All language subtitles for The 24 Hour War [2016].eng

It all started with
a business deal gone sour

and what came out of that

was the greatest rivalry
in the history of racing.

Ford. Ferrari.

Two titans of the
automobile industry

waged war, at what was
at the time in the 1960s

the biggest race in the world:

The 24 Hours of Le Mans.

You have to imagine the scene.

250,000 people.

Television cameras
for the first time.

People all over the world were
watching this one race.

It was like a Superbowl
of speed.

Definitely the most dangerous sporting
event of any kind in the world.

To win Le Mans,
it meant that you were the best.

Everybody drove in it.

All the Formula 1 stars
at the time

drove in Le Mans

alongside all the
sports car heroes.

It's the ultimate venue.

You win Le Mans,
the whole planet knows.

We're starting 55 cars.

I don't think more than
15 or 20 are going to finish.

For an automotive manufacturer,

it proves their endurance
more than any other race

can possibly do.

Commercially, it is the most
important race to win

in the world, for a car
manufacturer.

From the moment the second automobile
was built, racing was born.

And the car that would win is
the car people wanted to buy.

It took a lot of cheek
to think it could rival the horse

as a way of getting around.

The car lost the race.

But it won all the attention.

And none was any too modest
in the things he had to say

about his own breed
of horseless carriage.

The best way to settle
these competing claims

was in a sport W.K. Vanderbilt
brought to America from Europe.

A race over public roads.

By the third year of the race, 1906,

2 million people turned out
to witness this new sport

where men and machine
were linked as teammates.

Racing at 60 mph on the straights.

Only the fittest car survived.

And those which held up in competition
redoubled their boasting in advertising.

From there on out,
people who built cars

knew they had to win races
to market their cars.

So racing spread the gospel of
automobile companies all over the world.

In Detroit,
a man named Henry Ford

was making what he
called a quadracycle.

It looked like a buggy, only it had no
shafts or a horse to be harnessed to.

The horsepower was going to come from
a gasoline engine he had made himself.

In 1901, Henry Ford was kind
of struggling at that point.

He would end up starting
and failing twice

before he started the
Ford Motor Company.

He was an engineer
and a technical guy.

And he was not one of the
wealthy people at the time.

He had this very pivotal race
against Alexander Winton.

He had the Crystal Bowl
victory winner for this race.

He thought
Alexander Winton was

the most important
race car driver of the day.

That maybe if he got some
of his engineers and

put together a car and
raced Winton, and beat Winton,

that would be the beginning of the
new launch of the Ford Motor Company.

He raced a car that
he called "Sweepstakes."

But it was lighter and it was more
efficient than Alexander Winton's car.

And he was behind Alexander
throughout most of the race.

And then Alexander's car
began to slow,

so he eventually caught up and
passed him, and won the race.

People came to him after the race

and said "anything you want to do,
Mr. Ford, we're happy to invest."

That's always been
something in my mind that has

really kind of a key element
of our company's DNA.

Which is that we were really
born on the racetrack.

1923, I think, was the first year that Le
Mans was run and there was a Model-T racer.

And various private companies
had taken Model-Ts

and adjusted them and
used them in racing.

That started the modern day
history of the Ford Motor Company.

Enzo Ferrari was born Northern Italy

1898. Into a mixture of a rural
and industrial area.

His father was called Alberto
and he was a metal worker.

The family of Ferrari,
they had a house in Modena.

They were producing parts
for the Italian Railway.

My father, as a kid, he was not much
interested in the family business.

He was a dreamer.

In 1908, father took Enzo

to a big motor race called
the Coppa Acerbo.

He was fascinated
by these racing cars.

And so he fall in love
with moto racing.

And from that day onwards, he
wanted to be a racing driver.

The 1st World War happened.

It was a tragedy for everyone.
It was a tragedy for him.

He lost a father.

He lost a brother.

Enzo is called into the service.

He starts doing motor maintenance
for the artillery regiment.

Still, in the back of his mind,

what he really wants to be
is a race car driver.

After the war,
he did sell the house

for buying racing cars.

This is the reason for which
at the beginning

the people from Modena
thought he was crazy.

For Alfa-Romeo, he did one race

called the Coppa Acerbo in 1924.

Won that.
And said that was the point

when his life changed completely.

That was when he said
he became a real racing driver.

At the same time, Alfa-Romeo
is going through all kinds of

financial problems with
the parent company.

They can't be seen to be directly
involved in motor racing,

in the way that they have been.

So they hive off the
motor sport side to Enzo.

He sets up a new organization
called Scuderia Ferrari.

Which is in everything but name,
is the Alfa-Romeo racing team.

For the first time,
he had premises of his own.

He also had a badge of his own.

A black prancing horse
on a yellow background.

The prancing horse
is a family story about my father.

That he was
a young racing driver...

And he won,
two years in a row,

a race called
Circuito del Savio.

And in the crowd
was a guy called Count Baracca.

His son, Francesco,
had been a WWI fighter ace

in the Italian Airforce.

He had 34 kills before he
was killed himself.

The mother of Francesco
Baracca told Mr. Ferrari

to use the emblem of her son
for his car because

he was the only man in Italy
eligible to use the prancing horse.

And to use the logo in 1929.

When he established
Scuderia Ferrari.

While Ferrari is running
Alfa-Scuderia Ferrari,

they win everything
there is worth winning.

They win Grand Prix,
they win the Targa Florio,

and from 1931 to 1934
they win Le Mans 4 times.

All on his watch.

One thing that goes all the way
through Ferrari's life,

He was an individual.
He did things for him.

So when Ferrari eventually
negotiates his way out of Alfa Romeo

around 1939, he gets quite a
good financial payoff.

But part of the settlement is that
he will not be allowed to build cars

using his own name for 4 years.

As it turns out, those 4 years
will be 4 years of wartime.

During WWII, we had basically
converted all of our factories

for war production.

Tanks and airplanes
and jeeps and everything.

It really was Henry and Edsel's
idea to transform Willow Run

and build bombers.

Henry and Edsel wanted
to help the war effort.

They wanted to do whatever they could

to help win the war. Many of
the history books would say

if the Ford Motor Company hadn't stepped
up and built the bombers at Willow Run

we might not have won the war.

The business during the war was producing
grinding machines for the army.

And this was
the means to survive.

To have his employees working,
even during the war.

But at the same time,
he was designing cars.

And he had engineers who were
working for him designing cars.

Modena is quite heavily
bombed during the war.

It's possible that during WWII,
Ford and Ferrari had their first run in.

It's highly likely that the bombers
that took out Ferrari's factory

had come from the factories of
Ford Motor Company.

Ferrari needs
somewhere a bit quieter.

With the money
he got from Alfa-Romeo

he bought ground in Maranello,
where he wanted to

build the factory with
the purpose to produce cars.

I deem this reply a full
acceptance of Potsdam Declaration,

which specifies the unconditional
surrender of Japan.

After the war, in 1947, the design
of the first Ferrari was ready

two years after the war.

The 125 S.
It was a 12 cylinder.

You have to understand something.
Italy was destroyed.

Everything was a ruin.

And to start producing
racing cars

under these conditions was
considered to be crazy.

He was following his dreams.

His passion for engines
and for racing.

The new Ferrari,
it's very, very sophisticated.

He built very small engines,
but very sophisticated engines.

And they were purely
designed for racing.

So it had overhead cam shafts,
hairpin springs,

lots of carburetors. Everything
about it was a racing car.

The car, shortly after
it's introduction,

won the Grand Prix of Rome:
Circuito di Caracalla.

He only built two 125s,

but those two cars did so much,

that Ferrari is now a name
in his own right.

The cars are called Ferrari,
and they start winning.

Henry had gotten quite
a bit older in the 40s.

He can't run
Ford Motor Company.

Edsel died.

So they bring my father,
Henry Ford II, out of the Navy.

My grandfather, for as strong
a personality that he had,

I think still really created
that team atmosphere.

And he brought people in
and delegated,

and relied on other people
to make important decisions.

Henry Ford the 1st was a
little bit less democratic

about the decision
making process.

He was the end-all-be-all
of the Ford Motor Company and

he didn't really ask
other people for help.

It was his way or the highway.

