Art.Nr. 23896 " 4"
Art.Nr .
It has been some time since the last Ford GT Mark II was released, yet the car continues to enjoy unbroken popularity among drivers of historic GT vehicles. CARRERA is responding to this demand by adding the Ford with chassis number 1032 to its lineup this year.
By 1966& , Carroll Shelby and Holman & Moody (an American race car manufacturer) were & already heavily involved in the “Le Mans: Ford vs. Ferrari” project, and things had been going quite well up to that point. The 7-liter Fords dominated the 24 Hours of Le Mans and took first through third place in what is arguably the most famous chapter in Ford’s racing history. Henry Ford’s frustration over not being able to buy the Ferrari brand was thus appeased. The background to the story is well known: Ford wanted to buy Ferrari to reposition itself in motorsports, since the three major American automakers—Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler—had decided in the late 1950s to withdraw from motorsports, but this plan was derailed by Chrysler’s involvement in NASCAR. Talks between FORD and FERRARI were already well advanced. But in the end, they broke down over a “minor detail”: Enzo Ferrari was determined to run Ford’s motorsports operations entirely on his own without any say from Ford, while Henry Ford II, for his part, refused to take orders from Enzo Ferrari. The classic problem of two alpha males. The talks ended without a result; Henry Ford II was furious and declared war on Ferrari.
In fact, the GT40s won Le Mans four times in a row. The legacy of the GT40 is so enduring that in 2005, Ford built the Ford GT, which was developed from the Ford GT CONCEPT CAR unveiled in 2002—a modern interpretation of the original race car. The successor to the 2005 GT was then the new GT in 2016, which we also know from the current CARRERA lineup.
But back to the MK II: This car, chassis number 1032, is one of eight MK IIs. It was completed on November 5, 1965, along with P/1031, by Ford Advanced Vehicles in Slough, England. P/1031 is the dark blue GT40 with the yellow front (not yet available in the CARRERA lineup). It was then delivered to Shelby American in California, where it was finished in MK II configuration; this includes the 427-cubic-inch engine with two quad-barrel carburetors and a 4-speed transaxle transmission. It was painted white with a black front end and then driven by Walter “Walt” Hansgen and Mark Donohue as one of two Shelbys in the 1966 Sebring 12-Hour Race, where it finished in second place.
After returning to California and undergoing further testing and development, it was then painted bronze with a green front and entered in the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans. The drivers of No. 4 were Paul Hawkins and Mark Donohue. During that race, Dan Gurney set a new lap record of 142.98 mph at Le Mans in another MK II.
Incidentally, No. 4 retired after just 12 laps due to differential damage.
Ford had ended an era at Le Mans. Ferrari would never again claim an overall victory in the 24-hour race.
And here’s another interesting detail about chassis No. 1032:
After its return to the United States, this MK II with the No.4 was painted to look like the Le Mans winner and then put on display across the country by the Ford Motor Company.
CoMod Lotus
