A sports racing project on the other hand would be perfect. The idea of buying Ferrari was seriously considered but eventually came to nothing so rather than starting from scratch, Ford went shopping for another suitable basis on which to start building a GT prototype. Despite failing to finish at the 1963 Le Mans 24 Hours, Eric Broadley’s Lola GT was one of the most advanced cars around. Already powered by a Ford engine, it had shown great potential and soon after Le Mans, Ford bought the Lola, Broadley and his men. They established Ford Advanced Vehicles and built a brand new factory in Slough, England so as to be closer to the hoards of specialist suppliers in the UK and Europe. The design team would be headed by ex-Aston Martin designer, Roy Lunn, whilst Broadley was retained for 1964 and ex-Aston Martin team manager, John Wyer, was put in charge of managing the whole affair. Co-operating closely with Ford’s Dearborn experimental department, the two Lola GT’s were retained as mobile test beds until the end of 1963 when they were retired from active duty and all attention switched over to the new Ford. Appearing in public for the first time in April 1964, the GT40 featured a semi monocoque chassis fabricated by Abbey Panels of Coventry made up almost entirely of spot welded sheet steel supplemented at the front by two square tube stiffeners from the top of the scuttle down to the nose and at the back by a light detachable subframe supporting the rear bodywork.

Displacement was 4183cc thanks to a bore and stroke of 95.5 x 72.9mm respectively, compression being set at 12.5:1. Breathing through four twin choke Weber 48 IDA downdraught carburettors and a special bundle of snakes exhaust system, the GT40 developed 350bhp at 7200rpm and 299lb ft of torque at 5200rpm. Initially a Tipo 37 four-speed Colotti gearbox was used as an interim measure until a suitable five-speed unit could be found, this operating in conjunction with a Borg & Beck triple plate clutch. Glassfibre bodywork was fabricated by Specialised Mouldings of Upper Norwood and painted by Harold Radford in London, but the aerodynamics were highly suspect and the overall package took some time to refine. Standing barely 40-inches high (hence GT40), the hinged front and rear body sections were the subject of extensive development work right up until the production-ready MkI arrived in the summer of 1965. Inside, the side sills contained flexible bag type fuel tanks and a spare wheel was carried in the nose. The fixed seats were also made by Harold Radford and trimmed in lightweight plastic material liberally perforated with circular outlets to help keep the driver cool. Another interesting driver aid was a small inflatable bag in the lumbar region of the rear squab, this allowing the driver to inflate or deflate the seat to relieve muscle fatigue during long stints at the wheel. As the seats were fixed in place, the pedals could be adjusted, all GT40’s (with the exception of four MkIII’s) being completed in right-hand drive with the gearshift positioned to the drivers right.

Gearbox trouble was a recurring theme at Reims where Attwood and Schlesser’s car ran an experimental 4.7-litre engine, continuing reliability issues at the non-championship Nassau speed week meaning the GT40 ended 1964 with a singular lack of success. By 1965, Eric Broadley had left Ford Advanced Vehicles and re-established his Lola Cars firm after his 12-month consultancy was over. The FAV factory in Slough was still building and experimenting with the GT40 but in order to speed the project up, a decision was made to bring Shelby American into the fold from a development perspective. Shelby embarked upon a series of extensive tests at Riverside and Willow Springs where it became apparent that problems existed with the cooling, gearbox, brakes, weight and high-speed handling. To overcome the temperature problem, the nose was redesigned and all new ducting installed. The engine was reverted to a wet sump set up, thus eliminating the need for the front-mounted oil tank and associated plumbing, saving 75lb and freeing up more space for that improved cooling system. Whereas the original cars were powered by 4.2-litre 255 engines, these were replaced for 1965 by 4.7-litre 289’s as fitted to Shelby’s competition Cobra’s. With a displacement of 4726cc, compression set at 11.5:1 and four Weber 48 IDA carbs, the slightly heavier 289 was reliably producing 385bhp at 7000rpm and also featured loads more torque (312lbs ft at 5000rpm).

Brake lines and ducting were improved and the inflatable drivers seat discarded. There were two principal teams running GT40’s in 1965, Shelby American in California with their blue and white striped cars and FAV in Slough with their pale green machines. Additionally, an early production MkI went to Ford France while Shelby enlisted the help of Rob Walker and Scuderia Filipinetti for the Le Mans 24 Hour race. Some cars used alloy wheels, some had wires and their were different tyres too in an attempt to find the perfect combination. Results were immediate, Shelby’s blue and white cars winning at Daytona, coming second at Sebring and third at Monza. At the Targa Florio, the first of two GT40 Roadster’s was run by FAV, this body style featuring a flattened rear deck and basket-style roll hoop. No-one quite seemed to know whose idea the Roadster was as the only place the drivers preferred such a car was at the Targa because elsewhere they wouldn’t want to give away the aerodynamic advantages of the coupe version. Furthermore, the Roadster didn’t save much weight as the absence of a stressed roof meant the chassis had to be beefed up to maintain rigidity. The next race was the Nurburgring 1000km and was notable for the arrival of a MkI production GT40 whilst one of Shelby’s entries tried an experimental 5.3-litre engine.