Young Henry Ford, he had no experience.

But he had a good sense of what
the right thing to do was.

So he went and hired a whole
bunch of really smart guys

and brought them to Ford Motor Company.
And they were finance people,

manufacturing people,
marketing and sales people.

It was really a group of, probably, the
smartest business people of the time.

Known as the "Whiz Kids."

1949 is a really, really big year.

It's the year that
Le Mans comes back

onto the calendar after the war.

It's also the first opportunity
for Ferrari to enter Le Mans.

Although he had been involved in the
four Alfa-Romeo wins before the war.

Ferrari rocks up at Le Mans with

two 166 Barchetta cars.

The car was driven by Luigi Chinetti.

And Chinetti won the Le Mans
24 Hour race with a Ferrari car

and it was really a
very impressive win.

First time out for Ferrari, wins
the world's biggest motor race.

He's spending a lot of money
on his racing.

Everything Ferrari does,
he does the expensive way.

He does the sophisticated way.

At this point, Ferrari
put everything into his company.

This was something that he would
continue to do for the rest of his life.

When you think of Ferrari,
and what Ferrari means

you would think the founder of that
company would be extraordinarily wealthy,

but he never was. Because every
lira was always spent on racing.

The operation is getting to the point
where he needs more and more money.

So he will then have to sell
cars for the road.

Which is the last thing
he wants to do.

America is a dream market

for European-type sporty cars.

Chinetti is Italian born,
lives in America.

And he imports cars.

So, very quickly

America has a Ferrari imported.

Because of that victory and
because of Luigi Chinetti,

everything started and the business
grows in the United States.

At this point in their
history, Fords and Ferraris

were as far apart in the
automotive spectrum as could be.

The new 4-door custom sedan

is a perfect example of
the balanced engineering

built into every model of
the new 1949 line.

There aren't any
curvy roads in Detroit.

This is the Mid-West.
Everything is flat and straight.

Their whole idea
of what a great car was

this idea that you get into
this living room on wheels.

And you plug it in and it goes
down the road and it's very soft.

It isn't a sporty automobile.

The whole idea of a sporty
automobile that handles well

didn't resonate there because
there was no reason for it.

And out on the highway,
the Ford of your future,

With its lower, stable
center of gravity,

provides a smooth
mid-ship ride.

Quiet as a whisper and gentle
as a summer breeze.

The auto companies didn't really
want to compete on innovation.

They wanted to compete on
advertising and marketing.

And to do that, they wanted to
compete on things people could see

like styling and horsepower.

The competition was fierce
over horsepower.

In the minds of adults, maybe it wouldn't
have led to more reckless driving.

But in the minds of youngsters?
16, 17, 18 year olds?

They were technologically stagnant
in Detroit on fuel efficiency,

ease of repair, and above all,
crash-worthiness and better brakes and tires.

Sports fans today, I don't think,
could even imagine

how violent motor-sport was
during the 1950s and 1960s.

Death was almost routine
at racetracks.

The worst ever accident in motor
racing was at Le Mans in 1955.

All seems to be going smoothly
when disaster strikes at 125 mph.

Levegh's Mercedes collides
and blows up.

Huge parts of the car went straight
through the packed grandstands.

Around 90 people were killed,
including the driver.

Back then, I mean, when you
got in the car as a driver

I have to imagine,
you had to be ready to die

because there was a strong possibility
you wouldn't survive the race.

Unfortunately, I think that's part of
what added to the spectacle of Le Mans.

The circuits weren't safe.
The cars weren't safe.

If you had a big accident,
it would burst into flames.

Coming through Tertre Rouge
at Le Mans, for example,

there's a big line of
popper trees.

Well their idea of safety in those days was
to paint them white up to about head height

so the headlights would
show this white tree.

And then they'd lean a
straw bale on the first one.

You had drivers driving cars at
over 200 mph down the straight

and they're not
wearing seatbelts.

Half the drivers did not wear a
seatbelt because of the danger of fire.

They'd rather be able to
jump out or be thrown out,

than risk the fire.

I was in 6 fires in 4 years.
They caught fire all the time.

You didn't have to crash.
You're be driving along

up they'd go.

Eddy Sacks. Dave MacDonald.
So many other great drivers that

that lost their lives in fires.

Every year you would
expect maybe 1-in-4 drivers

to have a huge accident and some of
them to die. And it was just accepted.

The owners and the race team people,
they were much less concerned

and they would say "Hey, if you're a
driver, you're in a dangerous business"

"and that's too bad."

Ferrari were the worst.
Safety didn't come into their mind.

And if a driver ever mentioned
it, you're out on your ear.

Ferrari wasn't doing anything that all
the other car companies weren't doing.

But, they were doing more of it.

My father was always telling me not to
become too friendly with the driver.

Because one day, they die.

The history of those years
is a tragedy.

The Mille Miglia
was a road race around Italy.

1957 there were 5 Ferraris.

One of them is driven by a guy
named Alfonso de Portago.

Quite early in the race,
he has a tire blow.

He goes into a group
of spectators.

Portago is killed.
His co-driver is killed.

Around 10 people in the crowd are
killed. And 5 of those are children.

And that is one of the biggest

disasters for Ferrari in racing.

The Mille Miglia
was immediately banned.

In Italian law, if a driver was
killed in one of your cars

the manufacturer has
to answer to the law.

So in this particular case,
Ferrari is investigated.

Facing manslaughter charges,
it goes to legal process.

And in the end, Ferrari isn't guilty of
anything because it was a racing accident.

There was a group called the
Automobile Manufacturers of America.

And in 1957, the AMA had
essentially mandated that

automakers could not participate
in racing. And my grandfather

was the chairman of that committee, so
he obviously took that very seriously.

And as a result he basically pulled all of
Ford Motor Company's efforts out of racing.

When Ford did that, they sold
off all the surplus cars and equipment

to my father and one of his
race drivers, Ralph Moody.

And they bought, for
$15,000 - $16,000, the surplus

cars, parts, and tools.
And it became Holman and Moody.

My father's management
style was very tough, very rude,

very direct to the people.

But he was always
listening to the people.

But making his
own decisions his way.

In 1961, Ferrari almost
threw the whole thing away.

And it was about an internal
problem that got out of hand.

Laura Ferrari, Enzo's wife, was
spending more time in the factory

working on management.
A lot of the high ranking

engineers and other people in the
factory didn't like the way she worked.

Carlo Chiti was the technical director.

He did ask Ferrari to ask his wife

to stay away from the factory.

He told Ferrari that
either she went or he went.

He went.

Several of the most
important engineers

then wrote a letter to Ferrari
backing the guy who had gone,

and saying the same thing.

"He comes back or we go."
They went.

All the top
management of Ferrari,

racing team, and also
sales managers...

So all of them had been fired
in one day by my father.

And he said to all of the
Ferrari people at that time:

The big companies in Detroit,
Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors,

they had a gentleman agreement
not to put money in racing.

We all agreed we
weren't going to be in racing,

but there was a lot of stuff
going on behind the scenes.

There were all sorts of maneuvers they
used. They would support third parties

who could have deniability.
"Well, it wasn't GM."

They would use police parts.
Things like that.

One of the programs that got
cut off on this was the GM Corvette.

Bill Mitchell said we're
not going to let that happen.

This whole anti-racing thing
is going to blow over, so,

let's hide this program and we'll design
and build a new Corvette in secret.

These executives had an agreement, that
they would not spend money on racing.

But General Motors was cheating
and everybody knew it.

This was in the newspapers
that they were cheating.

The Corvette was dominating
the American sports car racing world.

The Corvettes
were winning everything.

People were paying attention
to racing in this country.

They were noticing
who won on Sunday.

And there really was a strong
correlation to sales on Monday.

We didn't have that performance component
of our brand that customers wanted.

Ford had the Galaxy.
Ford had the Thunderbird.

They really had nothing that
could compete with the Corvette.

GM had something like 60% market
share. And over the course of a year

there had literally been
almost a 15-point swing

where they stole 15% of
market share from Ford.

Henry Ford flipped out and
he says, hell with you guys.

If you're cheating and you're
not going to hold up the ban,

I'm announcing right now, publicly were
not going to do it and we're going racing.

