Racing Story:
First of all, I sincerely thank Mr. Enzo Ferrari for making every man his own rivalry and let the fans to feel the new brand in the automobile industry and in the racing industry. Ford vs Ferrari is one of the most iconic rivalries in motorsport history, which lead to the manufacturing of legendary Ford GT 40. There's a trend by car manufacturers to sell their cars by racing their new models in motorsports by proving the capabilities of the car. One such stage is The 24 Hours of Le Mans. That's where the actual story began.
It was the time of WW2 where Ford was manufacturing bombers for the US Army. When the war ended "The Automotive Manufacturers of America(AMA)" implemented a law stating all the manufacturers in association not to participate in any form of motorsport. But Chevrolet was building a car for racing without the knowledge of the association. Soon this information broke out and it was in the paper, which made Henry Ford II(the president of Ford Motor company 1945-1960) a little serious and as a result, he decided to build a car to win the famous 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Henry Ford II started collecting information to build a car to win The 24 Hours of Le Mans. In the run for ideas, in Sebring, Henry Ford II saw a couple of Ferraris racing the tournament and decide to buy those red cars. Henry Ford II approached to buy Ferrari. After 22 days of intense negotiations, Enzo Ferrari decided to sell the Ferrari to Ford Motor Company.
At the time of signing the agreement, Enzo Ferrari noticed that as part of this deal the Ferrari racing division will go under the control of Ford Motors. Which Enzo Ferrari didn't like and decide to turn down the deal. Enzo Ferrari was all about racing and he didn't want to work under others in his own racing division. As a result, Henry Ford II was not happy again and decided to build his own racing car and take over Ferrari's legacy in The 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Henry Ford II organized a team to build a car to win The 24 Hours of Le Mans. As by Henry's order, the team started working on a prototype and which eventually came out as Ford GT40, which was the shortest car to participate in The 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1964. The initial model was fast, but it was not reliable it couldn't withstand a run for 24 hours. As 24 hours of Le Mans is all about endurance and performance. In the year of 1964, Ford competed in The 24 Hours of Le Mans with the Ford GT40s. None of the cars made it till the end of the race. Ford left with nothing except failure in 1964.
Henry Ford II then hired Caroll Shelby, who was a Le Mans GT class winner. He designed the GT40 to meet it's performance level to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. So did the car managed to finish the race in 1965, 24 Hours of Le Mans, but failed to win the race. The car had a beautiful victory in The 24 Hours of Daytona race and The 12 Hours of Sebring. Though the car didn't win in the legendary race. This time also Ford left the France soil looking forward to winning the race in the next year.
It was in 1966, 24 Hours of Le Mans the history was made. Ford brought the upgraded GT40 with tremendous 3 position victory in Daytona and Sebring victory. This time Ferrari was even more eager to look what the west has brought to rage in the circuit. During the first half of the race, Ford faced a serious situation because 4 out of 8 Ford GT40s didn't perform well and broke down. Having only four Gt40s left. Ford managed to take the 1-2-3 position victory, Ken Miles leading the first position and Dan Gurney in the third position by pushing his car to the finish line. While Ferrari with no cars to complete the entire race.
That was a great victory for Ford which held the title for Four Straight years. This made the Ford vs Ferrari rivalry one of the best in the motorsport event. 50 years after in 2016, Ford had a fruitful victory in the GTE class with it's Ford GT. In 1969 Ford GT40 made the history by the first American to win The 24 Hours of Le Mans.
