Ford GT40 makes historic return to racing at Goodwood

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Ford GT40 Race at Goodwood Revival

Is there a more iconic, American racecar than the Ford GT40? That may be a discussion for another day (although by all means, tell us how wrong we are in Comments), but this video of heaps of GT40s running in the Goodwood Revival races certainly has us thinking that Ford's Ferrari-killer might just be the best racer the Land Of The Free and Home Of The Brave has ever come up with.

That's completely ignoring the fact that the GT40 was largely developed by Brits using American money, but that's besides the point (there was also a rather brash Texan, who had a big role later in development). The resulting vehicle was dominant, besting the cars of Il Commendatore from 1966 to 1969, although it should be noted that Ford's GT40 was unable to beat Ferrari in its first two Le Mans outings in 1964 and 1965.

Those four years of dominance, which started with Ford sweeping the podium, were enough to establish the GT40's legend. And now, here we are almost 50 years later, celebrating the mid-engined monsters at Goodwood, in their first ever one-make race. Take a look below for the entire video.

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Ford GT40 makes historic return to racing at Goodwood originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Oct 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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XCAR stages epic drag race between Ford GT40, GT70 and GT

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XCAR Ford GT vs GT70 vs GT40 drag race video - video screencap

XCAR has put together what it believes is a first - a drag race between Ford's legendary, Le Mans-winning GT40, the more recent GT supercar it inspired and the little-known GT70 rally car. The three mid-engined monsters were all built for very different purposes, and not surprisingly, they come to battle with very different powertrains.

The GT40 is powered by a thumping, naturally aspirated V8. This example, which looks like a Mark IV model, is likely powered by a 7.0-liter engine, although it's not entirely clear how much power it's putting down. The GT70, meanwhile, was Ford's response to the Lancia Stratos. Considering that the Lancia is one of the greatest rally cars in history and many of you are probably just hearing of the GT70 for the first time, you can imagine how much success Ford had with it. Only six were produced before a change in regulations doomed this mid-engined rally car.

The Ford GT, meanwhile, doesn't really need an introduction. 550 horsepower is on offer from a 5.4-liter, supercharged V8, which keeps the GT competitive even against more modern supercars. 60 miles per hour arrives in well under four seconds while the top speed sits at 212 mph. Not bad for a car that went out of production in 2006.

XCAR tried to conduct the proceedings as fairly as possible. There'd be a one-run drag race, although as they're on the front straight of circuit and not an actual drag strip or air field, it's difficult to discern just how far they're running. Still, the results shouldn't be an enormous surprise. Take a look at the full video below.

Continue reading XCAR stages epic drag race between Ford GT40, GT70 and GT

XCAR stages epic drag race between Ford GT40, GT70 and GT originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 19 Aug 2013 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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