Henry is at a motor race.
He's at Sebring.

Sees a Ferrari win and says,
we need those red cars.

My grandfather knew
that we wanted to win Le Mans.

And Ferrari had won Le Mans,
had been winning Le Mans.

I think he felt the
easiest way to do it

was just to buy Ferrari
and merge the companies

and use their kind of technical
expertise to help win.

Ferrari would bring a commercial sports
car that could compete with the Corvette.

And a racing team with
international pedigree.

Ferrari built a few customer cars
to pay for his racing.

Which is interesting in one way because
it's the exact opposite of the Ford story.

Ford went back into racing
to sell customer cars.

Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.
Really opposite views.

They made
an approach to Ferrari to

investigate if he was eventually
willing to sell the company.

And Ferrari said that he was willing
to speak about it in any case.

And to see what were
the terms for the sale.

There was a lot of effort put in
to making this deal a reality.

The lawyers, the accounts, everybody went
over there and went through negotiations.

And kind of hashed out this deal
where there would be two companies.

A Ferrari-Ford division with the
purpose to take part in races.

And a Ford-Ferrari division with
the purpose to manufacture cars

for road use.
Gran Turismo cars.

The Ford team tried to put
a valuation on the company

and I think, Enzo, in his
mind, had a valuation.

They were, I think at first pretty far apart,
then they ended up settling $15 million.

We'll try to accommodate
your desires as best we can.

My father thought that this
was going to be a done deal.

Ford Motor Company was going to
walk away with an incredible brand.

And then all of a sudden this
racing thing just exploded.

The sticking point was
the racing side of the business.

That would be called Ferrari-Ford. That
would be owned by Ferrari, by Enzo.

But there was a stipulation
in the contract that said

Ford would still have
veto power or control over

what series was raced, where the cars
would race, who the drivers would be, etc.

Ferrari said no,
I don't want to sell it.

He didn't want to accept any
restriction on motor racing.

His choice was for the freedom.

Ferrari used that gambit to try
to sell the program to FIAT

because he didn't want the
Americans to take over his company.

Enzo didn't want anyone
telling him how to run

his racing business in Europe.

And my grandfather didn't want anyone telling
him how to run the racing business in Europe.

The final moment came sitting
in his rather monastic office,

and his works in Modena,
and he said,

I don't want to race in
the Indianapolis 500.

He turned Ford down.

My father was extremely disappointed.

That's when he decided,
all right, we're gonna beat you.

And we're going to beat you at
your own game, in your backyard.

After the Ferrari deal fell apart,

Ford had to create this car
that could beat Ferrari

and win Le Mans.

If you're going to compete at Le Mans,
you need a car with very high top speed.

So you can get down the
straight very, very quickly.

My grandfather formed this
division of the company called

Ford Advanced Vehicles.

And took the best engineers
he could find and

they came up with
the original GT40.

They designed everything.

They designed a specific
magnesium casting,

with 92 separate parts. All
custom fabricated and custom made.

Just for the peddle assembly.

The chassis was a unibody,
but it's as detailed and

complicated a unibody as anything they did
for Mustang or any of the production cars.

It was a purposely built race car.

It was maybe heavier
than it should have been,

but it was very nice to drive.

It was beautifully finished inside, the
seats, and the controls were very easy to use.

They were built to race.

When you go into a corner in the
GT40, it's meant to go around there.

The design of the GT40 was really
representing a big change in motor racing.

My father was surprised
by that car.

The design was very impressive.

The size and shape of the GT40
made it such a unique vehicle.

I'm not sure if people had
seen a car that was so low.

So it was clearly a very
unique and dynamic design.

Ford had invested a lot in
making it bulletproof for racing.

The money Ford spent
in racing for Le Mans

was the biggest amount
of money ever,

in one big wad, to get dumped into racing.
It just changed the scene for everyone.

Especially for Le Mans, if
you want to win from zero,

you have to invest more money than
the team that has been winning.

We would get anything that we wanted.
If it was a sensible choice,

and if there was a need for it.
If helped durability or speed,

or performance, we had
no problem getting it.

We felt really good
about our chances at Le Mans.

Ferrari had a proven track record.

Winning Le Mans year after year, every
year the car was better. Faster.

Mauro Forghieri, the young,
new chief engineer at Ferrari

was about to instigate
some very radical moves.

Mid-rear engine racing cars. Both
in Formula-1 and sports cars.

That had never
happened at Ferrari.

It was a radical move to put
the engine behind the driver.

Le Mans always had hundreds
of thousands of spectators,

but this year
it was overflowing.

Ford's debut at Le Mans drew millions
of eyes to that race around the world.

The Le Mans 24 hour race at last.

And three gleaming
Ford GTs are present.

There was a tremendous
amount of publicity

at the fact that
Ford Motor Company

was going to enter the Le Mans
race with these new GT40s.

This is the ford.

The blue-and-white Ford bearing
the American racing colors.

The lowest car, by far,
in the field.

Do you feel the
preparation of the Ford

is equal to the preparation
of the Ferrari?

After which has won for,
I don't know how many years.

I think the preparation is every
bit as equal, only problem is,

that this is a new car

and it isn't related to any
other car that we've run before.

Whereas Ferraris are usually a development
of something else that's already existed.

Two of the great manufacturers
from either side of the Atlantic

are going to tangle for the first time.
The stage is set for a war of speed.

At 4pm, the starter drops his flag
and runs for safety.

But disappointment. Phil Hill's Ford is seriously
delayed with fuel vaporization troubles.

In the opening laps,
the GT40 is furiously fast.

There's a helicopter
camera car following it.

Its top speed is incredible.

Do you reckon you've got
anything up your sleeve

that you can pull out a little bit more?

I could pull out 15 seconds if they wanted it,
but we're trying to finish 24 hours.

You mean they won't let you
pull out the 15 seconds?

Ford's first casualty is Richard
Atwood from Britain, driving a GT40.

Going down the straight,
I guess a fuel line came loose

and I could see through
the rear view mirror and the

glass partition between the
engine bay and the passenger side

the flames coming up.

And suddenly there was a "WOOF"
underneath the bonnet.

And I stepped away from it.

And it's a sad sight, but
that was the end of our race.

The third car, which Phil Hill
and Bruce McLaren are sharing,

It's the fastest car on the field.

During the eleventh hour of the race,
troubles brew for Ford.

Richie Ginther's GT40 is retired.

Thirteen hours into the race,
Phil Hill's GT40 goes also.

The cars really weren't
ready to run 24 hours.

But they showed right away, they
were faster than the Ferraris,

And if they could develop the durability,
they were going to be players.

So once again, Ferrari wins
Le Mans in 1964, 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

With none of the GT40s getting
anywhere near a finish line,

Henry Ford II is not happy.
They need to make changes.

Ford needed a guy who knew something
about the 24 hours of Le Mans.

Maybe a driver who had
beaten Ferrari before.

And they found the guy. It was said of him,
he could charm the leaves off a tree.

Got my driver's license
at 14 years old,

and the first thing I do is
take my dad's '34 Dodge out and

get caught by the cops
for driving 85 mph.

Carroll Shelby started road racing
at its very infancy

up in Watkins Glen, in some of he very first
races ever run in our country after the war.

And he won everything, and he wore his
bib overalls and he was a showman.

The rivalry between Enzo Ferrari and
Shelby started way back in the late 1950s,

when Shelby was a driver. Ferrari wanted
to hire Shelby, and Shelby refused him.

I decided to
stay with Aston Martin

because of the internal
politics of Ferrari.

Now the winner pulls in to be
submerged between a seething mass.

Eager to have claimed
a resounding victory.

This is 1959.

He and Roy Salvadori had just won the
24 Hours of Le Mans in an Aston Martin.

He was at the peak
of his racing career.

He wins that, and he's dying.

And it wasn't even a half-hour
before the race, he came up and said

his heart was going. He said,
"I don't think I can run."

I knew that
I had hereditary problems.

And my father died at
46 years old with it, so

I figured there was nothing
that could be done.

He drove with a nitroglycerin pill under
his tongue to keep the thing down.

We won the 24 hour race and
it was the luckiest break

up to that time did it
ever happen to me because

it opened the door for a lot of
opportunities for me down the road.

