So, I'm opening my Hagerty monthly magazine today and there's a whole section on the 1966 Le Mans shoot-out at the OK Corral. Then I open my Twitter feed and there's another retweet of the video trailer for the new movie with Matt Damon and Christian Bale; I start counting the days to the release of that film...……. and I start wondering if we should do one of these in 1/32 scale...….
Some of us grew up in the '60's and '70's and for car racing, there wasn't much bigger than the saga of Ford vs. Ferrari. Scorned by Enzo's defection to Fiat in the face of what looked like a viable merger offer, Henry II decides that it's time for Ford to show Ferrari that they don't really need them after all. And it looks bleak in 1964 and 1965; the first two years of the 3 year Ford GT-40 program. But, in 1966 cracks start to show in the Maranello armor and it becomes clear that an unseating of the perennial Le Mans champions is not only possible, but likely. Enter Le Mans, 1966; the showdown between the 4.0L 330P3 and the 7.0L GT-40 MkII - finesse and breed vs. power and drive.
And you all know what happened - right? That's what we're all waiting to see, again, in the release of the movie Ford vs. Ferrari.
53 years on, we're getting pumped again to re-live that moment; the one that lifted the exotic mask of European-dominated Endurance racing and changed the perspective of that segment and, in many respects, all automotive racing, forever.
Should we take this opportunity to recall the glory days of Ford vs. Ferrari and put together a Proxy race based on the two cars that hammered it out on the 18th and 19th of June, 1966?
Perhaps, but I think we need to discuss it some to see how many triggers might get tripped by this idea.
If there is interest, then here are some very sketchy, top-line thoughts about how we might proceed:
1. Two cars only - if you're in the Ford camp, it's the Slot.It Ford GT-40 MkII; if you're in the Ferrari camp, then it's the Policar Ferrari 330 P3
2. Fantasy liveries allowed
3. Chassis - open
4. Motor - open
5. Gearing - open
6. Wheels the tires to scale - yes, we can work those details out if this goes ahead; rubber tires only
7. 10 race series on routed wood tracks in the US and Canada
8. Start date around March 1st.
Any triggers tripping?
As Henry II said in his famous 1965 Christmas letter to his Execs - "you better win".
Allan
Some of us grew up in the '60's and '70's and for car racing, there wasn't much bigger than the saga of Ford vs. Ferrari. Scorned by Enzo's defection to Fiat in the face of what looked like a viable merger offer, Henry II decides that it's time for Ford to show Ferrari that they don't really need them after all. And it looks bleak in 1964 and 1965; the first two years of the 3 year Ford GT-40 program. But, in 1966 cracks start to show in the Maranello armor and it becomes clear that an unseating of the perennial Le Mans champions is not only possible, but likely. Enter Le Mans, 1966; the showdown between the 4.0L 330P3 and the 7.0L GT-40 MkII - finesse and breed vs. power and drive.
And you all know what happened - right? That's what we're all waiting to see, again, in the release of the movie Ford vs. Ferrari.
53 years on, we're getting pumped again to re-live that moment; the one that lifted the exotic mask of European-dominated Endurance racing and changed the perspective of that segment and, in many respects, all automotive racing, forever.
Should we take this opportunity to recall the glory days of Ford vs. Ferrari and put together a Proxy race based on the two cars that hammered it out on the 18th and 19th of June, 1966?
Perhaps, but I think we need to discuss it some to see how many triggers might get tripped by this idea.
If there is interest, then here are some very sketchy, top-line thoughts about how we might proceed:
1. Two cars only - if you're in the Ford camp, it's the Slot.It Ford GT-40 MkII; if you're in the Ferrari camp, then it's the Policar Ferrari 330 P3
2. Fantasy liveries allowed
3. Chassis - open
4. Motor - open
5. Gearing - open
6. Wheels the tires to scale - yes, we can work those details out if this goes ahead; rubber tires only
7. 10 race series on routed wood tracks in the US and Canada
8. Start date around March 1st.
Any triggers tripping?
As Henry II said in his famous 1965 Christmas letter to his Execs - "you better win".
Allan
Comment