THE BEST FOUR BY FORD BY FAR
Who’d have imagined that an Austin Seven would be the perfect car in which to learn how to drive a race-spec Ford GT? First time I let the clutch in, gingerly attempting to get Philip Walker’s gorgeous Borrani-wheeled open GT underway down the pit lane at Thruxton, I stall. And the second. And possibly even the third.
Yet I’m in good company. At the start of the 1964 Le Mans 24 Hours, the very first attempt by Ford to wrest away Ferrari’s crown with its new GT at this globally important race, Phil Hill stalled chassis 102 on the grid. The problem is that the clutch is pretty much in or out but, contrary to intuition, you can’t rely on low engine revs from the monstrously torquey 289 V8 to get you going. Equally, you don’t want to be revving its nuts off and wrecking the clutch. The trick is to somehow gradually lean on the throttle at precisely that moment when the clutch engages. It’s not easy but it’s a process that will be familiar to any Seven habitué.
When you get it right, though… What a car! Beautiful to look at and totally exhilarating to drive. The V8 in Philip’s car has been dyno’d at 460bhp at the wheels, and it weighs under a tonne, so it doesn’t exactly hang around.
There were 12 prototype GTs built, seven of them coupés and five roadsters, and from these cars evolved the GT40s with which Ford duly trounced Ferrari at Le Mans in four successive years, 1966-69. The, and in issue 206 we compared Mks I and III road cars with a Mk I racer, chassis 1027. But since the handful of MkIII road cars went on sale in 1967, the GT name has appeared on two more Ford sportscars. In 2004, the retro-styled Ford GT made its debut, and in 2016 an all-new Ford GT completely reinvented the formula. Question is: can you detect any commonality between the very first Ford GT and (to date) the very last?