Carroll didn't know for sure what
he was going to do in his life but

one of the things he could do, is he
wanted to build his own sports car.

All this time I had been
planning to try to build

a car that utilized the American V8s.

So Pete Brock left General Motors
and he went to Carroll Shelby.

You got to realize, we're a very
small group. Like 8 guys total.

We had Hot-rodders
from Japan, France, Italy,

Switzerland, England,
New Zealand, Australia,

and all these guys worked
together amazingly well.

It was a great shop to work in.
It was like one big family.

Abusing each other.

We were a ragtag bunch of crazy
guys, kind of out of control.

There's always lots of
pranks going on, you know.

Cherry bombs and all
that kind of stuff.

But basically, everyone got
along well together.

Shelby was really in the right
place at the right time.

He had all these young people, these
hot-rodders who knew how to make cars go fast,

who knew how to fabricate. And he had Phil
Remington, who's this technical genius.

Sometimes he goes
by the title of Chief Engineer,

sometimes
General Manager of Racing.

Remington is one of the few figures
in racing who has become a legend

who is not a race car driver
or constructor.

Phil Remington was pretty
much responsible for all

of our successes in racing over there.

Phil Remington is like the
unsung hero of all 1960s racing.

He was the genius. He could fix anything.
He could fabricate anything.

And he told the kids in
Shelby's shop what to do.

All of that together,
you had an amazing company.

Corvettes were the prominent
car in racing at that point.

And Shelby, yeah, he definitely wanted to
beat the Corvettes. There's no doubt about it.

He knew if he wanted to make a name
for himself as a car manufacturer,

he had to build a Corvette killer.

He was able to get an
introduction to go to Detroit.

And meet Lee Iacocca and try to sell him
on the idea of an American sports car.

We had the capability of mass
producing reliable engines,

and that's what he needed.

They'd given him about ten
minutes to give his elevator talk

on what he was going to do.

And he was still talking as they pushed
him out the door. Finally, Iacocca said

"Just get that guy outta here. Give
him a couple engines and some money."

And let's see what he can do.

Carroll went over to the
AC Car Company, in England.

And said Ford Motor Company is behind me
and we're gonna build this big corporation,

build all these sports cars.

And would you guys supply us
a couple chassis for nothing?

Between whip-sawing
both of them...

I wound up with a chassis and
four or five engines from Ford.

So they built the chassis.

We put the engines in them and
the first Cobra was put together.

When we had the first head-to-head
competition at Riverside,

obviously all the top West-Coast
Corvette drivers were there.

It took care of the Corvette pretty
handedly and people at Ford noticed that.

In 1963,
we won the Driver's Championship,

the Manufacturer's Championship, and
of course, the USRC Championship.

It was a recognition that Carroll,

along with Ford,
had found something special.

We had our first true competitor in
the racing car business in a while.

No matter how good
it was for short track racing

it was not going to be
a suitable car for Europe

because it simply didn't
have the top speed.

Everybody knew that they just
stopped dead around 150 mph.

They were just like running
this barn door through the air.

I said to Carroll, we can design
a completely new body

for the existing Cobra chassis and I
think that we can make them go faster.

But I said it may not look like
anything you've ever seen before.

And he said, "Ah hell, I don't care what
it looks like, is it gonna go fast?"

And I said, "I believe it will"

There wasn't any time to do this.
We had a 90 day window

to build this car from the first
sketch to the completed running car.

To get it ready for Daytona.

If you wanted to make a change on a car,
you would just make the changes.

So you could evolve a race car much, much
quicker than any factory could do it.

We got the car done
and took it out to Riverside.

Right out of the box, the car was
three and half seconds faster

than anything we'd ever run.

Shelby named the car for the
race he was preparing it for.

The Daytona Continental.

So since that day, it's always
been known as the Cobra Daytona.

So our next race,
of course, was Le Mans.

And we've got two Daytonas
in the GT class.

In 4th place overall,
and leading the GT Division,

the Cobra driven by Dan Gurney
and Bob Bondurant.

They're competing against
one of the lead Ferraris.

And they run those guys
into the ground.

In 1964, winning Le Mans in the
GT class is huge for Shelby

and for the Daytona Coupe.

It was absolutely amazing
a group of guys from Venice California

could come down there and beat
all those high-end manufacturers.

We didn't win.
The cars didn't finish.

Henry Ford II is not pleased.

He wanted somebody who
demonstrated that ability to win.

Carroll Shelby had won
Le Mans as a driver.

Had won Le Mans as a manufacturer
with the Daytona Coupe.

And it was after '64 that
he brought in Carroll Shelby

to help develop the cars.

Here's something else
that we're excited about:

It's this new Ford GT. It was designed
and built by Ford engineers

as kind of a laboratory
on wheels to test new ideas

and prove Ford's capabilities
in open competition.

We've been given the job of testing this
new car and racing internationally.

The biggest concern
for them was endurance.

These 12 hour, 24 hour races
are demanding beyond reason.

Carroll Shelby knew
the task before them.

I can remember when the two GT40s
actually came into our shop,

they still had wire wheels on them

and were overheating,
so Phil went to work on that.

Phil Remington is the best mechanic
I've ever seen in my life.

Rem was like
a fireman looking for a fire.

Very quick on coming up with solutions.

A lot of the sub-systems,
breaking sub-systems, were redesigned.

They changed the suspension
geometry, they changed the engine,

they did everything they could in the short
amount of time they had before Daytona.

Ken Miles was the test driver. Really.

He basically tested and
developed most all the cars.

He was an engineer prior to going to Shelby
and prior to opening his own business.

Ken Miles drove it first,
he didn't like it at all.

And I hopped in and I drove it.
It didn't handle great.

So I brought it back. Told
Remington what it was doing.

So he adjusted the ride
heights and the suspension,

changed the shocks on it,
and stiffened it up.

Each time that he worked on it, it
got better and better and better.

43 cars, 29 from Europe
and 14 from America,

will start the two thousand
kilometer Daytona Continental.

So the GT40s show up
at Daytona in 1965.

Shelby's had less than two months
to turn these cars into winners.

The race is on.

In the beginning of the race,
Bob Bondurant in a GT40

flies by Surtees in a Ferrari.

By the time we got to turn 2,
I was going 200 mph.

And I pulled Surtees 18 car lengths.

The car worked great. I was like,
yes, we fixed it and it worked.

With all the changes that
Remington made and Ken made,

and even Carroll Smith...

They got the car
moving very quickly.

Trouble on the third turn.

Rodriguez is slowing
to a stop on the course.

The Ferrari's European tires blew, beating
the rear end and battery to pieces.

This race was the first race GT40s finished.

The last lap.

The Americans have won.
They've overthrown the Ferrari.

This was a magnificent win for Shelby.

And you could say this victory, maybe
even more than his Le Mans win in 1959

as a driver, this is the win that
first really put him on the map.

The next race for the
factory team was at Sebring.

Ferrari had pulled out
of Sebring in protest.

Even though Ferrari withdrew,

this would turn out to be a great
test for Shelby and the new Ford.

And then the rains came.

It's the worst deluge
ever recorded at Sebring.

You take a tire off to change it,

and if you didn't grab it,
it literally would float away.

Porsche and Ford began to close in

on the Chaparral,
cutting the lead in half.

Suddenly the 12 Hour Sebring
Grand Prix of Endurance is over.

The No. 11 Ford GT is first in the
Gran Touring Prototype Class.

If we're successful at Daytona
and we're successful at Sebring...

By the time Ford is getting
its cars ready to ship to France,

suddenly, people are starting to
describe Ferrari as an underdog.

Ford is expected to keep pace
in this race, and maybe win.

This is the year of Ford's great challenge.

An American invasion on the
supremacy of the Italian giants.

Ford was racing four of the 289 Ford GTs

and two 487 Mark IIs.

The pre-race drama had centered

on the strongest ever
challenge from America.

Their declared intention,
to beat Ferrari.

In 1965, it was starting
to get really serious.

My car worked fantastic.
I was third fastest qualifier.

Ford had really built
some good engines.

And somebody at Ford had decided to
rebuild them just before Le Mans.

The night before, Ford said
change all the engines.

