The Mighty GT40: Conquering Le Mans with the 427 Engine
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In the world of motorsport, the 24-Hours of Le Mans holds a special place, and in the 1960s, Ferrari's dominance seemed unshakable. However, Ford, determined to challenge the Italian automaker, embarked on a journey to build a car that would dethrone Ferrari. This led to the creation of the Ford GT40, equipped with the powerful 427 engine. So today I welcome you to join me, as we delve into the challenges faced by ford, the innovations they made, and how the GT40 with its formidable 427 engine ultimately achieved victory at Le Mans.
So lets start at the beginning, Building a Competitive Contender: Ford's racing program lacked experience in endurance racing, so they sought an existing chassis to begin their project. The Lola Mk 6 chassis became the foundation for the GT40, this chasis then got mated with a 4.7l Fairlane V8 engine which made its debut at the 1964 Nürburgring race. However, initial reliability issues plagued the car, and all three GT40s sent to Le Mans that year retired prematurely, allowing Ferrari to claim another victory.
But Ford didn’t give up, you see Following the disappointing results of the previous year, the legendary Carroll Shelby joined the team to lead the GT40 project. Together with driver Ken Miles and engineer Phil Remington, they set out to improve the GT40's performance. Their efforts paid off when the GT40 secured its first win at Daytona in February 1965, marking a turning point for the program.
But Ford didn’t give up, you see Following the disappointing results of the previous year, the legendary Carroll Shelby joined the team to lead the GT40 project. Together with driver Ken Miles and engineer Phil Remington, they set out to improve the GT40's performance. Their efforts paid off when the GT40 secured its first win at Daytona in February 1965, marking a turning point for the program.
And this is when the mighty 427 made its entrance: You see Meanwhile, back in Michigan, Roy Lunn and his team developed a new version of the GT40 equipped with the formidable and legendary 427 engine. This powerplant, based on the Gen II FE 427 block from Ford's NASCAR program, offered increased power and improved reliability. With a displacement of 425.98 ci (6.98 liters), Now the reason for the 427 was because of racing regulations, you see the rules in lemans back then limited engine to be smaller than 7 liters or smaller than 427 cubic inches, and the engine in the GT40 was a 425.98 CI engine or 6.9 liters. So the engine was pretty much as big as possible. As the Americans always say, “no replacement for displacement”
#427v8 #Ford #GT40
Absolute ICON. Had a matchbox one in the '60's
Wait r U a 60+ yr old?
The exhausts did not cross from one bank to the other Chris
Oh man the old bundle of snakes can o' worms... It's nitpicky and I'm probably going to fudge this explanation.
But it's a 180⁰ crossover system, the idea being that the pulses collect from bank to bank at the collector so there's no gaps in the gas speed, which is a problem in a big cross plane crank V8 like that and it ensures a more even flow especially up high in the rev range.
At least that's how I had it explained by the engineer building my CAV GT+ for me. It's all about gas flow speed, keeping it as linear as possible from the port to the end of the pipe. So while the headers don't cross from bank to bank, the gasses in the collector does which fills in the gaps when there's no cylinder firing. Or something like that. People have written their thesis on this subject and it's a source for many beer fuelled debates.
@@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13 Coventry Climax in the UK developed this technology in the 60's for their F1 V8. Bloody cool!
@@DennisMerwood-xk8wp The GT40, when you boil it down to the sum of its parts, is really a showcase of British technological innovation (the brains) that went to America to get on the roids and get some serious muscle (the punch).
I just can't get enough of them, hence why I just have to have one in my life.
A better Anglo-American team up there hasn't been since the landings in Normandy.
@@C.Fecteau-AU-MJ13
You nailed it my man!
The Brits could never stop fiddling with their innovations! Fettling~ they call it!
It took some good ole Yank brutal big hammer engineering to make it a winner!
Shelby and Holman Moody - hold my beer!
@@DennisMerwood-xk8wp Lol so true... I love that it's got the finesse of the Lola, which is a dainty thing in so many ways mixed with the Shelby recipe of "needs more engine"
It was tried and true with the Cobras, so it was always going to work.
👍💪✌️
And in 2023 Ferrari came back to win.
because ford are idiots, back then the GT40 had a V8, now the new GTs have a V6, while their mustang mostly have V8s