When Ford debuted in 1964,
there was a huge audience.

In 1965, there was an
even bigger audience.

For the first time at Le Mans, an
American car is actually favored to win.

People were expecting this
car to beat the Ferraris.

Chris Amon's first away
in the Ford 7-liter,

followed by Bob Bondurant,
Bruce McLaren, and Surtees.

At the Ss', the 7-liter Ford GTs
are pulling away from the Ferrari.

And the leading Ford
sets a blistering pace.

And when the race starts, Bruce
McLaren in one of the 427s

and Chris Amon in the second 427,

they lead at the start and by time they're
at the end of the Mulsanne Straight

the Ferraris aren't even in sight.

We got a great start, and I knew
I had a great chance to win.

And now the McLaren mile sport
is having gearbox trouble.

Already the Ferrari grip
on the race tightens.

The Le Mans race in 1965
was an absolute berserker because,

the cars were quick, the cars
were running quick, but

we had all kinds of engine
problems and vibrations.

What happened was,
they got some new head bolts

and they didn't check them out,
and all the head bolts stretched.

One thing about the Ferrari car

was that you were unlikely
to break it mechanically.

For all that having a 7-liter
engine against a 4-liter engine

sounds one-sided, the Ferraris were
so much more sophisticated that

they weren't a long way
behind on horsepower.

And they were light so they
could make the car work better.

By midnight, with
the race only one-third through,

the Ford challenge had been
shattered by Ferrari.

All the cars broke.

Ford made the decision
to tell Shelby to take them all

out and put in Ford engines.
It was a disaster.

If I didn't have to change that
engine, I would have won.

Again, the Fords broke.

They made simple engineering
mistakes, and Ferrari didn't.

Only one Ferrari prototype
finished the race,

but that was enough to win it.

And Ferrari also won the GT Class,
and they finished 1-2-3 overall.

The press called it
"Murder: Italian Style."

It was the second year for my
grandfather of utter disappointment.

And I'm sure he
probably questioned

in his mind, whether this
was all worth it.

Ford, with millions and millions of
dollars going down the tube again,

start to look bad.

This was humiliating.
Henry Ford II was pissed.

He made it very clear that we
were not going to fail again.

Henry Ford II was not the president or
the chairman of Ford Motor Company,

he was the emperor. And he
had a way of making

statements that if you
don't win, you're out of here.

I was with Don Frey and Leo
Beebe when he called us in.

And he had name tags made up
in September of 1965

September says Ford
wins Le Man in '66.

"You want a job next June, don't you?"

Ford decided to expand its operation

so instead of just having Shelby American,
they also hired Holman & Moody,

who is already running their stock-car
operation, and Alan Mann Racing,

Which had just won the GT Championship
with the Cobra Daytona Coupe.

When I came back, a lot of the crew
were missing. They were gone.

They didn't need as many people
to run the GT40s because

they already had those people set.

So anyone working on the Daytona Coupe
kind of got their walking papers.

At the end of the '65 season,
I got back.

There's a total stranger in my office.
They had come in. Taken over.

Shelby didn't really fire me, but it was obvious
they didn't need me around there anymore.

Enzo Ferrari did
not tolerate mistakes.

Especially when it came to engineering.

And if engineers did make a mistake,
he made sure they knew about it.

Every component broken
displayed in that room

was representing a race
that had been lost.

He said they are responsible people.
Every time we are here for a meeting,

they have the possibility to
see the parts which are broken

so they would not repeat
the same mistake.

In '66, it was really important for Ford
to win, so the pressure was on.

It was obvious that we were going to
have to retire the little engine and

go to the big engine. Even with
modifications in favor of fixing

the weaknesses of the 289,
it just didn't get the job done.

'65 was a disaster, but if
we had run second or third,

or possibly even lucked out and
won the race, we might never have

gotten the funding to go
like we did in '66 and '67.

It was the beginning of
what they knew would be the

direction to go with
the big block cars.

As a driver, of course,
you always go for the power.

The 289 at the very beginning
obviously left a lot to be desired.

There just was not the power
that the driver is looking for.

Ultimately, of course, they
came out with the Mark II.

They said, right, we got to get the job
done, so if we can't do it by cunning and

daring, we'll do it by brute just
force with this bloody great engine.

We'll blow them away.

The 427 in that application
was a brute.

It wasn't like sending a boy to do a
man's job. I mean, it fit the use.

When they went to
the bigger engines,

all of a sudden all
the drivers were smiling.

And that's when we started
seeing some real speeds.

The weight of the car needed
to have the torque and so-forth

to be able to compete with what we were
up against. You know, the Ferraris.

Here in Test Cell 17B,
without car or driver

The 1966 Le Mans race
is already run

six months before
it actually happens.

I do remember going
to a Ford engine test stand.

And it had a Le Mans system in it, so
it had robots that shifted the gears.

It'd go through all four gears.

And had a 427 engine. And you could tell
when it was on the Mulsanne Straight

and when it slowed down for the
right hand turn at the end.

So they could run that car... I think the
longest they ran was 40 hours or something.

With the Mark II GT40
and the FE 427 engine...

It was so understated and under
tuned, that it just goes.

At 64 hundred, to be able to run
220 mph, and do it all day long...

not even straining itself. And
the drivers like that because

it felt solid. It felt like the engine was
going to be there for the entire event.

Rem was very much
involved with the Mark II

along with Ken Miles.

As a test driver, I also got
to test some of the cars

on behalf of
Carroll Shelby too.

We knew we had some brake
issues, especially at Le Mans

because of the Mulsanne Straight.
So you got 3.2 miles

and the brakes would go from 1,200
degrees to 0 every single lap.

And at that point I don't think
they had the material,

that could withstand, you know,
that repeated cycle.

Phil Remington figured out how
to make a quick change brake setup.

They could change the disk, the calipers
and the whole braking system...

When somebody like Dan Gurney has
to get in that car, I mean, they had to

build a bubble into the roof-line to
be able to fit his helmet in the car.

I was 6' 4" so when
you get into that car,

you were sitting on the actual chassis.

The roof is hitting your helmet, so
there wasn't anywhere else to go.

So they had to go up on the roof,
and that's where the bubble came in.

Racing for the flag in the
24 Hour Daytona Continental.

Ford had five GT40 Mark II's
in the running,

led by Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby,

and Dan Gurney and Jerry Grant.

Miles takes the lead as they thunder
towards the second go around

the infield, pushing
the last Ferrari threat.

Miles and Gurney
basically led the whole race.

And it was a like a start-to-finish
race. It was incredible.

It was just a
relatively easy race.

For the first time,
Ford wins 1-2-3 at Daytona.

This is the 12 Hours of Sebring.
And during the next

twelve hours, we're going to to have
a lot of questions answered that

are in the minds of
racing fans everywhere.

Can the Fords win two in a row, such
as they did with the Continental,

the long road race. This being the
second one on the road to Le Mans.

And can Ferrari come back after a rather
dismal start at the beginning of this year.

Can you tell us
who your rabbits will be

and who your
steady boys will be?

Well, I think we'll have
Dan Gurney out front.

We were going to be the rabbit.

To be the rabbit
is someone that obviously is

quite quick. You want to
entice the competition

to follow that and try
to destroy the equipment.

If you're designated as rabbit,
that means you're expendable.

That's part of team play strategy.

Dan Gurney is going like a rocket.
It's neck and neck now.

Parkes. Miles. Gurney. Close
enough to cover with a blanket

as they roar through
the left turn.

Ken was running second. I think at
that point, Dan had lapped Ken.

And Ken would come in to the pits and I
say, "Ken you got to get your finger out"

And I say, "Gurney's gonna win
this race if you don't watch it."

"I'm not that worried," he says, "cuz
Dan is pulling me out of every turn."

"He's definitely
over-revving that vehicle."

I said, well, it's not
that much further to go, Ken.

Night full on, it's:
Ford-Ford-Ferrari-Ford-Ford.

Report of another accident.

Third place Rodriguez-Andretti's
Ferrari is in and damaged.

Fire! Quickly out.
But that should do it for the

only Ferrari capable of
challenging the Ford.

And I get the car back in the pits
and then the engine caught fire,

you know, so we were
out of that race.

Here's Ruby bringing the ford prototype
in to hand over to teammate Miles.

They've driven a great race following
their 24 Hour win at Daytona.

But it looks like second at Sebring.

It's 10 o'clock. The checkered
flag is out and no Dan Gurney.

For Pete's sake! Here he is and he's pushing it!
He could be disqualified for that!

It looked like Dan was going to
win until the last lap and it puked.

Gurney is actually
pushing car No. 2 in.

And that means Ken Miles has
crossed the finish line first.

Ken was a lap down at that point.

He had to circle Sebring one more
time before he actually won the race.

If Dan hadn't had touched the
car, just left it where it was, he

would have finished second.
Because he started to

push it, it was all over.
He got disqualified.

And obviously elated with surprise,

Miles enjoys the
victory lane hub-bub.

While everyone wonders
what happened to Gurney.

Well, she quit.

Engine trouble?

I believe so.

How long did you push it?

Oh, probably,
almost a quarter mile.

Ken Miles, are you as
surprised as we are?

I'm slightly ashamed.

Well it was a big day
for Ford, wasn't it?

It was a good day for Ford. I'm very
happy for the Ford Motor Company.

And I'm very sorry indeed for Dan. He
ran a beautiful race, and I'm sorry

something happened
at the last minute.

How'd Lloyd go for you?

This is your third big long
distance win together, isn't it?

I like Ol' Lloyd.

What's next for you?

Le Mans.

Suddenly Ken Miles has
emerged as the driver to beat

on the Shelby team, having won
Daytona and Sebring in 1966.

Sebring is another 1-2-3 finish
for the Ford GT40s.

All that's left is Le Mans.

Ford had already a couple of
years under her, '64 and '65,

come '66, when the success
started to be real...

Even from a competitor's
standpoint such as Ferrari,

I was sensing, you know,
these guys are not going away.

Then they started
paying some attention.

Ford had the possibility to invest
an incredible amount of money

compared to
Ferrari's capabilities.

This was something
which really did spoil

the Ferrari idea about being capable
to fight against such a giant.

I learned that Enzo
Ferrari wanted to meet me.

So I went down and met him.

And he said, "Would you
like to run with us?"

I said, "Yeah, I would."

In 1966, Bob Bondurant swapped
from Ford to the enemy.

Drove for Ferrari at Le Mans.

Enzo Ferrari was smart. He hired me
because I was beating him all the time.

'66 was a great year
for the Ford GT40.

We won Daytona 1-2-3,
we won Sebring 1-2-3.

By time they got to Le Mans,
I think everyone was feeling

a lot more confident than
they had been in '64 and '65.

Then you say to the boss, hey listen,
we got a really good idea for you.

Why don't you come to Le Mans
and start the race

and we'll see if
we can't win it for you.

I went to Le Mans with him in 1966.

He had a smile on his face the
minute we got on the airplane.

I mean, he was really excited. He was
going over to beat the Europeans.

On their own turf.

Well, we did all right the
first couple of times out.

We feel the cars were very
impressive in Daytona and Sebring.

In the weeks to come, we hope to
continue our string of victories.

It seems whatever success we find, we'll
also find our share of disappointments.

The Le Mans test in '66.

It was raining and drizzling.

When it's raining.
There's no point.

You're not going to break any
track records in the rain.

We'd already figured out the cars were going
to be quick in the rain with the right tires.

Walter Hangsen was driving a Mark II GT40.

Miles, who was a brilliant rain driver,
he'd already come into the pits.

He said "Bring in Walter, he's
taking to many chances out there."

"We don't need to go any
quicker because it's raining."

Carroll Smith
tried to slow him down.

It was like he refused to come in.
He was just going 'round and 'round.

Finally, at the end of the
chute, at the one right hander

he just went straight on.

But you know, that's motor
racing. Some of these drivers,

when they get in that car, they
give it everything they got.

These things are unavoidable.

He lost it. And it killed him.

It rolled that car up in
a little ball, that GT40.

It was like it wasn't even made of
steel. It just crumpled up around him.

Now with the preliminaries over,
Le Mans is under way.

Ford entered eight
Ford GT40 Mark IIs.

Ferrari entered seven cars.

The table is set.
1966 will be the showdown

between Ford and Ferrari.

Ford went to Le Mans
with a 900 lb gorilla.

But that said, they had a history of
failing at Le Mans the past two years.

And the fact they've never
had a car finish at Le Mans.

Even though I'd say they're
the odds-on favorite,

I'm not sure everyone
was betting on them.

We had a strategy and we thought
the only way we would beat the Fords

would be if we could go along,
and from the very start

of the race, we could
drive it like a Grand Prix.

Because the drivers in
the Fords were all racers.

And they wouldn't just hold back.

They would have a go.

And there might be some possibility that
we might be able to break the Fords.

There's the Ferrari team.

And car No. 20 was scheduled to be
driven by John Surtees of England.

But shortly before the start of the race
we found out that he wasn't going to drive

and we asked him about it.

Yes, unfortunately you've heard
correct, I won't be driving.

What is the reason?

Well, I suppose it's best summed up at
this stage by saying political reasons.

When I got back for the
actual race, Dragoni said,

"Uh, got to change the policy because
Mr. Agnelli is going to be here...

"and he'd like his nephew,
Scarfiotti, to start the race."

I said this is ridiculous. That
year we'd done one or two moves

where we'd lost races.
Because of pure strategy.

So I went back to Ferrari
and said enough is enough,

I'm not going to be treated this way.
I'm here to win races. I'm off.

Surtees was a victim
of the internal politics.

And he was another guy who
walked away. As did Phil Hill.

It didn't matter
how much you won.

For some people,

important people inside the team, if you
weren't Italian, you weren't Ferrari.

For Ferrari to lose Surtees
right before the race, it's massive.

This man was a true talent.
Still to this day, he's the

only man who's won World
Championships on two wheels and four.

So without him, Ferrari
was handicapped for sure.

This race has been billed from
the very start as a race

between the Ferrari's
and the Ford teams.

There are fifty five cars lined
up, ready to go. And of course

they are employing what is becoming
famous in all parts of the world,

for the Le Mans start.

The famous Le Mans start. You know,
you run across, jump in the car.

Even though you had safety
belts, most of the drivers,

they just wanted to get out there.
Wouldn't even buckle up.

The main thing was
to concentrate on getting

the engine running and
getting out of there.

And then you'd later
on do your seatbelt.

If there was a seatbelt.

Going down the Mulsanne
Straight, you try to

hold the thing. Maybe
buckle up maybe not.

Ford actually, in '66 race, had
strict orders for the drivers,

"I don't care if you're going to be there
a half an hour. You got to buckle up."

Which was very prudent.
But did the drivers listen?

Hell no.

Ken and Gurney were the rabbits.

So their job was to go out
and break the Ferraris.

When the race started, Ken Miles
didn't get his door closed correctly.

So he got a terrible start.

And I thought, oh, this ended
right from the beginning.

Those first 20 laps or so
were just incredible

Ken was hauling ass.
He was just so quick.

And finally after...
a couple hours probably,

he was up in the second
spot, behind Dan.

Phil, the tremendous talk here
has been on the

pace of this race.
What is your comment?

It's a terrific pace. I'm
sure before the thing's over

we're going to see an awful lot of
cars that just aren't around anymore.

You think there'll
be a lot of them falling out?

I think so.

That's car No. 8,
John Whitmore as the driver,

And this was quite a surprise that
he made a stop so early in this race.

And incidentally we have the
official report on that.

He had a broken brake line.

Six hours in, two of the GT40s
are already retired.

As well as two Ferraris.

The Mark II No. 1, being driven
by Ken Miles and Denis Hulme

is leading, but it has been
a battle all along between

car No. 1 and car No. 3,
Dan Gurney and Ken Miles,

and the Ferrari being driven
by Rodriguez and Ginther.

Dan Gurney's car died
about the eleventh hour.

With Jerry Grant, we led
the race for a long time

then just had a failure
of a head gasket.

It's a brutal race.

It's an endurance race. And it
epitomized the word endurance.

Only two drivers drove.
So you were going to split it

12 and 12, or somebody do 14
and somebody do 10.

You don't wake up and go
24 hours then go to sleep.

You've already been awake for 10-15
hours before that in the pits.

Especially at Le Mans, we
never stop for one second.

I would never get any sleep,
just too wound up.

You're about ready to drop dead.

Complete and utter
physical exhaustion.

But we were still running
away with the race.

Ken and Deny were still
hauling ass, doing a great job.

The Ferraris are dropping out.

Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon,
they were running several

laps back but still
running really strong.

As the race was a few
hours from the finish,

it looked like car wasn't
going to break anyway.

Ken was going to
win the race easily.

Miles is now in first place and
he's lapping at amazing speeds.

Faster than they told
him he should be going.

Miles has won Daytona.
Miles has won Sebring.

So if Ken Miles wins Le Mans,
it'll be the Triple Crown.

No driver had won
the three premiere

long distance endurance
races of the year.

The word came down, presumably
from my grandfather,

that he wanted to
facilitate this 1-2-3 finish.

Henry Ford told Carroll, he
said "You gotta slow him down."

When they told Ken,
he was very, very upset

He was leaning on the pit while
waiting for his stint on the drive,

and that's when he first told
me, "They want me to back off."

It's three laps ahead of him, how are they
going to slow you down with this three laps?

He said, "Well they want to slow
me down on the back chute...

"...longer pit stops.
Things like that."

I said it ain't gonna happen. I'm not going
to slow down on the bloody pit stops.

They've talked to the Le Mans officials.
They're saying that we can do a dead heat.

Which still meant that Ken had to
slow down to let Bruce catch up.

Which he did.

Ford won 1-2-3.

And Henry Ford was so happy.
He beat Ferrari.

It was a relief for a lot of people
because it was a Herculean effort

to make this program a success.
And so when it finally paid off,

I can't imagine how it must
have felt for people who'd

dedicated years of their life
to this program.

Your eyes water up.

There was a lot of hugging
and handshaking and so on.

It was just that
magnificent feeling.

I felt wonderful
about us winning 1, 2 and 3.

Ford won the 1966 race fair
and square by having

every base covered. They had
a car for every eventuality.

It was a shock, of course.
But that's motor racing.

You win one day, you
lose, you know.

I think we were lucky, you
know. We had six cars.

We felt really good about our
chances and we came in 1-2-3.

When it came to the finish,
it was considered a dead heat.

Even though in the pictures it
looks like Bruce was ahead of Ken.

But when Ken came up the pit
lane to head from the circle

we thought we had won the race.

We get to the winner circle and they
go waving him off, yelling in French.

Then the FIA got involved and
said, "Well, just so you know..."

If there is a dead heat,
across the finishing line

the car that started farthest back on
the starting line must have covered

the greatest distance.

So No. 2 becomes the winner!

There wasn't going to be a 1-2-3
finish. Bruce was going to win.

We made a horrible
decision with Ken Miles,

in saying the three cars
come over exactly together.

It was good politically for Ford,
so I couldn't argue with it.

Besides that, I work for Ford. And I'm
not going to go against Henry Ford.

Ken ended up
getting cheated out of it.

And it wasn't fair either
because he would have

been the first driver to win
those three big races.

And it broke his heart.

When they win the race,

he's asked, "What happens now?"

Henry Ford says, "Well, we're going to
come back next year and do it again.”

It's a development of
the P3, but it's better

It's just beautiful.
It looks stunning.

It's got a new engine that's
derived from their Formula 1 engine.

And it just kicks ass.

At the latter part of '66,
Carroll Shelby, Phil Remington,

and the Shelby experts were making
a faster, quicker Mark II-B.

My grandfather was
determined to make sure

that people knew this was
not some kind of fluke.

So development of the cars
continued in '66.

The J-car was this prototype
where they had used this kind of

honeycomb pattern and I don't think
they knew exactly how durable it was.

So they sent it out for
testing at Riverside.

The car was being
tested by Ken Miles.

The car broke.

And when the car broke,
he was doing 180 mph.

It careened wildly.
He went over the cliff.

It was unsurvivable.

We were all
devastated, but I knew

Charlie was by far
the most devastated.

I mean this guy was
like a father to him.

When Ken died, I wasn't
there unfortunately.

I'd never really lost a driver.

It was a very tragic end
to an amazing career.

In 1967 when the season
began at Daytona,

Ford showed up with a full
array of upgrade Mark IIs.

Ferrari wanted revenge after '66.

So he had the P4's and a
P3.4, and he brought like

six cars or something.
They were factory cars.

This was going to be a
real showdown and a real race.

They had all these entries.
And they were all big blocks.

Horrible goddamn thing.

They started coming in, one after
the other with broken transmissions.

Only one out of six GT40s
finished at Daytona in 1967.

Enzo Ferrari gets his revenge.

Ferrari won the 24 Hours of
Daytona with a 1-2-3 arrival

with two P4 and one 412.

Ferrari, having lost at Le Mans,
got a little bit of

its own back
by going to Daytona.

Early in the career, they had not
been as durable as the opposition

This is the first time that Ford had
been slower than the opposition.

So at that point it became
clear to the hierarchy

that something
needed to be done.

But it wasn't clear how to make the Mark II
decidedly faster in a short period of time.

Phil Remington returned
to Dearborn with two

of his chief fabricators
and they took the first

J-Car chassis, they took it into the wind
tunnel and they started literally cutting away

at the bodywork to try to improve
the aerodynamics of the car.

They came up with a shape
that was so dramatically

different from the J-Car...

that they dubbed
the new car the Mark IV.

The Mark IV was perfect
out of the box.

It was completely designed
and built, the whole car,

in the United States. Not England.
No Italian gearbox. Nothing.

You didn't have to take it out
and get it ported or balanced.

You didn't have to build an
engine. Right out of the box!

And the engines, they had
part numbers on them.

You could go to a Ford
dealer and purchase

the exact parts that
are in that engine.

Assemble your own race engine and
get the same performance out of it.

For us, that was our goal.

And they went out and tested that
almost immediately thereafter

out in Arizona and it proved to
be faster right out of the box

than the existing Mark II.
So that's when it was decided

to race the Mark IV at Sebring,
and if it did well at Sebring,

they would go ahead and
take that to Le Mans.

Fast is the competitively
untested Ford Mark IV.

The super slick lemon-yellow
Mark IV is Ford's standard-bearer.

Bruce McLaren and Mario Andretti
will be at the controls.

What is your strategy
in the 12 Hours?

Well, I think we've got a car that
should be fast enough to lead it

if qualifications are
any indication at all.

Ford's only other factory entry:
A slightly reworked version

of last year's
victorious Mark II.

Lloyd Ruby and AJ Foyt
are in command.

After Daytona, Ferrari's
P4's were so dominant

he didn't even bother
sending them to Sebring.

The competition would be between
Carroll Shelby's GT 40 Mark II B

versus the brand new Mark IV.

Foyt is in the highest place
Ford at the moment

and charging through the
throng in the Mark II.

By the Ss', the Fords have gobbled
up the quick starting offense.

McLaren has assumed
command with Foyt second.

We go out there and we're
running 7-10 seconds

a lap faster than Foyt. I never
had a better day in my life.

The lead car pulls in.
McLaren and Andretti

have done a magnificent job
in the new Mark IV.

We raced it at Sebring
for the first time and won,

with Bruce McLaren as my partner.

And so as you can see, the Mark IV
became the envy of the competition.

Ford comes back to Le Mans
in 1967 with a whole new goal.

They want to be the first American
manufacturer to win the 24 Hours

of Le Mans with a team
of all American drivers.

It's race week.
And along with every gendarme in

the South of France, comes the
world's finest racing machinery.

It would be the first time the Mark IV
and the P4 would face each other

on the racetrack. And these
were two really iconic cars,

representative of two different
kind of philosophies

and race car design and construction,
but both aimed towards the same end.

There are so many good cars there.
There were probably

eight or ten cars there with
a legitimate shot at winning.

The world was waiting
to see what was going to happen.

World famous drivers.
Mario Andretti, winner of

the most recent international
endurance race at Sebring.

AJ Foyt and Dan Gurney
raced against each other

at Indie just twelve days earlier.

Now they are teammates driving
one of the new Mark IV Fords.

Foyt gets ready for practice
in the No. 1 Mark IV.

He's never driven the track before

and this is the first time he's
been in the sleek new Ford.

We started practice and we have an
issue with the cracked windshields.

When the incredibly fast Fords
reach peak speeds in excess

of 250 mph small pebbles are
picked up from the new surface

and thrown with enough velocity
to crack the windshields.

They must all be replaced
and the supply is short.

Ford took out first class
in one of the airliners.

And they sent about
a dozen or so windshields.

During the night,
one special aircraft came from

Detroit directly to Le Mans
with new material.

Ferrari couldn't have the financial
capability to do something like that.

Ferrari has three of their
factory P4's in the top ten.

They finished 1-2-3 in the only other
24 hour race of the season at Daytona.

The candy colored Fords are the fastest,
with six of the top ten starting positions.

Ronnie Bucknum,
driving the No. 57 Ford Mark II,

leads the pack off
the starting grid.

Bucknum leads the pack
down Mulsanne Straight.

He's in the car, and gone,
and he comes back after the first lap

thirty seconds ahead
of the second place car.

Here comes the rest of the pack.

Two Ferrari P4's and two Fords.

As the race progressed,
the Fords took the lead.

The Ferraris were
not too far behind,

but we were pulling
away from them.

Now, from the air,
we see Gurney quickly

accelerating to become
the leader on the 48th lap.

Foyt begins his two hour stint
behind the wheel.

His first appearance
in competition at Le Mans,

and with only ten practice
laps under his belt.

At this stage, Gurney thinks
things are going too easy.

The expected challenge
from Ferrari hasn't developed.

Maybe he set too fast a pace.

Fifteen cars have already dropped out
trying to keep up with the bright red Ford,

and now there's a
rookie driver in the car

The GT40 if it has an Achilles heel,
it's in the brakes.

It would go about 212, 213 mph
down the straight way,

then you'd come to
the Mulsanne turn

and you have to slow down
to maybe 30 mph.

That can really raise Kane
with the brakes.

So what I did, I invented
a new approach for braking.

The chicken shit form
of braking that I...

I used instead of deep braking.

What I did was back off about
300 yards sooner than I had to,

and let the engine slow
the car down and then I'd brake

and down shift and go
around the corner. Well,

this was much easier
for the brakes.

That was something that
I worked with AJ on.

So we went at this thing with a slightly
different philosophy of how to do it.

AJ Foyt, the rookie
everyone was worrying about,

has charged into
a seven lap lead.

We got Foyt and Gurney, and
nobody expected them to finish.

Gurney did a wonderful job of not
showing Foyt how fast the car would go.

And Foyt did a fabulous job in

driving within his limits, realizing
that 24 hours is a long time,

taking care of the engine,
taking care of the gearbox.

Mr. Ford had his
sergeants with him,

but they would come through
every two or three hours

and that happened
all night long.

Fortunately for us, we always had
good news for him at the time.

At 3:30 in the morning,
the whole complexion of

the race changes when
Andretti spins his car,

bounces off the wall, and stops
in the middle of the track.

Seconds later, and McCluskey
and Jo Schlesser spin off

trying to avoid Andretti.
No one is injured, but

all three cars must be retired.

Ferrari hadn't given up,
and Ford did everything

they could to help
Ferrari stay in the race.

They lost three cars
in one accident.

Two factory Ferraris
are in hot pursuit.

Now in second
and third position.

Bruce McLaren is in
fourth position.

And as he accelerates along
the Mulsanne Straight,

the top of his car comes loose.

He's forced to slow down
and hold it on by hand.

There was only one Ford left,
and that happened to be ours.

Less than four hours to go,
Dan Gurney drives

the No. 1 Ford for his last shift,
before turning it over to AJ Foyt,

waiting in the pits, who is
scheduled to finish the race.

The Ferraris begin
to pick up the pace,

hoping to push the leading
Ford into a breakdown.

The Ford was about 3 mph
faster than the Ferrari.

Even though he was in the
draft, I could walk away

from him down the straight
away a little bit.

And then when I backed off
early, he was all over me,

flicking his lights. This
happened for four or five laps.

Every time we came to
the last 90 degree turn,

at the end of the Mulsanne
Straight, he was right on me.

He was really bothering me.

And finally I got to
a turn called Arnage.

And I went around the turn,

and slowly pulled off to the right,
onto the grass and stopped.

And he pulled off behind me

and stopped right behind me.
On the grass.

So I thought to myself,
now what?

And it stayed that way for
probably ten or twelve seconds...

and then finally he
pulled out and went on.

He ended up finishing second.

Ferrari were always
fairly close to the pace,

but never close enough.

It was the steamroller again.

Weight of numbers. Ford won.

There's the checkered flag.

Dan Gurney climbs atop
the Ford Mark IV.

It's an All-American win.

The veteran, Dan Gurney,
from California.

The hard-charging AJ Foyt
from Texas.

And the durable Mark IV Ford
from Dearborn, Michigan.

Foyt and Gurney
were the least likely winners.

We were given them and
everybody thought they'd blow up.

Well, they didn't.

The Ford guys were
just over the moon.

Anything they wanted,
they got for Le Mans in 1967.

Foyt was lighting cigars and
cigarettes with a hundred Franc bill,

everyone was going berserk.

We were all up on the platform.

At that moment I was handed a
gigantic bottle of champagne.

It was a huge achievement
after trying many times.

There were seven times
where I didn't even finish.

I just felt...
let's do something here.

Dan Gurney does something amazing.

He sprays the crowd with champagne.

Nobody had ever done that.

Like a fire hose, I could
get every single one of them.

I didn't realize
what it would evolve into.

Now, in every race, particularly
in Europe, people win...

they pop the champagne
and spray it.

It all started right there
at Le Mans in 1967.

It meant a great deal
to all of us.

Ford went on to win the
24 Hours of Le Mans again in 1968.

Again in 1969. And Ferrari
never won Le Mans again.

The Ford-Ferrari rivalry? That
is the Golden Age of racing.

There's been a great
battle, a great fight.

It's really a part of the
history of motor racing.

It's easy to think
of the GT40 as being

the iconic car of the time,

but the Ferraris that were
racing against them,

were, in their own way,

the most sophisticated
sports cars ever built.

You mention Ferrari
anywhere on the planet,

everybody knows what
they're all about.

They're all about high
performance and winning.

Clear.

Ferrari did win everything
there was worth winning.

And he did it entirely
his own way.

He delivered huge results,

and with a massive personality.

I'm often asked, "What was
the best car you ever drove?"

Top of the list is the GT40.

American made cars

all of a sudden had a

new appreciation globally.

Once you achieve what
the GT40 has achieved,

you're in the history forever.

It's part of an incredible
accomplishment,

in the most competitive arena.

The legacy of the GT40
and the Ferraris that

raced against it, was really to start
the modern generation of Le Mans.

It was the start
of big money, factory teams.

It really changed from
being specially prepared

sports racing cars,
to being cars designed

from the ground up
just to do Le Mans.

Now the cars are bulletproof.
The drivers drive flat out.

We couldn't do that.

Doesn't matter what brand,
or what car, or who's racing.

In the end, we all have
this drive to compete.

I've been so lucky to
be on the same track

with the best drivers that ever put their
hands on a steering wheel of a race car.

Only two makes ever won
Le Mans in the 1960s.

Ferrari won the first half,
Ford won the second half.

In the history of motor racing,
there will never be another

rivalry like the Ford
and Ferrari wars at Le Mans.

It's one of the great
grudge matches of history.

Not just motor sports,
but all of sporting history.

Such a historic occasion.

Fifty years on
from the 1-2-3 finish,

and we're back
for another crack.

So to be back fifty years later,
with my dad, is kind of special.

The Tricolore
will be waved by Brad Pitt.

We are racing the 84th running
of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Ford GT and a
Ferrari, battling it out.

We had a problem
at the start with the car,

it's a couple laps down
right now.

The No. 82 Ferrari, Matteo Malucelli,

is going to lose the lead.

Oh, there goes the racing
competition Ferrari.

That gives Ford the upper hand.

The reason this car was created
was to win this race.

Fifty years later after the
infamous 1-2-3 and we did it.